This is one of the most demanding tracks in Europe and demands respect from all the riders. We had our team area set up on the finish straight and the team worked well out of the smaller set up for the indoor. The weekend was the first chance the team had all been together with the new team riders Jared Hill, Luke Mendes and brothers Tian and Quillan Isidore. There was a great comradery from the start with the new and old team riders all instantly getting on well and helping and advising each other on lines and techniques. 

Jared Hill:

Following recent success in Manchester, Jared was feeling confident ahead of the weekend. He got off to a good start on Saturday with a 3rd, 1st, 2nd in the motos, and a 3rd in the quarters, Jared then went on to win his semi. A good gate-pick saw Jared on the inside and with his strong gate starts Jared was looking good in 2nd place going into the 1st berm but unfortunately found himself boxed in and losing momentum coming out of the berm, to which point he had slipped back to 5th by the 2nd berm. Unable to make up ground, Jared was disappointed to finish in 5th. Given that Jared was complaining of feeling poorly, a 5th was more than acceptable under the circumstances. On Sunday, Jared got off to a great start with a 1st, 3rd, 2nd, and a 1st in his quarter. A 4th in his semi unfortunately meant an outside gate pick. Jared got another good start but a mistake saw him pushed back to 7th by the time he hit the 2nd berm. Though disappointed not to have made the podium over the weekend, Jared takes away the positives that he was the fastest to the first jump in every lap!

Luke Mendes:

No racing action from Luke Mendes this weekend as he was still nursing a broken wrist from a snowboarding incident, but we still made the trip up for the weekend to support the team and watch some great racing from a fantastic venue. Going by Winter Indoor Series results, and results from the weekend, podiums would have been a realistic chance.

With the cast due to come off in a weeks’ time we will have a better idea whether Birmingham National will be possible, fingers crossed. For the last few weeks we have been back in the gym staying active, eating well and resting, so let’s hope mother nature is doing her thing too!

Tian Isidore:

I had a great weekend in Manchester for the national. I rode up an age into the superclass category and got off to a great start! On the first day I finished 4th, 1st, 1st in my Motos and was feeling great on my bike. I was happy to pull out a 2nd in the final! On the Sunday I started off well with a 2nd in my first moto but had a fall in the second moto so my win in the next moto was essential to put me through to the final with a decent gate pick. The final didn’t really go as planned but I finished 5th which isn’t all bad! 

Josh Butson:

I am really pleased with how the first national rounds went at Manchester. I managed to take 2nd place on Saturday and a 3rd place on Sunday within my 17-24 year old age group, this is now my second season in this group and results wise this was definitely the best weekend I’ve had in this class. Although I had some struggles in practice I felt strong during the races and hope to keep this up throughout the season. 

Quillan Isidore:

Things were going really well into the lead up of this event. Really happy with my progression in training so was feeling confident! However, the weekend didn’t start off great for me.

Saturday evening was the Supercross open where Olympic points are up for grabs. It was a good field of European riders entered making a good race. In practice I possibly had the worst starts technically and times I’ve had in months. I was stressing and overthinking the process that I had practice hundreds of times. This was because, it’s the first race of the season and I wanted to go fast, but without thinking about the process.

That led into my first race clipping out placing 6th. Nevertheless, my second heat I pulled through with a 2nd after scary moment of pedalling at the bottom of the hill. You’re not suppose to do that at Manchester as it usually sends you over the bars when you take off haha. But I turned it out around in my third heat winning it and also my winning my quarter final and even getting a PB lap time with my best start of the weekend! I was really pleased with myself from those performances because last year I would of been stuck in that rut and not recovered mentally from those not so great performances. Unfortunately, I got a bit to eager in my semi final and hit the gate causing me to work from the back. I got up to 4th place, but being on the outside I got squeezed and was my day over.

Day 2 was the long one! The first block of racing was the 17+ Manchester Cup. And pretty much all the riders from last night were racing it excluding a few. So racing started 10am sharp and I got off to a great start. Winning all my heats, quarter and the semi final. I was riding a lot more relaxed and more importantly having fun racing again! Breaks in between the races were pretty short both yesterday and today. We’re talking 15mins. So It was pretty tough. But come final time I had first pick of lane choice, so of course I went lane 1. Usually, when a rider has lane 1 you’re a bit more relaxed as you have the inside to the first corner. Although, this time I was a bit too relaxed and fluffed the start, which I’d been really consistent at all day. Race was finished from there pretty much and struggled to work my way back. I finished 6th. Was pretty disappointed straight after the race, but as soon as I put some thought into it I know it’s all a learning curve. I was really happy with how I raced in the morning and know it’s something I can build on going into the first two European rounds in Belgium.

Now, I’m not done yet. 6 laps down with 4 to go. I entered a second race in the afternoon just for a fitness point of view looking ahead to Belgium. This class is called Superclass. They had renamed the Elite Men class to this as some riders such as my brother who should race in the 16s aren’t eligible to race off the Olympic hill, but are good enough to race this category in the UK. So this class counts towards the national points series for the year, whereas the other two races I competed in didn’t. So, although the competition wasn’t a challenge I had to give 100% in every lap just to build some fitness. And it was tough! My legs felt heavier and heavier every lap and a lot of lactic acid building up. I put together some great laps and a PB also from the little hill and took the win. Very tough day for me doing the most laps I’ve ever done in a day and a weekend.

And as I’ve said I’m very happy with my riding over the weekend and it’s a great platform to work off. Gonna get my head down for the next couple of weeks in preparation for the first two Europeans.

Neil Stewart:

The first round of the National British BMX Series kicked off this last weekend in Manchester, and to be honest I haven’t ridden my New Pure with Maxxis DTH fitted, quite as much as I had hoped during the winter, mainly due to the weather…

Manchester indoor is normally the first race in the series and a very challenging track, probably the hardest one to ride in this 2016 season.

Friday Night Practice went well, and the New Maxxis DTH fitted to my race bike run really smooth, but have plenty of grip around the track.  I was only racing one day, Saturday as I had new work commitments, so gave it everything come Saturday afternoon with the block racing.  Vets had 33 riders registered which meant top 32 to go through to quarters, but I wasn’t taking it easy as I wanted an inside lane choice for the Quarter Final, so finished 3rd, 2nd and 3rd in my Moto’s, with some good laps…

In the Quarter Final I had 2nd Lane choice and went right next to the Favourite, and thought just follow him round Neil, and you’ll be in the Semi Final, which is exactly what I did, and made it comfortably through to the Semi in 2nd place.

Semi Final was a little different, with 4th lane choice I ended up in lane 3, not my best start, but made it up to 3rd in the first corner with an inside move, then chased second down in the second corner with the rider shouting me through as he could sense me on his inside. With 2 straights to go and in second place I knew there was no way 2 more riders were going to pass me and started smiling down the last straight knowing I was in the A Final!  The Final came round very quickly and another good gate saw me in the mix, a nice steady lap, even managing to throw in a couple of manuals down the third straight, even though one of them was a little scary at one point, but it was all good and I finished the race in 4th Place.  So a great start to the year, National number 4 picking up 4th place in the opening round, had to be down to my new V4 Pure Frame and Maxxis DTH Tyre Combo, a winning formula!!!

Alan Hill:

The national series got off to a fairly good start for me. 40-44 Cruiser motos on Saturday went smoothly but the final got a bit messy, getting caught up with other riders and resulted in a 7th place finish. I moved back to Masters (30+) after a couple of years in Vets to mix it up with the younger, faster guys and after some solid motos and semi, I took a 2nd in the final behind downhill professional Scott Beaumont.

Sunday saw a big improvement in cruiser where he dominated every lap including the final. However, Masters did’nt go quite to plan. Moto’s went ok with  3rd, 1st, 1st and a 2nd in the semi but a late gate in the final made it hard work to get back to the front of the pack and had to settle for 4th place. I was back in the gym by Tuesday, determined to be faster and stronger for rounds 3&4.

The next race for the Team is Birmingham National on the 23^rd 24^th of April, but many of the team will be competing at the first European league race in Zolder Belgium on the 2^nd and 3^rd of April.