UPDATED - BMBS R1 Sherwood Pines Report & Results

Blessed with dry weather and a dry track, the course provided racers a serious high-speed challenge with flat out racing being order of the day. 

After a busy early morning practice session, the riders and assembled crowds gathered for the 9.30am start to the first race of the 2011 season. 

Race 1 saw the Elite Females take to the course alongside the Expert, Masters, Grand Vet, Junior, Juvenile and Open Female categories as well as the Juvenile and Youth Males. 

The pre-race talk amongst the crowd was very much about the highly anticipated Elite match up between British National Champion Annie Last and the flying Norwegian, Lene Byberg. Much to the crowd's delight, the riders didn't let them down.

After a long sprint to the first right hand corner, Last took charge and headed off into the first lap with Byberg and Lily Matthews in close pursuit. Melanie Spath and Maddie Horton made up the top five at the end of lap one.

By the end of lap two, Last and Byberg had dropped Matthews with Horton and Spath fighting it out for fourth and fifth places.

This order remained the same until lap four when Byberg attacked Last and pulled out an eight second lead over the young Brit. This was a lead Byberg would maintain to the line with some exceptionally smooth riding powering her to her first British victory. With Matthews taking third spot ahead of Horton, 4th and Spath, 5th, attention then turned to a stunning ride from Jane Cumming who finished a very impressive eighth in her first ever Elite category race.

In the Expert Female field, xcracer.com's Claire Bowen took the early initiative and held the lead to the line ahead of Cotic/AQR Holidays rider Ruth Owen-Evans. In the Youth Male, Stuart Wilcox pulled out a huge lead on lap one which he held throughout the race finishing ahead of Iain Paton and Mike Thompson.

Race 2 proved just how popular the British Mountain Bike Race Series is becoming across Europe as home-grown Elite Male heroes such as Liam Killeen and Oli Beckingsale faced a major early season test from the Giant Rabobank team who's line up includes Sweden's Emil Lindgren and World Junior Champion Michiel Van Der Heijden. 

Report

As over 60 riders - one of the largest Elite Male fields for many years - headed towards the first corner it was Team Wiggle's Lee Williams that came out on top in the battle for position. However, Williams' lead was to be short lived as Emil Lindgren took control with an awe-inspiring demonstration of speed.

Setting an unbelievable early pace, Lindgren had gapped the field by the end of the first lap with crowd favorite Oli Beckingsale heading the chasing pack closely shadowed by David Fletcher and Jody Crawforth. 

By lap two, Lindgren's Dutch team mate, Marco Minnaard had taken up second spot ahead of Beckingsale, Fletcher and Crawforth. 

As the race progressed, Beckingsale managed to pull away from Fletcher and Crawforth but there was no catching the Giant Rabobank riders. Lindgren took the win - the first victory by a Swedish man in the British Series - followed by Minnaard, Beckingsale, Fletcher and Crawforth. 

Speaking after the race and just before pulling a crowd-pleasing wheelie on his way to the podium, Emil Lindgren said:

"It was a really nice race"

"Overtaking back markers was difficult at times because the track is tight in places but I really enjoyed Sherwood Pines. It is a great course"

"I'm happy to be the first Swede to win in the British Series but I am even happier for the team. With a second for Marco and a strong finish for Michiel (Van Der Heijden), Giant Rabobank has had a very good day"

Speaking about his third place finish, Oli Beckingsale was in upbeat mood:

"I needed a good start as the race can be won or lost very early here. I got a terrible start"

"Within half a lap though I was back at the front of the pack but Emil had already gone. He was really on it today and full credit to him"

"A strong third place and finishing as the top placed Brit s a good start to the season and is a great debut for Endura MTB Racing. I'm already looking forward to Dalby." Beckingsale concluded with a broad smile.

In the Expert Male race Lee Westwood. Matt Clinton and Ben Price flew off the line to lead out the field early on with Westwood seeing out the race in first place ahead of a charging Ryan Henry.

The final race of the day saw the Masters, Veteran, Super Vet and Open Male categories take to the course.  Geoffrey Beetham took top honours in the Masters class with Ian Jeremiah winning the Veterans.

New for 2011 Throughout the day, British Cycling's Go Ride team were giving the stars of tomorrow their chance to shine. Running alongside the main race arena was a small, but challenging, trail set up just for the little race fans amongst the crowd. With categories for U8, U10, U12 and U14 riders, children of all ages got to try out racing for the very first time. With medals, British Cycling gloves and water bottles up for grabs, the racing was close, fun and very competitive with a great time had by all riders and parents alike. The Go Ride team will be at every round of the British Mountain Bike Race Series this year so make sure you take the children along to the next round for a truly memorable experience for the whole family.

More information about the race weekend can be found at www.britishxc.com and full details of lap times and positions for all riders can be found at www.timelaps.co.uk. At the time of writing Timelaps website was down here is a pdf of the full results from round 1

Round 2

The next round of the series is at the award winning Dalby World Cup circuit on the weekend of April 16th/17th. Enter Online here

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