The final round of the East Anglian BMX Winter Series race took place in Royston, Hertfordshire. Braintree Bullets BMX Club fielded 31 riders amongst the 144 entries.
The track was in fantastic condition and the cold and windy weather didn’t stop riders from as far afield as The Midlands and Devon making the trip to gather some ranking points.
The micro minis in the seven and under’s class got the racing underway and the Bullets were in the thick of the action from the off. Eddie Cannons had been consistent all day and in the final he showed his class as he hit the front from the first straight to romp home for the win.
Chasing hard behind Cannons was his club-mate Josh Cates, who fought for position throughout the race to secure second just ahead of Barney Devereux from Milton Keynes. In the girls’ class, Braintree’s Amelia Parrish held on to third behind the Norwich pair of Evie Harding and Eden Dorrell.
Taylor Sampson made the journey up from Tiverton worthwhile as he took the win in the eight-nine year olds. Sampson had only been beaten in one moto on his way to the final and was joined on the podium by fellow south-west rider Max Avery from Decoy. In third place was James Payne-Fraser from Milton Keynes, who missed out on some mid-race carnage to take the spot. The B final win went to the Bullets’ Cameron Parrish who had missed out on the A final by just one position.
The guys from The Midlands made the 10-11 year olds class their own as Mackenzie Rennison from Birmingham took on all comers to take the win in fine style. The battle raged behind Rennison as Max Wildbore from Derby and Seb Pantlin from Braintree duked it out for the whole lap, with Wildbore just having the edge on Pantlin, who settled for third. The nine-10 year old girls’ class was dominated by Redditch’s Hannah Drew, with Milton Keynes Zara Lachlan in second, and Ipswich’s Abi Pike in third.
Moving up to the 12-13 year olds, and The Midlands riders hit the front again with Jake Greene from Derby taking the win in the final from start to finish. Greene had to fight for it down the last straight as Hayes Hawks’ Matt Hutt went bar to bar in a sprint for the line. The top Bullet was Tom Stokes as he kept consistent to secure sixth with club-mate Jake Coombs in eighth.
Braintree’s Josh Wallis put in a dominant performance in the 14-16 year olds to take the win as he went unbeaten through the day. Wallis was virtually untroubled, and rode to the win in fine style from the Birmingham pair of Terry Yates in second and Kody Evans in third. Ollie Rowe made it a Birmingham sandwich as he chased the leaders in fourth.
Tim Drew flew the flag for Redditch Premiers in the 17+ Cruiser class as he won every race of the day. Milton Keynes riders diced it up for the remaining podium spots as Spencer Cremin inched ahead of Lennie Warner for second and third respectively. Isabelle Ferrada from Milton Keynes showed true grit in the 17+ girls to take the win. Charlie Hartwell from Birmingham had looked to lead out the pack, but Ferrada was looking for lines through the first half of the final and down the second straight she set up her move to steam home for the win, with Hartwell in second and Peterborough Phantoms’ Beth Campbell in third.
The final class of the day was the 17+ payback class which featured a strong national quality field from across the country. Dom Skidmore from Birmingham had looked like the man to beat all day and come final time he did the business with a strong lap to take the win. Braintree’s Oli Cutmore was the best of the rest as he smoothed his way ahead of the pack to take second from Norwich’s Alan Hill in third, who was being pursued by the Braintree trio of Taylor Andrews, Josh Butson and Shane Redgewell.
Braintree BMX Club’s final Winter Series race takes place on March 2 with the East Anglian summer programme commencing on March 23 at The Spring Classic on Norwich. For further information on the club, racing and coaching please visit www.braintreebmx.com or email joolsnhayley@tiscali.co.uk
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