The opening two rounds of the British Cycling National BMX Summer Race Series took place over the Easter weekend with a return to the recently re-opened BMX track in Derby. The weather was generally dry but chilly although the very long and demanding track made it hard work for the 460 or more riders taking part. The event was sponsored by an Eastern Region based company – EA Ltd – who specialise in event spectator stands, commentary towers etc.

 The Royston Rockets BMX Racing Club had 11 riders competing over the two days of competition with the youngest being Ted Dalleywater who took 7^th on both days in the 8yr class B final. The Rockets representative in the 9 year class was Daniel Blanche who took two 4^th place positions whilst in the 10yr class Aaron Dalleywater took a 5^th on the Saturday followed up with a fine 3rd place in the A final on the Sunday. The 13/14y class saw James Handleigh taking 8^th in the class B final in round 1 and unfortunately failed to qualify for the finals in round 2 whilst in the same class Aston Blanche took a 5^th and a 6^th in the B finals. In the 19+ class Richard Townsend’s season got off to a poor start as recent illness took it’s toll and he failed to make the finals and in the Masters (30+) category Lee Alexander came out fighting with a 7^th and 5^th in the A finals. The Cruiser classes (24 inch wheels) saw the introduction of a new 40-44 class which attracted over 20 riders including Royston’s Danny Ancell who just missed out on finals qualification in both rounds whilst team mate Lee Alexander took 2^nd on day 1 but elected to scratch from day 2 to concentrate on the Master class and Mark Seaman took a 3^rd on Day 2 having been unable to make the first days event. The final class on the track was the Elite class which included GB’s Olympic rider and riders with many World and European titles to their name including the current National Champion Laurence Mapp who took a 3^rd and a 4^th place to get his season underway.

 The next event on the race calendar is the third round of the Regional Summer Series at Milton Keynes on May 3rd where the Rockets will again be out in force to chase points for their ranking positions.

The Rockets own Summer programme start on April 21st with their regular Tuesday night sessions at the clubs track in Burns Road, Royston. 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.