Duncan Ferris and Megan Wherry both topped the podium following a chaotic day of high quality HSBC | Mountain Bike Four Cross National Series action at Afan Forest.

An overcast day greeted the riders in Port Talbot for Round Four as Ferris and Wherry reigned supreme in the men’s and women’s elite races, respectively.

The track had a little rain overnight, dampening down the dust from the National Championships the day before, but was in prime condition ready for another day of racing.

Flawless Ferris takes victory

There were a few notable absentees from the start sheet, the most obvious in the men’s elite field was Scott Beaumont who’s crash in the National Championships had put him out of the event.

It seemed to be a day for bike crashes with many dismounting at some point, including the newly-crowned men’s National Champion William Evans.

Evans took a big crash coming up short on the bigger of the two pro-line jumps in an early heat, but he recovered and managed to come back to qualify for the A final.

It was ultimately Ferris’ day, though, and he did not put a foot wrong as he led from start to finish despite his rivals pushing all the way in a tight men’s final.

Ferris triumphed ahead of Evans, who claimed second, closely followed by Charles Curry in third and David Roberts in fourth. The men’s small final was won by Tom Bell.

After a fantastic weekend’s racing the men’s elite race winner Ferris, said: “I was not expecting that today. Pretty exhausted after a whole day’s racing yesterday.”

Wherry leads from the front

In the woman’s field, newly-crowned national champion Natasha Bradley was also not in attendance but that did nothing to diminish the commanding performance of Wherry.

Wherry, who has won every round of the series so far, was completely dominant from the off as she won every race in the moto-style format of the women’s race.

And when asked after the race if she enjoyed the moto format, Wherry said: “It means you have to try all the time so it was good fun but tiring.”

Wherry was chased all day by the three other girls with Courtney Abbiss taking second place and looking smooth all day.

Hannah Escott came in third and in fourth was Abigail Wherry, who had recovered from a nasty finish line crash the day before in the National Championships women’s small final.

Mills edges out youth champ

With the junior field slightly reduced, partly down to crashes the day before, we saw the Junior and Youth categories mixed, which provided some interesting racing.

It meant the two National Champions William Mills (junior) and Fin Clark (youth) battled it out in the same final.

However, after a mistake in the early corners, it was Mills who was once again crowned the winning rider in the junior field.