Team Identiti at the Schwalbe British 4x 2011 Round 4, and National Championships, Harthill

This weekend gone saw the British 4x series take itself back to Cheshire to host Round 4 of the National Series and the National Championships in what was to be one of the most dramatic and exciting races to date.

The course, built by the ex-world cup track designer, Phil Saxena was constructed in late 2009 and was on the calendar again after a successful National event there last year as well as one of the first rounds of the 2010 European Series.

Team Identiti was out in force this weekend with one new addition, Joey Gough. Some of you may remember her from the past, racing for the UK at world champs or even more recently and more importantly. Leading Anneke Beerten to the rock garden at Fort William having bought her Identiti Krisis. After this seriously impressive performance we picked her up and got her on board a fresh Krisis, kitted out with the same spec as the rest of the team.


When we arrived at the track early on Saturday morning we were greeted by the famous british summer rain which was giving us great delight in watering down the sandy track. We were hesitant in practice to get out and ride because of the rain but soon after we got on our bikes the clouds broke and the sun came out. It couldn't have been any better, a damp sandy track with loads of grip under the warmth of summer sun, if maybe a little too much wind at times.

Racing kicked off promptly with the Juvenile category and with Dylan Grell-Delsol cleaning up at every round so far it is clear that his dominance was going to show on a track that brought out his strengths. He rode convincingly all day reaffirming that he is definitely the guy to beat in Juvenile this year. His dominance continued on Sunday as he was deservedly crowned national champion.


Matt Jones chose to sit out of racing on saturday to rest his shoulder for the important race on sunday. Unfortunately for him the weather chose to take a particularly impressive downturn and the sunshine we had into saturday evening turned into horrible wet gusty rain. Either way MJ rode his own race right up until the semi final where he lost out of a place in the main final. He wasn't deterred by this though, and won the B final, even with a massive barshag lookback on the 2nd of the pro line.


Glen Coe didn't have the weekend he was looking for with a 16th place on saturday after taking some horrible crashes in his moto's. This was enough to put him out of sundays racing with a minor injury to his leg.

Joey made a great start in her first race aboard her new bike. Joey chooses to race in Master Men (30+) to have a better competition at National level, plus it's the category that the guys she rides and trains with race in. She tought them a thing or two on the day and finished in an impressive 5th place amongst guys that have been racing a long time. Her leg was caused some grief when she had a crash on the Saturday which also took her out of Sunday's competition, where she was going to race in female to prove she had what it takes.


Now onto the Elites...

Tom Knight had an unlucky day on saturday, he was knocked out of the day's racing after the 4 moto's without enough points to continue. Determined to make a better day of sunday Tom pulled out an impressive qualifying time (Elite National champs is run like a world cup) putting himself into 5th place spot before the knock out heats began. With these underway he progressed through the first round easily, moving into the second round where it got harder he pushed harder and worked his way into the lead and made it into the 1/4 finals. This is where his lucky streak ended and he was knocked out of the competition, fortunately for him it meant that he could get clean and dry quicker than the rest of us.


Scott Roberts made it clear that he was going to be the one to beat. He was super fast all through practice and in racing he made sure he was going make the A-final.

He got a great gate and went into the lead with Martin Ogden. After getting the highest amount of points from the moto's I had first gate pick in the final and when the gate dropped I did my best to do a burnout on the line, bar shagging the stem and slipping my grip. I got it back together in time to see the other 3 hammering down the first straight, Scott and Oggy were battling at the front which left me to chase down Mark, squeeze by and sneak into 3rd place.


The elite national championships always provides great racing with riders pushing harder than normal to get a good place. The weather added to the sincerity of the race with every turn becoming a mud pit every straight a rutted mess.

Qualifying re-asserted that Scott Roberts was the man to beat, qualifying first, with me in 2nd and Tom knight in 5th.


1st Scott Roberts - 39.30 seconds
2nd Pat Campbell-Jenner - 39.93
3rd Tom Dowie - 40.82
4th Jake Ward - 40.96
5th Tom Knight - 42.12

The top 5 had 4 Identiti Krisis frames and 5 sets of Halo 4XR wheels. Proving these are the fastest parts.

When the heats began there was a sea of umbrella's at the top of the track as the rain set in and blasted the track and the riders. The first round of heats didnt provide too much pressure as the max amount of riders in each was 3. Round 2 was when the action started and riders were pushing harder to make it through to 1/4's. The track, which on a good day has a nice sandy surface was starting to resemble a slip and slide.

I progressed well through the first 3 rounds and into the semi final, which included Scott Beaumont, and Will Evans, both able to win on the day. I got a good gate and got in behind Beaumont into the first turn with Will hot on my tail down the track, on the penultimate turn Will made a move on me on the inside, pushing me wide. Not to be done at the end of the race I took a wider line into the last turn and cut back in on the last right hander collided on the last set of rollers, very nearly crashing and getting a stem in the chest, banging my neck brace into my throat which was probably the best feeling ever, never the less I had made the A final.


Scott Roberts made his way through the first rounds of racing easily and in the carnage on the first straight of his semi final he battled down to the finish with Luke Limbrick, the plucky senior rider that played off the bad weather to get through the rounds.

The final was always going to be a good one, every year there is a crash in the A final. Scott Roberts had first gate pick, I had second, Scott Beaumont third, and Luke Limbrick as the wildcard, had 4th pick. Roberts predictably chose lane 1, Beaumont had already jumped in 3 before I had chose my gate, which surprised him when I went in 4, the outside. He jumped over next to Scott and Luke filled into lane 3. So the gate from the inside was; Roberts, Beaumont, Luke Limbrick and Me, PCJ.

The gate dropped, Beaumont got the snap, pushing over to the inside onto Roberts, Limbrick was behind and I chose to hit the outside line on the first turn. As Roberts and Beaumont both went into the inside line on the first turn Beaumont washed out and Roberts had no where to go except into his bike and crashed over the top of him. This left me a clean run around the outside and Limbrick cutting tighter on the inside into the outside berm on the 2nd turn. I went tight in a gear too hard, feeling the cramp as I tried to pedal out. From here on out it was a fight between Me and Limbrick as we fought up until the 4th turn, about half way, when I made a move around the outside of limbo and was forced wide, almost off the track. I chased right to the line only missing out by about a bikes length. Scott Beaumont was first to roll over the brow of the hill into 3rd place and Scott Roberts came down into 4th, disappointed but happy to finish.


It was an amazing weekends racing, despite the weather, but I think everyone will agree that the racing came down to the wire on most cases and it was intense to watch.

Next round is a double header at South West Extreme in Devon, on the 13th-14th August.


Here's to this years team sponsors:

Identiti
Halo
Gusset
Renthal Cycling
MRP
White Brothers
TSG
ODI
Shimano
Crank Brothers
Schwalbe

With Support from Monster Energy, Alpinestars, Adidas Eyewear and PF Performance.

Photos supplied by Duncan Philpot from his video footage from the weekend.

Pat Campbell-Jenner