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NPS 4x Rd2 and 4x National Championships!
The Edge, Shropshire
Jim - 17th & 18th May 2008
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The Edge is a hotbed of action sports, from regular mountain board lessons to quad bike experiences theyve got it all. And last year they opened up their mountain board track to 4x riders, and what a track! It kicks off right up at the top on the start gate, over a couple of rollers.. you can either manual the lot or double up, over the table into the first wide open berm of the track. The second straight is littered with jumps, forget descriptions.. I'll just let the photos tell that story.
Overview of the course across the second straight
You're fired into the second berm and over the step down jump into the final berm and depending on the day.. Saturday saw you pedal like a lunatic over a couple of tabletops and to the finish. Come Sunday it was a left hand turn after the first berm, going crossways across a mountain board jump then pedalling into the side of a jump, round a flat corner and an all out pedal to the finish.
Longden slides in front of Beaumont and holds it
Now I say Saturday and Sunday because I've condensed two days of events into this one report. Saturday was the NPS 4x series round two, Sunday saw the big one with the 4x National Championships taking place. And with different winners on each day, the racing was fast and aggresive with more overtaking on one corner than you'd see in the entire 4x series.
The Edge - wipe open and fast
I'll start off with Saturday. It started off well, the track wet but still tacky. But come racing time the clouds opened and sprinkled light rain all afternoon. This saw a lot of manic tyre changes but mostly in vain. The dirt at the Edge is mostly clay, and as such the rain loosened the top layer just enough to make walking on the track a bit like Bambi on ice by finals time. The final berm was where the majority of the action took place, many came into it leading their moto and left on their arse. Harsh but this is 4x!
It was pretty clear straight away that Will Longden and Scott Beaumont were battling it out from each end of the pits, each looking fast throughout the motos but in the end Longden pipped Beaumont to the post in the final, with Steve Taylor taking up third place.
The girls were swapping places all the way through the motos but in the end Charlie Phillips took the win in the final, with Katy Curd (not Kathy...) and Suzanne Lacey in second and third.
Charlie Philips leading into the second berm
Right I'll skip onto Sunday and National Champs day. Now Sunday was also Pearce Cycles Round 2 at Bringewood some 20 odd miles away, so in order to get coverage from both events I headed over to Bringewood first, then shot back to the Edge in time to catch the quarter finals. And in a massive turnaround from Saturday the track was bone dry, so much so that dust trails were being kicked up and the hardpack tyres came out again.
Tight racing with lots of overtaking oppurtunities
Once again there was a big battle in Senior between Longden and Beaumont, neither giving any ground but in the end, in one of the best 4x races I've seen in a long time, Beaumont took the win. Longden lead from the start gate, all the way through the first and second berms but after the step down Beaumont took the long wide line around the third berm and was pedalling like a man possessed, while Longden was on the inside, outside foot down holding the turn. By the time they met again on the flat corner Beaumont had made up the gap, and in the final few feet managed to claw ahead of Longden and take the National Champs jersey.
Local boy Boom Boom leading in the semi's
Once again Charlie Phillips took the win in the ladies, with Katy Curd taking second. The 4x National Champions for 2008 are in Juvenile: Alex Metchalf, Youth: Tom Knight, Junior: Bernard Kerr, Master: Darren Howarth, Veteran: Gery Gray, Ladies: Charlie Phillips and finally Senior: Scott Beaumont!
Full results can be found at NPS 4x. Looking for photos? Get in touch (contact page), there are hundreds!
Scott gets the winners treatment
Your 4x National Champions
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