January 2008 Newsletter

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL

AND SAFE RACING IN 2008

 Good News to Start 2008

We are delighted to announce that Royston Rockets BMX Club has been awarded an “O2 It’s Your Community award”. The award is towards a practice gate for coaching purposes and is worth £750 - about 50% of the total cost. 

2008 Club MembershipYour annual club membership is now due and forms are with this newsletter – please complete them and return them, with the fee either directly to the membership secretary or see them at the club meetings. Please note the section on rider profiles which, if you tick the permission box, will be used on the club website.  

British Cycling Membership and Licence. This is the complicated bit – you must remember that there are two different parts to this. Your BC “membership”, which is on the white side of your BC card, runs for 12 months from when it was issued but your BC “Race Licence”, which is actually an internationally recognised licence, is the coloured side of the card and runs from January 1^st to the end of December. So if you have not applied for a licence for 2008 you do not have one now although your membership may still be valid! The colour of the licence changes each year (2007 was white) and this colour change is across the cycling world as dictated by the UCI.

 Club Winter Sunday Mornings 2008 – gates open 10-00am The next few dates are -     January 13th,        January 27th,        February 10th,      February 24th                  

 Winter Regional Series 2007/8ROUND 3      PETERBOROUGH                    JANUARY 20th

ROUND 4      BRAINTREE                             FEBRUARY 17th 

ROUND 5     IPSWICH                                         MARCH 9th

These are Formula racing events – Registration closes at 11.30am and racing is £6 AND to keep the riders fit there will be 4 moto’s before the finals instead of the usual 3! For full details see www.bmxeast.com

  2008 National and Regional Race Dates

The dates and venues for the 2008 Nationals are below – the dates are confirmed but not the venues – hopefully the National and Regional dates will be confirmed by late January.

22-23 March               Round 1 and 2                Burnham-On-Sea

26-27 April               Round 3                            Cheddar

17-18 May            Round 4 and 5                     Mansfield

7-8 June              Round 6                  Chesterfield

28-29 June          Round 7            Hartlepool                            

26-27 July              Round 8 and 9                     Burnham-On-Sea

13-14 Sept         Round 10 and 11                                Mid Lancs

11-12 Oct                 Round 12                              Preston

23-24 August             British Championships      Peterborough

 The above calendar is based on applications received by clubs.  There was no intention to start in the South West with 3 events and finish in the north with 3 events.  The calendar works that way as the only clubs to apply for March and April events are from the South West.

Round 8 and 9 will have a Saturday evening Junior and Elite race with invitations going out to European countries.  It will have an extended Saturday evening schedule to accommodate the European Invitation Junior and Elite racing. There will be Junior and elite practice on Friday evening.

All double headers will be Saturday/Sunday races with practice commencing at 9am Saturday and racing at 1pm.  Sunday’s schedule will remain the same.  The host club will retain the option of putting on Friday evening practice.

If the calendar remains the same, it is proposed that round 12 will have 2 Motos on Saturday and a 3rd moto and all finals on Sunday to accommodate the presentation.

B-Finals will remain in all categories                                                                             

6 & under female category will be introduced and combined with 6 & under male if numbers drop below 4.

The running order at nationals will revert to being age based starting with Cruisers.  A minimal break of 5 minutes after each round of Motos will be apparent to ensure riders competing on 2 bikes have sufficient rest.

Pre registration will be available for all national events in 2008.  The cost to pre register will remain as per 2007 entry fees.  The cost to enter on the day will rise by £2.00 to encourage pre registration

Novice racing will not have an official class in 2008, but each host club/region have the option of putting on Novice racing, but will need to control the administration and running of the race.  The Novice slot will be the break after Motos on Sunday only.

End of Season trophies will continue for the top 8 in all classes.  However, the top 16 will be awarded in all 12 and under categories if 7 rounds have been completed before the final round.

Please check www.bmxeast.com for updates and the UEC / UCI International dates.  

Club Presentation afternoon - Sunday November 25^th The Club held their annual awards evening on November 25^th with members and friends meeting at the Bassingbourn Snow Sports Centre for a hectic session of Swiss Bob and Donut sliding down the enormous floodlit ski hill followed by the clubs trophy presentation which was held in the sports centre club house.  

The presentation started with the Club Summer Series awards, which are given to riders who regularly compete in the Tuesday evening races held through the summer months. Over 50 riders took part in the series but for the older riders it can be difficult to make a commitment to attend enough club nights so unfortunately, this year few of the clubs older members qualified for Summer Series trophies The trophy winners this year were;

 7 and Under1 Sheldon Best, 2  Ted Dalleywater, 3 James King, 4 Archie Yorke, 5 Oliver Snelling, 6 Archie Barker,  7 Tommy Petchell               

8-10 Years1 Aaron Dallywater, 2 Ethan Lewis, 3 Daniel Blanche, 4 Bradan Blanche               

11-14 years1 James Handleigh, 2 Louis Burton, 3 Jordan Best, 4 Adam Johnson, 5 Ben Gutteridge               

15 and over1 Wayne Gutteridge, 2 Antony Taylor 

The club also awards annual trophies in the following categories:

The Club Rider Award is for the member judged as the most successful BMX racer in the last year. This year the award went to James Handleigh in recognition for his number one Regional Series Ranking as well as winning his class at the British Championships.  

The Club Member Award is for the rider the judges consider has done the most for the club in the last year. The 2007 award went to Daniel Blanche for his solid rides throughout the year at Regional level where he won his class and at National level which generated regular points for the club in the team elements of these events and in particular for him qualifying for the finals in the British Championships where he finished in 5th. 

The Rob Indri Memorial award is for the rider who has improved the most in the last year. This year the award went to Ted Dalleywater who grew in confidence during the year culminating with an excellent 2nd in the East Anglian regional series, 4th in the National Series and 3rd place in his first British Championships. 

The Shane Keeler Memorial Award is for the rider who has been the most dedicated club rider in the last year without necessarily having any great success. The award went to Louis Burton who attended almost every club, regional and national event in the year and was often seen supporting the younger riders at events. 

Club AGM - November 27^th at the Coombes Community Centre The club AGM was very well attended and for those that did not manage to attend more details will be available in future newsletters – please feel free to ask if you cannot wait!  

Club Web Site –        www.roystonrockets.co.uk If you have anything for the web site please send it direct via the “contact us” function – pictures, race reports, comments about racing – what ever you like - after all it’s your club’s site! You might also wish to have a look at the East Anglia site – www.bmxeast.com, which has links to the other clubs in our region.