Chicksands NPS4X Report

Sorry no Mathew for quality images. Hes off sunning himself to loose that pale and interesting metropolitan palour.

Chicksands near Bedford. A nice central venue for the season finale or so I thought nine and half hours of queuing from Cornwall to Bristol, Bristol to Slough then parking on the M1 meant we didnt get to Chicksands until just before dark. Although digger was cumfy enough.
(Mmm I love THE grips)

Bedsfastrax have done and awesome job. I went to uni up here 12 years ago and used to ride Chicksands woods as somewhere to go that was a bit flat but better than nothing. How its changed. Saturday hosted the final round of the KOD national series and has the suitable trails for an event like that. Across the car park is an extensive North Shore section complete with see saws, board walks and drop off platforms. Back up towards the 4X track they still have the two line dual course which Will Evans and Dunc Ferris pushed the limits of each others tyres on.
The 4x track is fast and flowing with jumps for all levels of riders to think about. The start is on a well crafted ramp that drops into a double to two lanes that didnt seem to favour one side or the other too much.

Although the inside was fractionally quicker. Another kink further down led to the triple that caught a few out, then tables and double to 180 berm to finish. The track rode great, probably the most enjoyable that I have ridden this year. (I missed Hamsterley), unfortunately the lack of real corners made it a drag race to the inside line lead that could only be given away and not taken. This prevented any real race action, but I think most people enjoyed the day and hopefully we will be back next year.

In the mean time Steve Dowie and Bedsfastrax are holding a race on October 29th and if you havent been before I recommend you make the trip.

Racing wise, stand outs were Tome Dowie(Identiti) destroying all competition on home soil.
Digger Wetherelt(DirtBikeSupply) taking the win from fast adapting BMXer James Goodwin.

These two probably had the smoothest races all day.

Most popular ride of the day was Mike Ridgeway making the main and second on the podium in seniors
(its about time he got the run of the hill).

Oggie(Identiti)took the Elite on the day and the series title
more about that in the series round up next week.

My personal highlight was Laura Thomas

shes not ridden since Leamington and she rode with commitment, left the ground and came second in novice girls.

You can ask Paddy Baker (dialledbikes)about the Masters B Final. Jeff Dovey would be proud.

Results
Juvenile
Joshua WEST Maw Racing1st
Oli WAKEMAN 2nd
Abbie TAYLOR Staats 3rd

Youth
Tom DOWIETeam Identiti 1st
Alex GODBOLD 2nd
Sam REYNOLDS 3rd

Junior
Martyn WETHERALT Dirt Bike Supply 1st
James GOODWIN 2
Matthew DOUTHWAITE 3

Senior
Jason JESSOP 1st
Michael RIDGWAY 2nd
Dave RICHARDSON 3rd

Master
Kona Darren HOWARTH 1st
Dominic BENT 2nd
Keith WILSON 3rd

Elite
Martin OGDENTeam Identiti 1st
Steve TAYLOR Dialled 2nd
Duncan FERRIS DMR 3rd

Simon.