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2008
British Championships
The BMX Racing British Championships was held last
weekend at the international standard track of the Peterborough BMX
Racing Club. Practice on Saturday was held in sunny warm conditions
although Sunday dawned with rain to make site preparation difficult
for the officials but by the time the opening ceremony and racing
started the weather had cleared up to leave a warm but overcast sky!
The track is one of the most technical rides in the country at 400m
in length with wide sweeping corners and long straights. As usual,
it was an action packed weekend with over 600 riders taking part
with 23 of them from the Royston BMX Club.
The Royston Rockets BMX Racing Club youngest members
in the 6 & Under class started with Kele Newall making it to the
semi finals with Alfie Salmon finishing in fifth in the quarter
finals – the hardest placing with the top four riders going forward
to the next round and Louis Forman just missing a quarter final
place by one point in the qualifying rounds. In the 7 yr class
Royston had five riders and although Marmaduke Birt, Ted
Dalleywater, and Archie Yorke were unable to progress from the
qualifying rounds, James King made it through to the semi finals
where another fifth place decided by the line cameras ended his days
competition but Josh Peters made it all the way to the final where
he took a hard earned second place. Royston’s representatives in the
8 yr class saw Oliver Snelling end his aspirations at the qualifying
stage although Daniel Blanche and Ethan Vernon went all the way to
the final where they finished in fourth and second respectively. The
9yr class saw Bradan Blanche going out in the qualifying races and
Aaron Dalleywater taking sixth in the final to add more points to
the clubs challenge. In the 10 yr. class saw both Matthew Harris and
Zak Foreman were amongst the many riders who did not make it through
from the qualifying races. The 12 yr. class saw James Handleigh
finish in a well deserved third in the final whilst in the 13yr
class Aston Blanche found that he was another of the dreaded fifth
place finishers in the semi final whilst in the 16’s category Wayne
Gutteridge had a bad day by his standards as he went out in the
qualifying races. In the Masters class (30+yrs) Darren Foreman went
out before the quarter finals and Lee Alexander’s run of bad luck
continued when he was involved in someone else’s crash whilst in a
qualifying place in his semi final and in the Cruiser 30-39yr class
Danny Ancell just failed to qualify in a run off for a place in the
quarter finals. More success came with Katie Roberts in the Junior
Female (17+) class where she finished in fourth as did Laurence Mapp
in an action Packed Elite Final.
After all the points were added up the Royston
Rockets came out in sixth place of the 45 clubs taking part which is
the highest position in the Championships that the club has ever
achieved.
The
next event on the calendar is a National event at the Mid Lancs BMX
Club on Sept. 13th/14th followed by the East
Anglia BMX Championships on September 21st at Ipswich BMX
Club where the Rockets will be out in force for this event with the
day starting off at 10-00am with rider registration closing at
11-00am and racing from 1-00pm until about 4-30pm.
The clubs own Summer Race Series on Tuesday nights
at the clubs track in Burns Road, Royston is now coming to an end
but at this stage the winter dates have not been set. Full details
of forthcoming club and regional events are published on the club
web site at
www.roystonrockets.co.uk, or ring 01763 260959 for more
information on BMX racing.
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