Hartelpool hosted the North Region Summer Series finale and Club Champs on Sunday, with many classes up for grabs plus the prestige of being named best club to fight for, the stage was set for some great action!
Once again, Andy Drelincourt brought the Manchester BMX tent to the race, by the end of the day, it was the only one still standing and the adult racers ahd largely been evicted by Youth! With the North Sea visible and the wind whipping clouds of dust off the track, “epic” seemed like a suitable word to describe the setting.
Hartlepool is a fantastic track; downhill, with 6 straights and dirt berms. This made for cracking passing moves and a fair few crashes! Noteably our own Dreli, who ate dirt whislt in second in the 30-39 Cruiser B Final. He looked on for a great result after making a sweet move in the berm, but a clash of wheels ended his hopes of glory on the day.
Valerie Z, our own superstar in the making, won her race handily to make it a perfect sweep of every round. This is an incredible achievement in her first full year of BMX Racing. She is now 2009 North Region Champion in 10-12 Girls!
Our pocket rocket and future pro, Harrison “son of the track master” Drelincourt finished an excellent 7th overall in 6 and Under Boys. Well done Harrison!
In 10 Boys, Callum McDonlad finished 6th on the day, good enough for 7th overall, whilst Joe “Lil’ Factory” Saunders put the moves on in the berms to take 6th on the day and 9th overall.
Brandan Nolan took 5th on the day in 11 Boys, his best result of the series, which sees him finish in a fantastic 4th overall! Riccardo Addymellor finished in 7th overall, with Spencer McLeod 10th.
Matthew “Factory” Saunders saved his best for last, with a fantastic win in 13 Boys! He took second spot overall, a well deserved place after a season of good results. His day started badly though, getting beaten by most fo the filed in his first moto, but he battled back and in the final, looked super smooth taking the victory comfortably.
In 15 Boys, Jake Roberts finished in 5th, but only raced 4 rounds. His placing highlights how impressive his results have been in the series, with 2 wins and 2 second places!
Josh “Peebz” Nicholas finished in 4th overall in 16+ which is an outstanding result given that winner Jack Hall is part of “The Firm” of Free Agent/Route 55 and runner up Adam Smith is on the Talent Team. On the day, Josh looked well dressed for the old school track in jeans and a check shirt. This may well spark a trend…..
The Masters field on the day was swollen with riders from other clubs looking to get points for the club champs. Goldcoast’s Dave Ives and Jay Sims were racing, as was a rather fast contingent of Scottish riders. All of this made it the best and most fun Masters race of the Series, with some crazy action in the berms and riders going off the track in each moto. Brett Archibald took the glory on the day, but I am now proud to say I’m 2009 North Region Masters Champion!
In Payback, our club’s adopted son, Cal Strickland was matching Peebz with a check shirt and jeans to go with the old school moves going down in the berms. Cal didn’t push too hard, which was a wise strategy with crashes galore in motos! On the day, Jordan Hayes took the win, with Luke Gamble second and Cal third. Overall, the title went to Cal, so he becomes 2009 North Region Champion
The big rigs
matthewglynn.co.uk went into the last round a handful of points behind Preston’s OJ Francis in 16-29 Cruiser, and was debuting his new Supercross steed after snapping his old bike at the Manchester Nationals! Matty looked silky smooth on his new rig, racing to third on the day. Unfortunatley for Matty’s title ambitions, OJ did enough to take 5th and with it the overall title by 2 points!
In Elite Cruiser/30-39, The Hitman, Neil Harbour, was absent so couldn’t bag anymore points for the series. Hitman finished in 4th overall for his sponsor Dialled Bikes. Dreli was battling hard, but after making the A-Final in the last few rounds, could only make the B on the day. His crash wasn’t his fault, and looked very hard. His sense in wearing body armour certainly paid off, with the track master limping off sore, but not seriously injured. Andy finished a place behind Neil in 5th overall.
Neil “Big Factory” Saunders was unlucky to get a pinch flat in a moto, which lost him precious placings on the day, as 40+ Cruiser was Grand Prix. With 7th on the day, Neil secured 4th overall for the series, but as a proud father, he was more concerned with the excellent performances of his boys on the day.
Old Skool
By Far the biggest category in the North Region, Old Skool has produced some of the most memorable sights from the series this year – with gleaming chrome bikes, original 80′s kit and moves from the same era, the class has delighted everyone watching and has brought many older racers back into the sport. With MCR Old Skoolers Daz Bovill and Ady Brookes in civvies for the final, it was left to Sandro Sammarco to fight for glory for the club. with foot down action a theme of every class on the day, the Old Skool guys showed the rest of us how to do it properly!
Goldcoast’s Darren “Speedy” Reidy made a visit to the class to earn club points and took the win by some margin. Sandro took 6th on the day, good enough for a well earned 8th overall. Daz finished 21st, with Ady 24th. fifty riders (yes, 50…5-0) competed in at least one Old Skool round this series, making the MCR boy’s achievemnets even better.
With the Summer Series done and dusted (literally after Hartlepool) the focus shifts for some to the last rounds of the National Series in Bournemouth, but for most the big one is the British Championships at Cheddar on 19th and 20th of September.
Preview coming soon!
