Recently on Cyclingnews.com |
 Dauphiné Libéré Photo ©: Sirotti |
MTB index page for all MTB content
British 4X National Championships - CN
UK Bike Park, Dorset, April 5, 2009
Beaumont and Phillips win British 4X opener
 |
The British 4X national championships were run under dry and sunny conditions at the UK Bike Park. New for this season was a swap from the traditional season opener at Chicksands to the Dorset venue.
New 4mountains rider Liam Phillips was expected to take charge in the elite men's category, but after snapping his chain for the fourth time, he decided to watch from the sidelines. Everyone was on hand to attempt to beat defending series champion Scott Beaumont. In the final, Beaumont, Lewis Lacey, Will Evans and Martin Ogden lined up at the gate. They drag raced off the start, hopping four logs and then powering down over the small table with a left-hand kink in the track. There the riders, bunched back up.
On the first berm, Beaumont showed the snap in his legs and was first into the corner, giving him the choice between taking the tricky inside line or going around the long berm. In second, Lacey went for the long outside berm and got good speed going into the moguls. Evans took the inside line, and Oggy tried to chase them all down in fourth place.
Beaumont made a quick sprint out the corner to hold off Lacey &and Evans. Lacey, Evans and Oggy followed in second through fourth. The top three headed off with their trophies to the airport to go to the first 4X World Cup of the year next weekend in South Africa.
Kim Bent returned to the growing women's class after a few years way. She is trying to regain her National Series title which is now held by Charlie Phillips, riding for the new 4Mountain team. Manon Carpenter, the16-year-old daughter of Jason Carpenter, seems to have picked up some of her dad's skills. She finished second in her first-ever 4X race. Suzanne Lacey took a hard fall coming down over the logs at the start. Bent finished third in the women's race, which was won by Phillips.
In the juvenile category, Dominic Barden won all his motos and took the final, too, with Joe Buck in second.
Alex Metcalf won the juvenile series last year and continued in the same form to take the win in his first youth race ahead of Adam Thomas. Isaac Mundy might have been in contention except that he got T-boned off the track in his semi-final.
The junior men's field was stacked with 20 riders. Mike Yard, who raced well last year and has been training five days a week all winter, won all his qualifying motos, but fell afoul of the line at the start and was disqualified from his semi-final round. Last year's youth series winner Tom Knight took top honors for the day. Greg Holloway finished second ahead of Scott Roberts in third.
Kieron McAvoy blew apart the 30-rider senior men's field. In his first 4X race, he never stopped pedalling anywhere on the course, even in the air. Dirt Bike Supply rider Chris Cumming finished second.
Dominic Bent and Marc McHale appeared to have been training hard over the winter. Bent flew down the track and took the master men's win on the day from McHale with series regular Paddy Baker, wearing skin-tight jeans, in third.
David Herman finished the veteran category, on his singlespeed, to Jason Carpenter of Dargon Downhill fame.
The next round of the British 4X National series will be a double header at Bridgnorth on May 23-24.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Chris Roberts
- Elite men's podium at the British 4X nationals at the UK Bike Park.
Results
Elite men 1 Scott Beaumont (Rocky Mountain) 2 Lewis Lacey (Chainreaction Race Team) 3 Will Evans (Morewood/ Will Power SC) 4 Martin Ogden 5 Nick Geoghegan 6 Steve Taylor (Dialled Bikes) 7 Jordan Gould (Dialled Bikes) 8 Tom Dowie (Spank Bikes / Chicksands Race Team) 9 Lee White 10 Steve Atkins 11 Pat Campbell-Jenner (Identiti Bikes) 12 Stephen Simms (DerryAir Cycles) 13 Dave Richardson (Flow Bikes) 14 Duncan Ferris 15 James Norton (UrbanAir) 16 Jamie Insley Women 1 Charlie Phillips 2 Manon Carpenter 3 Kim Bent 4 Suzanne Lacey (chicksands race team) 5 Sarah-Jane Hewitt 6 Katie Radcliffe Junior men 1 Tom Knight (Memento Mori) 2 Gregory Holloway 3 Scott Roberts (Flow Bikes) 4 Sean Herman (Dirt Bike Supply) 5 Pete Warner 6 Jethro Stride (Yeti UK) 7 Jack Davies 8 Jacob Graham 9 Jake Ward 10 Richard Robertshaw 11 Max Lenthall 12 Alec Barnett 13 Mike Yard 14 Elliott Simmons (Spank Bikes / Chicksands Race Team) 15 Luc Harris 16 Dominic Williams 17 Callam Baines (Team Bunneys) 18 Stephen Kendall 19 Luke Williams 20 Luke Stanley Juvenile 1 Dominic Barden (Buckinghambikes.co.uk) 2 Joe Buck 3 Harry Fowler 4 Sam Marzetti 5 James Handleigh (Groove Fastlane) 6 Adam Kirkland Youth men 1 Alex Metcalfe 2 Adam Thomas 3 Barney Samuel 4 Ben Platt 5 James Oliver (Oliver Motorsport) 6 Isaac Mundy 7 Ryan Turner 8 Jack Hankinson 9 William Meyer Senior men 1 Kieron Mcavoy 2 Chris Cumming (Dirt Bike Supply) 3 Robbie Rickman 4 Lee Feery 5 Jason Egan 6 Dale Russell 7 Alastair Keen (Yeti UK) 8 James Wilson 9 Kriss Brown (Team Bunneys) 10 Dave Roberts (Flow Bikes) 11 Mop Head 12 Richard Norton (UrbanAir) 13 Chris Mucklow 14 Joseph Kimberley 15 Simon Scruby (Yeti UK) 16 Liam Munn 17 Matthew Dewey 18 James Williams 19 Richard Holroyd (Dirt Bike Supply) 20 Gareth Parr (Dirt Bike Supply) 21 Philip Evans 22 Micky Boswell 23 Matthew Way 24 Lionel Akram (Yeti UK) 25 Sam Brown 26 Martin Dorn 27 David Knight 28 James Lancashire 29 Aj Boardman 30 Richard Selby Master men 1 Dominic Bent 2 Marc Mchale (www.flcuk.com) 3 Paul Baker (dialled bikes/knox) 4 Nigel Smith 5 Christian Hatcher 6 Shane Trotter 7 Simon Rickett (Dirt Bike Supply) 8 Andrew Rickett (Dirt Bike Supply) 9 Adam Dewey 10 Lee Staples Veteran men 1 Jason Carpenter 2 David Herman (Dirt Bike Supply) 3 Richard Marzett 4 Ian Wherry (Dirt Bike Supply) 5 Mark Turner Fun riders 12-17 1 George Pratt 2 Alec Henderson 3 Richard Palmer 4 Zach Pollard 5 Ben Turner 6 Alex Philpott Big Fun 18+ 1 James Horton 2 Daniel Mcquillan 3 Nick Peacey 4 Jack Hebron 5 Jamie Cuthill 6 Dominic Wrapson 7 David Thomason
