Wow, what a racing weekend that was! Round 4 of the NPS 4X series on the saturday and 4X national championships on sunday.
So…as per usual, it was chucking it down all weekend. The Harthill track, when wet, turns to a slippery top surface with a relatively grippy layer if you could cut through the muck. Then again, on other parts of the track, there were areas of deep sand, and other areas of complete mush! It was a bit of a mess really…I mean this in as much as the track hadn’t been brilliantly maintained over the winter, but it was the rain by the end of sunday that had destroyed it. However, I’m not complaining – the rain really mixed it up, and made the track a whole load of fun to ride. it was actually a really good track to race on, as long as you missed the massive drainage ditches on the first and penultimate corners!
(Photo: Pete Newman)
Anyway, more of that in the magazine…the point of this update is to tell you that change is afoot – of the Seven national champions from last year, only two retained their jersey for 2011: Katy Curd and Isaac Mundy.
Dylan Grell-Delsol continued his domination of the juvenile category (absolute pinner, seeing someone this young owning the pro-line is just ridiculous. He’s going far!) easily taking the national title. Last year’s Juvenile winner – Bardolph Kerr – raced Youth this year, coming sixth. Chad Boxhall won. Last year’s Youth winner – Isaac Mundy – raced junior and won it, in a very very fiercely contested final, just knocking Alex Metcalfe (last year’s winner) off his perch.
Dave Richardson won Master, with last year’s winner Martin Ogden stepping it up to Elite. Darren Howarth won the old blokes (Veterans) category.
Katy Curd has dominated British womens 4X for a long time, and she won the final by the entire last straight. Pinner!
(New national champion recently getting beaten by Wideopen’s Alastair Keen at Redhill – Photo by Chris Ratford)
Now, Senior/Elite…this was interesting. Scott Roberts qualified in first with Scott Beaumont seeming to have a problem in his run. Pat C-J was second, and Tom Dowie third – the young guns were really starting to show their potential! With last year’s winner Will Longden out injured, focus was on Beaumont, but he just hasn’t been able to dominate this season as the younger riders have really started to step up their game.
Come finals, Pat C-J, Scott Roberts and Scott Beaumont were in the A-main, along with the slightly unexpected appearance of Luke ‘Limbo’ Limbrick. Limbo – a senior – qualified in 11th and had been pinning it throughout to make it to the final, but out of the gate he was already a bike length back, and possibly even further behind going into the first corner. However, the two Scotts went down inside on the first corner, leaving Pat and Limbo to fight it out. Limbo had the slight advantage, but Pat was pushing hard…possibly too hard. He stalled a little going over the spine and Limbo got a couple of bike lengths ahead.
You could see Pat was trying everything, including an epic inside line on the final corner, but Limbo was just too strong – so your new Elite national champion is a senior rider. Massive turn-up for the books, but massive congratulations to Limbo!
(Elite men’s podium. Photo – Pete Newman)
Check out the full report in the mag, coming soon.
Saturday was Round 4 of the NPS 4X series on the same (albeit slightly drier) track. Scott Roberts won his first elite final, and Katy Curd dominated the womens. full results here: http://www.british4x.com/news/rd4-results-harthill-2011/
This was written by Wideopen team rider Dave Thomason. The Wideopen team are proudly powered by:
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