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Braintree BMX Club Report: British BMX Series Round 7/8

July 3-4 Platt Fields, Manchester
Results:  Round 7 - Round 8 | 2010 British BMX Series Standings - Rider | Team | Club
2010 BMX Coverage Home | 2010 British BMX Series Home

Posted July 6 2010
Words by Julian Allen

Seventeen riders from Braintree Bullets BMX Club made the trip to Platt Fields BMX Track in Manchester last weekend for rounds 7 and 8 of the 2010 British BMX Series. After hosting the last two rounds of the Series, the Bullets riders were looking to grab more points towards their end of season national rankings. Most of the riders travelled up to Manchester on Friday, some taking up to eight hours in the gridlocked motorway traffic. However, when the riders hit the track, the action was far from stationary.

Round 7 kicked off on Saturday and the 8 year old boys' class saw the first of Braintree's riders take to the track. Tom Stokes had fantastic moto results and eased into the semi finals where he grabbed the all important fourth place to go through to the A final. He had his work cut out and finished eighth. Also in the semi finals were Sydney Allen and Joe Read-Millard but luck wasn't on their side and they narrowly missed out on the main race. In the consolation final Read-Millard powered his way to fifth with Allen styling his way to seventh.

In the nine year old boys Charlie O'Grady eased through his motos into the semi final with club mate Olly Rowe not far behind. Rowe fought hard in the semi and narrowly missed out on the main event qualification spot. In the B final O'Grady finished off a good day in fifth with Rowe hot on his tail in sixth. They had similar finishes in round 8 on Sunday but swapped places in the B final with Rowe in fifth and O'Grady in sixth.

George Moret looked set for an A final spot in the 11 year old boys, but a fully stacked semi saw him just miss out on the main event. Moret blitzed the pack in the B final though and took the win just ahead of club mate Shane Redgewell who looked to be returning to form in third.

The sole representative for the Bullets in the 12 year old boys was Lee Golder who rode strongly all day long and breezed into the A final. He was up with the pack from the start, but as the riders bunched on the second straight, Golder got caught up with another rider and went down; he remounted to finish the lap in eighth place.
The 16 year olds saw Dexter Addington representing Blake End bike shop; Missing Link Cycles qualifying for the semi finals. He battled hard but missed out on the A final by 1 place. In the B final he showed his smooth style to the fore finishing third. He went one better in Sundays round 8 where his finished second in the B final.
The competitive 17-24 year old class saw Olly Cutmore taking an early bath after missing out on the qualifying races. Cutmore fared better though in the 17-29 year old cruiser class where he rounded off his day with a second in the B final.

Three Braintree riders took to the track in the Masters class. Stu Dixon and Julian Allen made too many mistakes in their motos and missed out on the qualifiers. Jason Jessop made it one stage further and went into a run off for the last qualifying spot, but a huge crash put a stop to him transferring any further.

The girls were represented by Anja Moret in the 9-10 girls who finished sixth in the B final and Kelsey Dixon rode in the 13-14 year old girls to finish seventh in the B final.

The action in Round 8 started on Sunday morning with Luke Shriever in the 7 year old boys. Shriever won his run off but was unlucky in the semi and went through to the B final finishing in 5th place.

Sydney Allen, Joe Read-Millard and Tom Stokes once again represented the Bullets in the 8 year old boys. All of them rode fantastically to qualify for the semi finals but they all missed out on the top qualifying positions. Stokes chased the leader for the whole race in the B final to take a well deserved second place followed by Read-Millard in fifth and Allen in seventh.

In the 9 year old boys; Josh Peters from Codham Park club returned to form taking a hugely impressive second place in the A final. Other riders also riding high into the A final were Shane Redgewell, George Moret and Lee Golder. Moret got an uncharacteristic slow start in the 11 year old boys and finished 6th with Redgewell just off the pace in eighth. Golder had a much better day in the 12 year old boys finishing in fifth place for the Bullets.
Olly Cutmore improved on his first days performance in the 17-24 year olds class. Cutmore narrowly missed out on an A final place, and went through to the B final finishing fifth. He also rode in the 17-29 cruiser class where once again he narrowly missed out on the main event; he redeemed himself by winning the B final in fine style.

Julian Allen improved massively on his performance in round 7 by finishing fifth in the B final to maintain his top sixteen position in the national rankings. Just two points separated Stu Dixon from the qualifying stage. Dixon also rode in the 35-39 year old cruiser class where he had his season's best performance finishing third in the B final.

Bethany Shriever joined Anja Moret and Kelsey Dixon in the girls' classes for round 8. Moret finished sixth in the 9-10 year olds B final. Shriever missed the 11-12 year olds A final by one spot and rode in the B final finishing fourth. Dixon improved on her first days showing in the 13-14 year olds finishing 3rd in the B final.

Olypians Liam Philips and Shanaze Reade also rode in the Elite class of the event. Phillips showed his impressive form by winning on day 1 but a crash took his chances on day 2. Reade who also rode against the Elite Men had a nasty crash in the moto stage on day two.

Many of Braintrees riders will be heading to Rounds 9 and 10 of the national championships in Gosport on August 7-8 hoping to gain some late season points towards their final national rankings. Braintree Bullets continue their club series every Wednesday night at their home track where racing starts at 7pm and new riders are always welcome. Please go to www.braintreebmx.co.uk for more details.