Fresh from the club’s success at the first 2 rounds of British BMX Series at Peterborough, a slightly smaller contingent of Manchester riders hit the road for the 4 hour trip to Dagenham in Essex.
Smaller the number may have been, but Saturday’s results saw Manchester riders in excellent form. Sunday’s results were still good with some great results from Manchester’s younger riders. Here’s how the action went down:
In the 7’s, Ethan Duffy rode out of his skin. Not content with his first national win on Saturday, Ethan put in an awesome come from behind win on Sunday taking William Goode and Jack Hawkins on the line.
In the 8’s Zack Harrop made the B-final on Saturday and went one better by making his first A-final with a 6th on Sunday. Oliver Cope also made his first national final with a 7th in the A-final on Sunday. Expect more A-finals from these 2 in the future.
In the 11’s Shay Casey got an 8th on Saturday and went better on Sunday with a 5th.
The 14’s were missing Spencer McLeod who’s out with a broken leg, but Jake Power was in outstanding form taking 6th Saturday and an amazing 3rd on Sunday. Jake’s recent form is impressing a lot of people…even his Dad. A family double win can’t be far away!
17-24 Men is the class to watch. Even Shanaze Reade has started racing this class. Andy Clucas was in great form all weekend, taking a win on Saturday and just missing out with a 2nd on Sunday. Excellent racing though and Andy’s proving to be the star of the class.
The Veteran class has an improving reputation with the likes of Richard Green and Martin Parker putting in fast laps, although Peter Power will take some beating. Pete made it 4 wins from 4 nationals with Andy Drelincourt doing the club proud with a 6th on Sunday.
In Elite Men, it was a mixed bag for our top rider Cal Strickland. Clearly unhappy with the track, Cal peaked with a 6th on Saturday. It’s a blip and I’m sure Cal will be back at front in no time.
Valerie Zebrokova is starting to make the 13-14 Girls category her own. A convincing win on Saturday made it 3 wins from 3. On Sunday, Val didn’t have it her own way, but was still looking good for a win until a mistake in the 2nd corner lead to a crash as Val ran out of track.
Not to be out shone by Manchester’s rising stars, Roy Sutton took his first ever win in 30-34 Cruiser on Saturday and stayed in fine form on Sunday by placing 2nd.
All in all, a great weekend by Manchester riders and a good show by the club at Dagenham. Next stop is Braintree on July the 2nd and 3rd.
Link to video, photos and report:
http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/bmx/article/bmx20110522-British-BMX-Series-Round-3—4-0
