The ups and downs of racing…

Mitch and Elliot went down to Aston Hill for the Central and Eastern Championships at the weekend (4/5^thSeptember). This race was surprisingly a National B race and thereby gave the riders the chance to race for the same points available at a BDS race. This at a push up event on a track a little over a minute long is questionable to say the least. With the track being so short any mistakes were severely punished as you simply didn’t have the time to get back on the pace. Still, the bottom line is it was the same for everyone and the best part of 250 riders made the trip – although it has to be said at least 50% of them were locals!

In the Experts Elliot had a slightly disappointing day. He’d been hoping for a top 5 at least but it wasn’t to be. Whether he was just trying a little bit too hard or the track didn’t suit him is hard to say. The fact is his best time of 1:04.03 put him into 10^th spot. Not what he wanted but it did secure him 52 BC ranking points.

In the Juniors Mitch put in an almost identical time of 1:04.66. This was good enough for 3^rd place, giving him his second podium place of the year, along with about £60 worth of Troy Lee gear for his efforts! This should bump Mitch up from 29^th in the rankings to somewhere around 18^th.

Maybe with a bit more practice (they didn’t arrive at the venue till 3.30 on Saturday) and a little bit of luck both riders could have improved their times, that said a podium is always a great result.

-Paul Machin