British Cycling’s National BMX series returned to the indoors of the National Cycling Centre, Manchester this weekend; and with many competitors, it was a weekend of great racing. Here’s what the EA Pure Racing riders had to say…
Ethan
After such a close race in round 1, Ethan was determined to improve on that for round 2. He took a couple of wins in the motos followed up by a second in the quarter and semi final.
A perfect gate for the final saw him power out in front and by the first corner held a commanding lead. He maintained this until a small mistake in the rhythm section on the 3rd. Straight which resulted in the chasing field making some ground on him. He recovered quickly and again pulled going into the final corner and took a comfortable win.
Great result which puts him in joint 1st.
Lauren
Sunday was the second round of the 2012 series and I was raring to go. My first moto allowed me to pick up a respectable 2nd place which was then followed by a 1st place. I then finished the motos with a 2nd place. Pretty good! That meant that I qualified 3rd. Because of this however, I was in the second semi and therefore had second pick. I had a great start with a lead to the first jump. But I came out of the first turn in second. I was very close to the other girl and attempted a move on the last turn. I pushed her out wide but unfortunately not wide enough and despite a hard sprint to the finish, I didn’t get it. But still a very nice 2nd place.
Final Time. I ended up with gate three which I was happy with. I had, yet again, a really good start but couldn’t hold it to the first turn. I came out in third and that was where I finished despite a hard battle. Overall I was happy but still aiming for better. It’s going to be a 1st next time!
Ryan
It was time for the second national of the Year at the indoor and after a good practice session on Saturday morning I was all fired up and ready to race!
In the first moto I was in lane 1. I had a reasonably good gate and was on the inside and picked up a comfortable 2nd place. I followed that up with a 1st place in the second moto. However, in the 3rd moto I was in 2nd place and then I and another person came together and my foot hit the jump and I came unclipped and off my bike so finished in last place but still qualified for the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals I had 5th pick so ended up with gate 5. I didn’t have a very good gate in this race and was in the middle of the pack. In the first turn a few of us came together and I lost a lot of my momentum so had to jump the pro section really high so I was still in with a chance of qualifying. I did that and made a move in the second turn to go into 5th and then in the last turn I put someone over the turn and was in 4th place and with a sprint to the finish I made it through to the final.
Final time came around and after getting 4th in the semi-final, I was left with gate 8. I had a good gate but was unable to get across enough and was pushed up in the first turn and was in the middle of the pack and finished in 4th place. Not a bad weekend but I will be hoping for better next time. Bring on the next national!
Tags: indoor bmx, manchester
