Results & Standings:│ | |
VIDEO & IMAGES
Corrine Walder and Richard Robotham were on hand to capture the action in moving and still images and as ever, they did a top job.
Manchester SX Pro Open & RND 2 of The National Series. from British Cycling on Vimeo.
SUPERCROSS REPORT
GB rider Liam Phillips was on great form at the new indoor National BMX Centre at Manchester staged a Supercross international ahead of round two of the national series.
A large crowd cheered Phillips on, as well as helping the Team GB academy riders to a good performance throughout the categories.
Dane Morten Therkildsen finished second behind Phillips in the Supercross after a solid night of consistent rides, while France’s Sylvain Andre took third.
All the Team GB academy riders had a positive showing; Tre Whyte made it to the final, while Curtis Manaton and Kyle Evans just missed out in the semis. Dan Mcbride had two super smooth motos and won both, but went out in the quarter finals trying to make a last turn move to qualify.
In the women’s Supercross, there were 13 riders providing some good fast racing. Team GB's Abbie Taylor won her first moto, and went on to finish sixth in the final. Laetitia Le Corguille of France won all her motos and took the final with a fast performance which left Lithuania’s Vilma Rimsaite second.
Supercross Results in Brief:
Men:
1 Liam Phillips (GB)
2 Morten Therkildsen (Denmark)
3 Sylvain Andre (France)
4 Roger Rinderknecht (Switzerland)
5 Tre Whyte (GB)
6 Pablo Galan Carrasco (Sweden)
7 Kelvin Batey (Ireland)
8 Fausto Endara (World Cycling Centre)
Women:
1 Laetitia Le Corguille (France)
2 Vilma Rimsaite (Lithuania)
3 Maartje Hereijgers (Netherlands)
BRITISH BMX SERIES ROUND 2 REPORT
BMX racing returned to the great indoors of the National Cycling Centre this weekend and with a cast of 850 competitors, the stage was set for some epic racing action. We weren't disappointed!
The weekend was split with cruisers on Saturday and twenty inch bikes on Sunday which allowed for a less frenetic pace and better organisation which seemed to suit most people in attendance. The whole weekend flowed better and the atmosphere was a lot more chilled out, even with World Championship qualification on the line.
In the 9-12 group Josh Coppin took the win but Kim Baptista was looking good till she somersaulted over the bars on the last straight leaving her dazed on the ground. Luckily it was just bumps and bruises for the Mid Lancs flyer. Ryan Brookes took third and Love Not Money's Finlay Mead fourth.
13-14 Cruiser is owned by Paddy Sharrock and he racked up another win from Ton Novis and Scott Dominguez. 15-16 saw Roy 'The Boy' Jones stealing it away from Andrew Green and Tyler Caddy.
It’s not often you can put '30+ ladies cruiser' and 'exciting' in the same sentence but it’s justified this time round. Nikki Spiers has been training hard with the Worlds in mind and it showed after an epic battle with Claire Morrison on her lovely pink Dialled cruiser. Amanda Stileman stepped up for third after a last turn crash left Lea Pendleton on the deck. 45+ cruiser also wasn't short on action with Jeremy Hayes looking good for a win until he exploded on the third straight taking Keith Wilson and Shaun Calvert with him. Keith managed to pop his hip out of place in the crash and stayed down for a while whilst Shaun thought of ways to sell more pizzas.
40-44 was set to be a stormer and started with the shock news of Clive Hawkins retirement from BMX, that left a serious hole in the class that needed to be filled and there are plenty of takers. Tony Fleming did the business to rack up a win with Nigel Page in second and Karl Sanderson in third. However, had Alan Hill not crashed on the last straight it would have been a different story.
35-39 cruiser is just nails with the likes of Daz Reildy and Mario Presi nicking the top two spots. Dutch rider Elco Rikkart was in contention till the third straight jumped up and bit him leaving him in a heap on the floor and a massive shout out to Chris Platt for riding the semi of a lifetime to make the main and come in sixth 30-34 is small in numbers but big on action as Simon Homans took the spoils from Chris Dayson and Roy Sutton, Lee Block was fourth. 17-29 cruiser saw the return of Ria Goodman who took her W1 to a win from Amelia Silvestre and Louise Abbott. 17-29 cruiser is fast and Jack Hall was the fastest of the bunch with Toby Hearne and Damaian Groves doing a good job of chasing him down, but not getting close enough.
On the twenty inch side of things we started with the 6 and unders as always (aka pocket rockets or mini pros) and it was Felix 'Micro' Twitchett who showed the way after the guys were treated to some pro introductions complete with waves to the crowd. Dexter Phillips took a second with Zachary Dowson third.
The other member of 'Team Twitchett' rides up in the 7's but after some great pack riding had to settle for second behind Finlay Todd with visiting rider Jan Seidl third. Ethan Duffy has been storming the 8's with this weekend being no exception although can't count out Jack Hawkins and Alfie Bax with good performances for the next two spots. Keon Smith McDermott brings the speed to the 9s, he also brings some ‘80s throwback with a tidy mullet haircut! Rumour has it that after leading out Jack Nation and Alex Brookes to the win he went home in a convertible Mustang with Billy Ray Cyrus on the stereo!
The 10s had a surprise package in the shape of Adam Smolik with Connor Cassidy snatching second on the line from Ryan Brookes with Keiran Bolton in fourth. The 11s was as hard fought as always with Josh Peters, Nathan Wood and Lochlan Dudley having a good old scrap and finishing in that order.
The 12s is rapidly becoming a class to watch more closely and when it contains Euan Hunt, Shay Casey and Ross Cullen you just know the racing will be top drawer and it was.Euan took the win but the standard in that class is amazing, watch out for up and comer CJ Darby who is still a first year national rider but his confidence and skills are coming on on leaps and bounds.
In the 13's Gideon Orena took a major slam on the last straight as Ethan Vernon took top honours from Harley Taylor and Haydon Green but there was no Eddie Moore in there after a nightmare in his quarter final. The 14s saw first turn drama as Aaron Dalleywater binned it to watch in frustration as Rob Jesson and Lee Golder slugged it out with Rob crossing the line first. Kye White just couldn't get close enough. Jake Power had the power in the 15's and no one was getting close to the Team Identiti rider despite the best efforts of Roy Jones and George Hawker. Taylor Andrews and Paddy Sharrock were winning motos in the 16's but come finals time it was Paddy who somehow found a way through the pack to rack up a win, he seems to get through the smallest of gaps to get to where he needs to be. Another rider who is starting to become noticeably better is Cameron Jeffers with two moto wins and a second. Josh Tucker and Michael Njuguna took second and third on the day.
You may as well take all the 17-24 guys and throw them up in the air to see where they land, the mix of speed, skills and riding styles is brilliant. Billy Luckhurst took his Saturday night booty shaking to a win from Jack Hall and the ever-consistent Jordan Smith. Visiting Danish rider Jack Christensen took fifth and Michael Hawker fourth. There are three words to describe this class 'all
action baby!' Healing vibes go out to Bradley Watts who took a massive hit on the third straight was challenging in his third moto, I felt the thud on top of the first turn about fifty yards away!
25-29 is the comeback class! Ryan Poolman returned from motocross, Warren Bancroft returned from the pie shop and Shaun Fry returned from 1998 with a new Troy Lee helmet to replace the bucket he used to wear. It looked like Wazza was gonna have a fairy tale till he got ever so slightly out of kilter on the last straight and Shaun Fry went 'thanks very much' and stole the win from underneath him. Lee Baker took a massive third moto crash leaving him out cold but eventually walked off under his own steam which was good to see. All we need to complete the comeback capers is Chris Mapp, come on Chris where are you?
Masters. Where do I start? It’s just insane, Dylan Clayton returned like a late 90's vision looking all factory and then some on his new Crupi with full custom race kit and clip pedals on his race bike (there are tears dripping on my keyboard, right now) Alex Dick had the opportunity to clean him out in the last turn but did the gentlemanly thing and kept everyone rubber side down. Alan Hill took a truck load of pain medication from his cruiser crash for third. Zoltan Buday was in the mix until he dropped it in the final. Next time eh?
Veteran is ruled by Pete Power if his gate is good with Rich Green and Kev Blackman right there to keep him honest. The Warlock was fifth after two starters and a chocolate pudding dessert on Saturday night. Quality athletic nutrition is his mantra to keep him fuelled for victory. Or fifth in this case.
In the girls classes there were only four riders in 6 and under with Isabella Hurry winning from Sienna Harvey, Betsy Bax and Hannah Hedges. 7-8 girls was won by Emily Hutt from Emma Jeffers and Isabel Hallam. Emily Brannan was top of the pile in 9-10 girls from a rapidly improving Izzy Hines and Imogen Hill.
11-12 girls was won by Kim Baptista who shook off her cruiser crash to lead in Ellie Jo Chappell and Darcie Taylor for two and three respectively. 13-14 Girls was a battle between Alesi Tye and Beth Shriever. Both girls won all their motos and their semi-finals but there could only be one winner and it was Alesi in a close fought battle to the line. Beth gets extra style points and commentator props for her jumping prowess. This one could rumble on all year long. 15-16 girls had Molly Dobson looking for her first win but it wasn't to be with Izzy Ferrada taking the points from Jenny Noble and Natasha Bradley. Molly took a fourth and you could see her frustration as she crossed the line.
On to the big classes of the day; Championship Women featuring Shanaze Reade and Laetitia Le Courgille amongst others, Junior Men, and an utterly stacked Elite Men class. We'll start with Junior Men which had a sprinkling of Dutch talent team guys, a Dane and four home grown riders.
Once the gate dropped it was clear there was a standout rider and that was Quillan Isidore. Speed, smoothness and style were all on show and he put it all together for a superb win. Expect big things from the Dialled Bikes rider over the next few years for sure.
In Championship Women everyone wanted to see the Queen Bee of UK BMX; Shanaze Reade. Looking solid all day after skipping the Supercross on Saturday night Shanaze didn't get the best of starts in the final which saw Laetitia Le Courgille out front going into turn one where Shanaze attempted to bump and run but ended up on the deck with the added effect of slowing Laetitia and leaving Eva Ailloud to take the lead with Vilma Rimsaite and Simone Christensen on her back wheel after a less than stellar first straight. No one reckoned with Maartje Hereijgers who sneaked up the outside in the last straight to take the win.
But what of Shanaze? She limped off, probably a bit bruised but as someone said to me later 'She only has to win one race this year, and it’s not this one.'
Elite Men saw the strongest line up for a good few years in the UK, probably since the ‘96 Worlds in Brighton. 40 riders from various parts of the globe including Europe, South America, North America, Japan and Didsbury. The gate dropped and Liam Phillips looked like he was heading for a second win but whilst heading to turn two he tangled with Canadian Tory Nyhaug and the two headed up the berm with Liam going clean over the top in spectacular fashion. Nyhaug continued but it left Marcus Bloomfield to take the win and two hundred nappy vouchers to the good. The level of Elite racing seen was nothing short of brilliant and I defy anyone to watch a better race in Europe this year, it’s on YouTube if you need to watch it again.
So that was it, round 2 at Manchester done and dusted and if you still want more there is another one in March.
British Cycling would like to thank the organising team, officials and everyone else who helped promote this event. Our sport could not exist without the hundreds of people, many of them unpaid volunteers, who put in many hours of hard work running events, activities and clubs.
