Round 3 Schwalbe British 4X series

Friday's practice saw sun and dry conditions for those who'd managed to get time off work to attend, but this was soon to change, the Slam69/Dartmoor crew arrived early Saturday morning to be greeted by gales and horizontal rain; just what the doctor ordered...not.

This weekend was not only the 3rd round of the UK series, but also the Euro 4X, which would take place on the Sunday. On arriving it soon became apparent that the venue was prepared for rain as the field to park in was one slippery slope.

With the promise of a break in the weather, practice was postponed until lunch time, midday came and indeed the rain stopped and the clouds parted to reveal the hills around the venue and even some sun. Bring it on!

The motto's kicked off and the riders did battle with this brand new track, littered with rock gardens and cork-screw corners it promised great close racing.

With the Euro's on the Sunday a much larger pro field showed up to give series leader Scott Beaumont a run for his money, but it was to be series regular Pat Campbell Jenner's big day, as he took the top prize in the pro category.

Full results on the British 4X website.

The Slam69/Dartmoor boys did us proud, all proving how good they are with all of them taking win after win in the motto's, but, it's the knockout rounds that count and several failed to carry their form through to the finals. Rich Lane being one such rider, he was so fast throughout, but just couldn't settle for second in the quarters; which would have got him one step closer to the finals, no he had to go for the win and he tangled with the guy in first and hit the deck, resulting in him being out. One of the team who did progress through to the final in junior was Tom (Deep) Denholme - Parker, who made it onto the podium for a well deserved 4th spot.

Of course this race followed on from the round at Porc and the terrible crash that put Scott Shepherd into Hospital, and in turn the cancellation of that round. Since then a campaign to raise money for both Scott and the Kent Air Ambulance Trust www.justgiving.com/scottshepherdheinz has grown via facebook. The team working hard to raise money were on hand selling t shirts. Great to see the support from in and around our sport for Scott.

Here's a Film to give you a taste of the event... Filmed and Edited by Pete Newman:



Big thanks as always to Chris Roberts for a great event despite the conditions, also series sponsors, Schwalbe, Trixter, Start Gate Pro, Dartmoor Bikes, Fox and British Cycling.UK

The next round is at Harthill on July 16-17th and will include the National Championships, see you there. details on www.british4x.com

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Racing and Events Schwalbe