Danny Jake Monforte doubled up for the junior wins at the Lloyds Bank National BMX Series as Jos Marnham and Calum Strickland shared the superclass victories at Cumbernauld in Scotland for the fifth and sixth rounds.
Round 5
In the open superclass category, Jos Marnham (Birmingham BMX Club) got off to a flyer of a start and was able to just edge out Calum Strickland (Staystrong / Clark & Kent) as they went into the first berm. Marnham went on to take the win with the fastest lap of the day, with Strickland in second, while George Hunt (Ice Bikes UK Race Team) took the the best pass of the day to go from fifth to third place with a stunning move in the second berm.
The championship women class saw Theia Gaynor (Moto1 365 Race Team) merge with the 17-29 woopen to make up the numbers. Former championship rider Emily Green (Decoy BMX Club) had a great start to storm out the gate and take the lead. Green just about held off a late attack from Gaynor to win the final with Remi Godfrey (Staystrong / Clark & Kent) taking an impressive third place as one of the youngest riders in the group.
In the junior open category, Danny Jake Monforte (Peckham Challengers BMX Club) took a narrow victory over fellow Peckham rider Xander Mavolwane Wright on countback due to the grand prix racing format with Harvey Fawcett (Hardknox Byke Coaching) taking third place.
Round 6
Weather conditions for Sunday were much better than the previous day of racing, enabling the superclass riders to use the pro straight and make for some much more exciting racing.
Strickland, who started from gate seven, was able to ride a perfect first straight, passing Marnham from the outside to go into the first berm. George Hunt (Ice Bikes UK Factory Team) took a well deserved second place finish for the day with, Marnham finishing in third.
Speaking on his win, Strickland said:
"Saturday's motos went pretty well and I managed to get first lane choice for the final, but my start wasn't what I needed to get in front of Jos though.
"I felt like I found a much better groove today and made some adjustopents to my gate which helped a lot. We got to race the pro set after it was closed the previous day, which makes the laps more fun and flow better. Despite having an outside lane for the final, I managed to get out well enough to holeshot and hold it to the line.
"Cumbernauld is in my top three national venues. The track is wide open and fun, just generally a really good race track. I was just feeling good in the laps and having some good personal victories through the weekend. It's a quick turnaround for Manchester nationals in two weeks, then I'll be finishing off the series with Birmingham and the Brits before working towards the USA BMX grands in November - I feel like I have some unfinished business there!"
The championship women and 17-29 class saw Gaynor take the win after a tussle with Green. Gaynor overtook the Decoy BMX Club rider on the third straight to secure the victory ahead of Lily Chiziwa in third.
Gaynor said:
"It has been really fun racing at Cumbernauld, I’ve realised it’s one of my favourite tracks. The track was kept in good condition all weekend and I had a great time riding it.
"I had to work for the win on Sunday. I really enjoyed battling it out with the other girls after getting shut down out of the gate. I’ll be heading out to Tiel for the European Cup next weekend and then up to Manchester for the nationals the week after."
Monforte doubled up for the weekend wins with another victory on Sunday in the junior open class, leading the fourth moto from start to finish. Wright went on to take another second place finish for the weekend with Fawcett also in third to match Saturday's results.
Monforte said:
"I started off missing Friday's practice as I had my GCSEs! I had never done that pro set before and went into practice not quite sure of the pros and only jumped them in my motos. I was having some good gates all day which lead me to take the win both days.
"It was good racing at Cumbernauld this weekend despite the wind on the first day and was a very good atmosphere which made the racing great. I was so happy to win both days, and my next race is Manchester Platt Fields - the next national race - in two weeks."
