No, I’m not about to burst into song with lines from Bon Jovi… The Monster Energy British BMX Series is now at the Halfway point of the season, with rounds 5 & 6 at Braintree in the bag.

A reduced Manchester contingent made the long trip down south for the host club’s first crack at hosting a National and everyone came away very impressed with the whole event.

Before diving into the racing from the weekend however, I’ve been promising a write up of the first rounds of the Nats so far and it’s high time I got stuck in;

Cheddar

The venue hosted the Brits last year and saw 700 riders take part in what, at the time, was viewed as a fantastic event. Holding a National there though was considered by some to be too much, as the track is fast and demands full committment from riders on the third straight with some huge jumps. Then again, the whole point of National racing is that it’s a step up in competition!

First up are our youngest racers, with Harrison “will race for Transformers” Drelincourt improving all the time in 7 Boys, moto’d both days but close to making it through. Joe “Lil’ Factory” Saunders got stuck in in 11 Boys but couldn’t make it beyond the motos either.

12 Boys saw Spencer McLeod doing very well; Spence had a great winter at Regional level and has carried that form through into the 2010 Summer Series in the North. At the Nationals, he got 2nd in the B Final on Sat and a fantastic 7th in the A Final on Sunday.

Matthew “Factory” Saunders made a solid start to his 2010 campaign with a pair of B Final appearances in 14 Boys; Matt took 3rd on Sat and 2nd on Sun.

Redline‘s Valerie Zebrokova is riding up in 13-14 Girls and will be tested as it’s a tough class. Our own mini Shanaze did well at Cheddar, with an 8th on day one and 5th on day two.

Jacob Roberts also rides for Redline and makes that signing look like a great idea everytime he gets on a bike. He’s the class act in 16 Boys, which isn’t to say the other riders are no good, quite the opposite, it’s a class with some real talent in it, but it’s fair to say Jacob has an edge over his rivals. At Cheddar, Jake was his usual blisteringly fast self and doubled up with wins.

In 17-24 Love Not Money‘s Andy Clucas (technically not riding for Manchester at this point but, but we’ve “aquired” him since!) showed he’s serious about contending for the title this season with a 6th and a 4th over the weekend. Andy’s LNM team and now club-mate Joe “Average” Davenport made his Nationals debut in 17-24 but it was a tough intro and he didn’t get beyond motos.

“Pistol” Pete Hosker managed to ride in a straight line (anyone who’s seen Pete sometimes go left, waaaaaay left off the gate will know what I mean) and win the B Final in 25-29, but his presence was required at a wedding that night (not his!) so he missed sun.  Love Not Money‘s Ross Gill netted 3rd in the B on sat and 2nd in the B on sun. A solid start to the season for both riders.

Masters has gone super hard this year, with the re-alignment of age classes dropping a lot of top riders from 19+ into Masters. Newly signed to Manchester, Tony “Flemdog” Fleming showed the young pups how it’s done with a brilliant performance over the weekend; 3rd on sat and 2nd on sun. I had a lovely view of the action from waay back and got moto’d.

Matty Glynn races in Royal and 661 kit, but is on Love Not Money and gets it done in 17-29 Cruiser. He got 5th in the B on sat and 2nd on sun.  In 30-34, it’s all about Manchester! There’s Andy Drelincourt (ok, so he’s older, but riding down is allowed!) Mark Ferguson, Roy “Sutty” Sutton and myself (both on Love Not Money) and then there’s Dialled Bikes Factory Team rider Neil Harbour. Neil has been racing for 27 years but has never won a National. At Cheddar, he put that right in a big way taking the win both days.   

Elite was stacked, there was more talent than a Simon Cowell special and it didn’t disappoint; Cal Strickland has been looking to firmly establish himself as one of the top riders in the UK and his B Final win on sat followed by a fantastic 3rd on sunday should help his cause. He’s gone from being known as the rider on a steel frame and flat pedals who does well, to being mentioned in the same breath as the other top riders; as a contender.

Derby

From one of the fastest tracks in the country to the longest, the 3rd and 4th rounds of the Nationals hit Derby, with it’s super long first straight it was a real test of fitness!

I’ll start with the Cruisers this time, as we always kick off the racing anyway! Matty Glynn opened the weekend with a B Final win in 17-29 and backed that up with a 3rd in the B on sunday. 30-34 was the Neil Harbour show again, with the Dialled rider taking his win total to 4 from 4.

Back to 20″ and the 7 Boys class. Oliver Cope is new to the club and Nationals racing, but looked very comfortable at Derby, with a 6th in the A on sat and 2nd in the B on sun. Harrison Drelincourt made the B on sat but couldn’t match it on sun. Another newcomer, Zack Harrop, was in the mix as well but got moto’d. With 3 riders now in the class, Manchester has started building for the future! (2024 Olympic team?)

Spence McLeod continued to impress in Derby, with two further A Final appearances in 12 Boys; 7th and 5th are great performances and should do his confidence the world of good.

In 13-14 Girls, Valerie had a great weekend with a pair of 3rd places.

Matt Saunders got to the B Finals both days in Derby in 14 Boys, another weekend of solid riding, taking 7th and 3rd.

Another weekend of Nationals, another weekend of wins for Jacob Roberts in 16 Boys. Pure class.

17-24 saw Andy Clucas take 2nd on sat, with a 4th on sun; proof he’s consistently one of the best in class. Joe Davenport showed he’s rapidly improving on the race track with an impressive 3rd and 6th in B Finals over the weekend.

Pete Hosker won the B Final in 25-29 on sat and free from any other social engagements, made the main on sun, taking 7th. On sat, the term “Hoskered” entered the BMX Racing lexicon, as Pete went waaaay left (again) off the snap leading commentator Rich Eames to coin the term he’s “Hoskered” the snap…Ross Gill mnade the B both days and took 3rd on sat and 2nd on sun.

In Masters, Flemdog was again on form, getting 2nd and 5th over the weekend. Age hasn’t caught up with Flem, he’s got too good a snap!

Cal was getting it done again in Elite; although the saturday bloc racing took its toll on such a long track. 7th and 5th were solid results from Derby, but in such a tough class he’ll be looking for better results.

The Monster Energy British BMX Series kicked off in Cheddar and moved on to Derby for Rounds 3 & 4. In between has been Regional racing in Hartlepool and this Sunday sees another round in Preston!

It’s goping to be a busy summer for Manchester riders as we all look towards our own National as well as competing in other events.

The club is growing with a lot more riders attending National races, with some young talent emerging alongside older riders.

Reports on recent races will follow!

Rounds 1 & 2 of the Monster Energy British BMX Series saw Manchester riders in action across the age classes, with several getting wins!

Congratulations to Dialled Bikes rider Neil Harbour, who took the win both days in 30-34 Cruiser. Neil has been racing for 27 years and these were his first National wins.

Redline‘s Jacob Roberts also doubled up, this time in 16 Boys. Tony “Flemdog” Fleming took the win on Sat in 40-44 Cruiser, and podium’d in a stacked Masters class.

A full report will follow shortly!

Summer officially started last weekend with Round 1 of the North Region Summer Series at the excellent Shanaze Reade BMX Track at Tipkinder Park, Crewe.

There was a big turnout across all the age categories, which had been shaken up along the National Series lines. This meant that there were several new classes as old ones were realigned or divided. The always fiercely competitive 30-39 Cruiser is now 30-34 and 35-39, Masters has made a comeback (last year it was basically yours truly) and the 16+ class has gone, replaced by 16, 17-24 and 25-29.

There was some drama before the racing, as the decision was made on health & safety grounds to allow only the Payback (Elite) class to ride the pro-section on the second straight. This provoked controversy, as it has been an open option for all race classes in the past and prompted a couple of Masters riders to decide not to race.

What matters, as always, is the action on the track and at Crewe, there was plenty of it!

First up for Manchester were Oliver Cope and Harrison “Son of Andy” Drelincourt in 7 Boys. Oliver bagged an impressive 4th, whilst Harrison continues his improvement with 6th.

11 Boys saw three Manchester riders competing and shows the club is developing young riders nicely. Callum McDonald was first MCR rider with 5th, Haroun Al Jeddal 7th and Joe “Lil Factory” Saunders 10th.

Winter Series Champ Spence McLeod continued his impressive run of form and took the win in 12 Boys, ahead of two CGR riders on their home track! Brandan Nolan got an excellent 5th place, just reward for his consistent riding.

13 Boys saw Redline‘s Valerie Zebrokova finish 4th, a great result on its own as she was racing the boys, but given that she finished two places ahead of longtime rival Jenny Noble, it is a fantastic finish.

Matthew “Factory” Saunders took 4th in 14 Boys, a good start to the season that should give him confidence for the Nationals.

16+ may have gone, but the outcome was the same in the new 16 Boys class, as Redline‘s Jacob Roberts took the win. Ryan Cagney got 6th, a solid start to his Summer Series campaign.

In 17-24, there was a thrilling finish, as Andy Clucas and Adam Guest looked to be fighting for the win down to the line, but Rob Hawker passed both with an impressive display of manualling to claim the 50 points on the day. 16+ Winter Series Champ Josh “Peebz” Nicholas, riding for theridenation.com was 5th, with MCR clubmate Jonathan Dawson 6th.

25-29 saw MCR rider “Pistol” Pete Hosker take the win with fellow MCR rider Ross Gill 4th in his first race for new team Love Not Money.

Stuart Hanmer was our lone representative in Masters at Crewe and took 6th, but the race produced yet more drama as Daz Reidy and Chico Hooke were both riding well ahead of the chasers and decided to jump the pro-section. This resulted in a massive cheer form the spectators, but saw both riders disqualified.

16-29 Cruiser consisted of Matthewglynn.co.uk on his own, so he took the full 50 on the day. Fortunately he raced alongside 17-24 so he had some company round the track! He’s got a lot of sponsors, including 661 and Royal, so check his blog out for the full list!

30-34 Cruiser saw Bradford’s Nigel Smith in a Manchester sandwich, as he finished 3rd behind Dialled Bikes rider Neil “Hitman” Harbour and Roy Sutton but ahead of Mark Ferguson and myself.

35-39 sees the older half of the life begins at 30 club go at it on big rigs and it provided some tense racing. Roger Wilbraham was on form but a daring move in the second berm by Pete Butler in the final left Rog nowhere to go but on the grass to finish 7th. Andy “clips rock” Drelincourt is another rider peaking in time for the Nationals and finished an excellent 2nd, a place ahead of Mark Egan; both riders were awarded the Winter Series Title after finishing level on points, so belated congratulations Dreli!

Payback was more than stacked. Stacked, in fact, doesn’t do the Payback field who turned up to race at Crewe any justice whatsoever….

Ultimate Pro BMX turned up in force, meaning 2008 Olympian Liam Phillips was racing, along with fellow British Cycling Podium Programme rider Marcus Bloomfield. Tre Whyte and Curtis Manaton rounded out the team, which looks set for major success this year. Tre’s older brother Dan was racing for Intense, back after injury setbacks. Dan McBride and Hardknox’s Kyle Evans were also there, meaning most of the top male riders supported by BC were racing. Redline‘s Tom Palmer, local boys Ash Davey, Levi Ashley, Kieron McAvoy and Shaun Issit, Goldcoast’s Josh Hanlon, Adam Smith and Jack Hall (Free Agent/Route55) from North East and Fastlane‘s Cal Strickland finished off the best field seen in years.

Bloomy, Liam, Cal.

The racing, as expected, was superb. The crowd were treated to a display of riding that wouldn’t have looked out of place at the Nationals, or at a SuperCross race for that matter, as the competitors tore round the well groomed track and made the jumps look easy.

The final was tense, all the riders were on blistering form and anything can happen in a BMX race! The gate dropped and it was team-mates Liam and Bloomy who got the lead, just ahead of Cal. Liam capitalised on what looked like Marcus casing a jump slightly to take the win, with Cal third, Dan McBride 4th, Kyle 5th, Tre 6th, Shaun 7th and Dan Whyte 8th.

The Series certainly started with a bang! Now the races have the first round of the National Series at Cheddar before heading to the next Summer Series round, at Hartlepool on May 9th.

The North Region Winter Series came to an end with Hartlepool seeing racers blast round the downhill track looking to gain the last points on offer.

It proved to be a good series for Manchester riders Spencer McLeod and Josh Nicholas with both crowned series champions.

Spence took the win on the day to make it three victories in a row in the series and the overall title in 12 Boys. Brandon Nolan rode consistently throughout the series to take 5th overall, with another MCR rider Ricardo Addymellor 7th overall. The Winter Seres has been excellent experience for these young riders, who have all improved and will be looking forward to the Summer Series and the prospect of Brits qualification.

The lone MCR representative in 13 Boys has been Redline sponsored Valerie Zebrokova, who will have enjoyed the challenge of racing the boys and getting some tough competition. She finsihed an excellent 3rd overall.

theridenation.com‘s Josh (or Peebz as he’s better known) took the title in the very tough 16+ class, no other Manchester riders entered enough rounds to qualify for an overall ranking.

In 30-39 Cruiser, Andy Drelincourt finished tied on points with Preston’s Mark Egan, both on 236. Andy had two wins in the series, to Mark’s one, but lost out on the overall with a lower finish in the final round.

The Summer Series begins in Crewe on July 11th