Cheddar, what rocked, who sucked

Better explain the lack of practice on Friday and Saturday at what has pretty much been my favourite event of every national series for the past 3 years. In short, you've gotta put your friends first, it was Helens birthday so we went to Flamingo Land, i was dubious at first but after seeing Marvin and Benson the sea lions I was the happiest kid around, they were awsome. So after driving 350 miles on Saturday and getting a crack in my exhaust (uho that might be expensive) just after Bristol, I arrived at Cheddar, about half an hour before TomTom said I could, ha. I made last orders and had a couple of ciders with all the guys, then went to lie down in the back of the car in the car park, no camping fee's for me. Pic, Ciaran scaring the tiger away.

So it was all about Sunday, everyone had an extra days practice on me and were already flowing round the track smoothly, even OJ had smoothed the 3rd straight. Jumped on the 20" and made the most of gates, 1st lap getting the timing right, chilling, then going for the 3rd straight, the track has mellowed abit since last year so over jumped the 3rd, stayed on but it was disconcerting. Anyhow, the rest of practice was ok, got to grips with most things but hitting the downsides on the 3rd straight was a real challenge. Big shout out to Farran, who recovering from a nasty Humurous break at Burnham, cheers for looking after my phone bro.

Race time... Gareth Bates was practicing for the Euro's next week in Germany by riding 16-29 aswell as elite, so it was nice to see where i'm at compared to him, i know he's only chilling in cruiser but its a marker aint it. Moto's went ok, 2.2.1. getting beat by Bates and Dan Hodge, 3rd moto had Twarn on my tail and got slightly squirly over the tripple but stayed on to take the 4 points. 19+ was another story however, having pretty much full gates meant my weak 2nd pedal was always going to let me down, I felt ok on the bike though and even if you get boxxed, its pretty easy to keep your flow cos its a fast track, got 5.6.5. and went out in 20th, but its ok, 29 riders in the class, so its not last. Joey Gough tho, well done girl, missing out on semi's by 1 point in 19+, this girls going far.

Not much big news in the quarters and semi's, a great run off for 30-39 cruiser saw JD from Cornwall smooth his way from 3rd to 1st on the 3rd straight really commiting on the last double and getting the inside line. Main time. 3rd pick, Bates went 4, Dan went 3, i knew if i went 2 i had to snap Dan, but it was better than having to beat Gareth out the gate, voice starts, cadence comes in, gate drops, i hear dan shout "nooo" he'd had that late snap, i was in 2nd, moved over to get a wider line around the wet 1st corner, did not expect Dan to get inside of me but there he was, didnt fancy putting the elbow on just incase of a slippery downfall so thats the way it ended, i got another 3rd in the main. last year I'd have a good lap then a not so good lap so its nice to show some consistency. Just waiting for BC to publish the points, its going to be tight at the top. Twarn got 4th, Pople 5th and Josh H 6th. I know im not racing in this pic but its such a great photo it had to go up, i am in the background watching the action, Twarn and Dan fighting for 2nd place, who got it?

So what else happened? Loud noises putting Flem off in the 30-39 main meant an appeal from him but for no reward, if the other 7 guys went why not race then complain later? For the full story check BMXtalk.com. Elite was great, Tuffy was killing it, an awsome rider to watch, has made the step up to elite this year and shown he can do it on his day. Gamble made the main, along with Wozza who was doing his last national before going for a knee operation. 19+, Marco unclipped, Tom Palmer pulled, Flem swooped, Palmer swooped back in the 2nd turn but went down, Flem went down soon after just before the double, I got really confused after that but there was another swoop and someone went over the last berm, Scott Waterhouse went from 5th in the 1st corner to take the win, who said BMX racing had got boring. Junior men was wicked, Tambo's gates and 1st straight are spot on, but out of no-where Dan Thorn got the 2nd straight perfect, got the line around the 2nd berm and took the lead, but Luke got the 3rd straight right and pushed Thorne up the last corner taking the win, leaving room for Levi Ashley to come through and get a 2nd.

Had to do 65 on the motorway all the way home to save some petrol, I felt like a gay. Home safe last night just intime to have missed the 1st hand of poker so went to bed. Loads of uni work this week, might go out with Oggy for an MTB ride tomorrow then got Velodrome on Saturday night before going out in Preston with some mates from back home, then Preston regional on Sunday, busy week but I love it. Props to thegreenwoods.com and Richard Robotham for the pics.