Location: Royston Rockets BMX Club, Royston, Herts
Event: 14 October 2012
Report: Braintree BMX Club
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The final BMX race meeting in the East Anglian summer schedule, The EA Championships, took place last weekend at Royston Rockets BMX Club. The host club had got the track prepped to a great standard for the event and the race fans were treated to some great autumn sunshine throughout the day.
All of the East Anglian clubs were well represented along with some out of region riders making up the 156 entries who competed for the title of East Anglian Champion 2012.
Prior to racing getting underway, those present held a minute’s applause in memory of Milton Keynes legend Peter Kirk who passed away the day before following a short battle with cancer. A charity race was held featuring all of the club chairpersons to raise money for Cancer Research and £250 will be going to the charity. The chairs race was fittingly won by Marc Devereux from Milton Keynes who came from behind to overcome Mark Campbell from Peterborough Phantoms who got a flying start and lead for the first half of the lap.
The cruiser classes’ kick started the main racing and the 16-29 class was won by Braintree’s British Champion Oli Cutmore from club mate Chris Potter. Evan Tulloch also won the under 15’s class for Braintree. There was a dominant performance in the 30-39 class from Norwich Flyer’s Paul Barnard who won every lap. Braintree’s Dan Sturgeon claimed second after a third moto pile up where half the field hit the deck. The host club’s Sam King rounded off a consistent day in third.
Birmingham’s Tim Drew took the win in the 40-44’s with a clean sheet for the day. The title of class champ though, went to Braintree’s Steve Gilbert as the first East Anglian home after he avoided an ailing Spencer Cremin from Milton Keynes who had failed in attempt to take the lead. The third place trophy went to Peterborough Phantom’s Nigel Stonebridge.
Some fantastic racing took place in the 6 and unders class as the future stars of the sport got down to business. The podium spots all went to Peterborough with Joseph Carey, Owen Putland and Aston Chapman taking the top spots. Braintree riders just missed out on the fight for the title after some bar banging on the first straight with Eddie cannons in fourth and Milan Machacek in fifth.
Into the 7s and Josh Barsby from Huncote made the journey from the Midlands worthwhile to take the win from Royston’s Josh Abbot who trailed him like a rocket in second. Adam Gilbert from Braintree rounded off the podium after keeping the field at bay in third. The equivalent girl’s class saw Norwich mini Miss Eden Dorrell winning each lap for the win ahead of Milton Keyne’s Frankie Leahy and Royston’s Chloe Lake.
In the 8 year olds, the home track advantage proved vital for Elliott Bowyer as he used some great lines to take the title from Norwich’s Kyle Hill who had a late season shot of form to finish second. The third step of the podium was a close call as Braintree’s Seb Pantlin and Jack Everitt duked it out for the spot with Pantlin just taking the call on the line. Disaster struck for Braintree’s Tyler Carter in the 9’s when he crashed in a move for first place after going into the final as top qualifier.
The win went to Peterborough Sam Stonebridge who lead the final for the whole lap and was untroubled following Carter’s crash. Jack Leahy from Milton Keynes dug deep and pulled a out a fine second place with William Goode from Huncote hot on his wheels in third. Matching her sister’s win was Morgan Dorrell from Norwich as she also dominated the 8-9 girls with Ipswich’s Abi Pike in second.
Braintree riders dominated the 10 year olds with five of the eight positions being filled by the club. Joe Read-Millard laid down some serous power to hit the front on the first straight as the favourite from Milton Keynes missed the gate. Tom Stokes and Sydney Allen from Braintree slotted in behind Read-Millard and the race was on. The pair traded positions throughout the lap with Stokes just getting the better of Allen for second with Read-Millard the new champion.
The host club claimed their second regional champ as James King did the business at the front of the 11’s to claim the title. Charlie O’Grady from Braintree kept him honest and stalked him in every lap in second. Braintree riders also filled the remaining places with Christian White third, Jake Coombs fourth and Lee Butson fifth. More success for the host club came in the 12’s as Dan Blanche narrowly beat his club mate Myles Fisher in a great race. Kyle Gladwell found himself in a well deserved third for Ipswich.
The 13-14s class had a very competitive field with several riders capable of the win. As the gate dropped it was Peterborough’s Ryan Hutchinson who hit the front with Braintree’s Josh Butson chasing him down in second. As they hit the second turn, Butson lost grip and went down leaving Hutchinson to storm home well ahead of the pack for the win in his first year of racing.
Second place was filled by Braintree’s Evan Tulloch as he avoided the fallen rider with club mates Charlie Giles and Iwan Williams in third and fourth. In the Masters, an American import stole the class as Harley Kelley guested for Braintree and put on a great show ahead of Peterborough’s Matthew Allen and Royston’s Richard Townsend.
Viktoija Gala stepped in to the 14+ girl’s class for Braintree and proved to be the spoiler as she won the class on the line. The race had been lead out by Peterborough’s Beth Campbell who rode smoothly until the last straight when Gala charged past. Kelsey Dixon and Lana Redgewell took the third and fourth spots respectively.
The fastest class of the day was the combined 15-16 and 17+ with some of the country’s best riders in the mix. Robbie Goodman came out on top for Ipswich as he rode a super clean lap in the final ahead of club mate John Lillingstone. In third was Braintree’s Taylor Andrews who had a determined attack on the track. Once the points were split Braintree’s Jake Britton was shown as the top 15-16 year old and is the regional champ.
Once the points were tallied, it was Braintree Bullets who headed the rest and once again became Regional club champions. The winter regional series commences on Sunday the 21October at Milton Keynes. Registration close at 11.30 and racing starts at 12pm. Braintree club’s winter series continues on 4 November and further information is available at www.braintreebmx.com and www.bmxeast.com
