Dragon Riders @ BMX British Championships 2019

On the weekend of the 15th and 16th of August the largest batch of Dragons yet represented the North Region at the British BMX Championships 2019 hosted by Derby BMX club. 13 riders in total made the journey from North Wales to represent the North Region, a massive achievement for a small club from Wales.

Saturday 650+ riders opened the days racing with younger riders and cruisers on the track. Hannah was first up in 6 and under female. She did herself proud and pushed hard through each of her motos finishing with six place finishes.

Thomas Roberts was up next in Male 8 enjoying his first visit to the brits. In a tough group of 75 riders he had a storming day with a 4th and couple of 5th place finishes in his motos qualifying for the 1/8 knockout stage. Sadly a crash while battling for a 4th place left Thomas in 8th place and was the end of his day.

Next up was Grace Proctor fighting it out with 15 other riders in female 9. A solid performance from Grace gave her a 4th, 5th and 7th place in her motos. With such a tough group this was the end of the days racing for Grace. Great effort for a first brits.

Next up in Male 9 was seasoned pro Osian Parr. The pedalling demon showed he was on top form in his motos fighting with 71 other riders managing an impressive 3rd a 1st and another 1st in his motos. He then stormed through his 1/8 qualifier with a solid 4th place finish. The racing was fast and furious with little time to rest. Up next was the quater finals. Another top 4 finish would take him through to the semis. A solid lap saw Osian in 4th place with an unfortunate fight for 3rd going against him dropping him down to 5th and out of the racing.

Next up was Male 10. Olly Webb and Alex Mackie had one of the toughest categories of the day with 91 riders in this age group alone! Both rode well against some very strong riders. Olly finished with a 7th, 7th and a 6th place but had to call it day as only the top 64 went through. Alex rode well in his first brits and came away with a respectable 8th, 7th and 6th place in his motos. Sadly this was not enough to make it through and ended his day.

After an exciting day with the youth riders it was time to take it easy for the evening and look forward to 11+ racing on the Sunday.

Sunday was another super sunny day for BMX racing. Another 632 riders geared up to push the limits of the Derby track.

First up was Tomos Doran racing Male 11. Another busy group with 78 riders in total all fighting for knockout places. Tomos had a storming first moto with a 2nd place finish followed by two solid 5th places to easily put him into the 1/8 knockout stages. A hard fought knockout race saw Tomos fighting closely with riders for 3th, 4th and 5th places. Unlucky to finish in 5th place ended his day.

Next up was another seasoned pro Elin Parr in Female 12. Elin had an extremely tough group of 15 riders all fighting for the top 8 places in the final. Some solid racing gave Elin a 7th, 6th and 6th place finish in her motos. Sadly this was not enough to make it into the top 8.

Next up was Casey Webb representing female 13 age group. A top 16 place was needed to progress to the next stage. Casey rode extremely well on a difficult track and finished with a 6th, 7th and 7th place in her motos sadly not making it through.

Finally to end the day off it was time for our masters and vets to get underway. In masters Martyn Parr and Andy Mackie rode gallantly in their final year of this category. A tough group of younger riders made it tough for the Dragons with Martyn finishing with a 7th, 6th and 7th place. Andy finished with 7th, 7th, 7th but neither were able to make it to the last 16. Good luck both in vets next year.

In vets Dragons was represented by Jon Webb. Jon chased hard through his motos but a crash ended his day early with a shoulder injury while chasing the leaders. Get well soon!

Thank you to our riders, parents, volunteers and committee who have worked hard through the 2019 regional series with long weekends and hard racing. Roll on next year where we will hope to take even more Dragons to represent the North region in national racing.