Round 4 of the National Points 4X Series was held at the up and coming South West Extreme bike park just outside Bideford in Devon. A new venue is always nice to see on the circuit and this track didn’t fall short of surprises! Its loose turns and wide flagging provided plenty of overtaking moves (and carnage) that made it, for once, not a race to the first turn! There was a lot to do in the area, with a high wires/climbing wall just behind the track. There was also sheep park amusement thing just over the road and a BMX track 5 minutes up the road in Bideford, which we went and checked out on Saturday night, which proved to be quite funny. Oh and I forgot to mention, the beach not too far away that a few riders went and had a surf on after Saturdays practice!

With the sun shining and the track nice and dry racing commenced on what looked like the most promising track of the year. As per all the other races this season the format was simple. 4 motos, then quarter’s, semi’s and finals, making for a fun day for everyone!

The Fun categories are always a place to spot new talent (or sandbaggers – You know who you are!!!) with only 4 riders in the 12-17 class everyone had the maximum amount of riding possible which is always good for the young guns as it helps them improve and they often have the most energy out of all us! On the slightly technical track the racing went down to the line with Ben Goulding taking the win with Jack Hankinson in 2nd and Robin Wass in 3rd.

There was some big action, and big characters in the Big Fun Category with racer turned commentator Andrew Cooper making a rare appearance at a 4x race. Another rare face was Benji Harrison who seemed to hold his own from what I could see all day holding off the ever suicidal Cooper all day along with Glen Preece. In the final the top 3 rounded off with Benji standing in number 1 (blatant sandbagger), Glen in 2 and Cooper in 3, who also deserves a clap for providing comedy commentating all day.

The next age group is where it all starts to heat up, Juvenile. These guys are ferocious! As ever they provided furious racing and everyone looked good. Dominic Bardon claimed 1st after some tense moto’s, with George Curric in 2nd and Harry Fowler rounding out the top 3.

Youth were next and Chicksand’s Local and whipper Isaac Mundy seems to be on a bit of a charge this year, definitely one to watch when he starts to move up the ranks, he took the class by storm taking the win with Ben Clarkson and Jonathon Jones taking 2nd and third respectively. Alex Metcalf (Current National Champ) and Matt Jones, (Jon’s brother, and Identiti team rider) both had a disappointing finishes, with Alex in 5th and Matt taking 7th.

Senior is looked upon as a slow category but it always draws the most entries and often some of the best racing.  With the wide age range, you always get a good contrast of new school versus old school. AJ Boardman, who moved up this year took a nice win over Matthieu Trinquart who rode well into 2nd and Dale Russell, who rode his moto’s well but let it slip slightly in the final and ended up 3rd.

Next up were the oldies, Master. 31+. These guys know how to race, and it’s always carnage as they tussle to the bottom. Dominic Bent has been on the scene for a long time now and always puts up a good fight for the win. He put in a good effort and won with Shane Trotter in 2nd and Christian Hatcher in 3rd riding well all day, sending up some big roost. Big man Paddy Baker ended in an unusual 7th. I’m sure we will see him improve this at Redhill in 3 weeks.

The Women’s class had definitely got better with more ladies consistently coming to take part. The racing was not timid as you would expect and Katy Curd was taking advantage of her downhill skills to take fast lines in the loose drifty turns. Charlie Phillips, who has been carrying an on going injury from the world cup in Andorra rode well but crashed in the first turn in the final, coming in 4th place. Suzanne Lacey, another Chicksand’s local and sponsored rider rode strong as ever and avoided the carnage in the first turn to come in 2nd place with Katie Radcliffe in 3rd. Terri-Anne Busbridge (a worthy name to rival mine in length) was unlucky and crashed also putting herself out of action but is getting her skills up at every race.
I always love watching the Junior class. There is something about it that is always exciting. It is VERY competitive and I saw many-a-crash this weekend. Scott Roberts probably taking the worst crash of the day snapping his forks in the process! Thankfully he was ok and will be good to race this weekend’s world cup in Maribor, Slovenia. There’s so many fast guys in this class now that every heat is always action packed and good to watch. The final was tense! Jake Ward was one of the fast guys and was consistent enough to take a convincing win over Tom Knight and Max Lenthall, both strong competitors to take the win on any given day. Pete Warner came in 4th place but looked noticeably fast all day. Elliot Simmons crashed in what I believe to be a re-run of a race. Which happened twice due to a lack of communication between the marshals!

Elite! What can I say about this? Well there wasn’t as many entries as previous rounds but there racing was still awesome and good fun. Jordan Gould was looking quick all day and taking some fast lines in the turns but faced a run off after the tight moto results between him, Stephen Simms and Ollie Jones (who used the sneaky line that few people saw, including myself, down the side of the track) leaving him knocked out. Ollie also faced religation in the run off and Stephen made the semi’s finishing 8th on the day! Kieron Mcavoy had stepped up from senior and decided to race elite after his result at Fort William. He raced well but finished in 6th. With his Spank team mate Tom Dowie in 7th.  Lewis Lacey had a bad day, snapping 2 chains in gate practice then slipping a gear in his semi. He won the respectfully won the B-final taking 5th place.

The A-final was a good mix of flat out riders, and technical riders. With Myself, Scott Beaumont, Will Evans, and Duncan Ferris. The latter you did not want behind you in the loose turns! As I found out earlier in the day with Will taking the biggest drift right into my path in our moto together earlier in the day. The final was tense, with the gate playing up just before the B-final, it wasn’t confidence inspiring and I had worst gate pick to contend with! On the sound of the beeps we were off, I had an awesome gate as did Scott and into the first turn he was 1st and I was in 2nd with Duncan and Will behind me…Great! I was waiting for the front wheel to come drifting up my inside line but I held tight defensive lines and kept it together behind Scott taking 2nd with Will taking 3rd behind me and Duncan 4th. It was a good finish for myself and I was pretty happy about it! Until I realised I had a 4 and half hour drive home!

I think a special thanks is due to Chris Roberts for continuing to run a national series for us! And another thanks should go to the South West Extreme Bike Park for letting us use the track for a race!

Pat Campbell-Jenner
Identiti Bikes
www.identitibikes.com

Photos - Taff

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