4X
National Points Series 2006 |
Sheffield
Rnd 1 |
5th
March |
 |
RapidRacers
hit the podium again with Aidan Bishop |
| RapidRacers ex ProElite Aidan Bishop attended the first round of the 2006 National Points Series 4X race and kicked ass. Despite several injuries putting paid to his 2005 DH campaign, Aidan is challenging the best in the 4X series in 2006, here is his race report........ |
5th March,
summer a long way off, where is the ideal place to hold the opening round
of the NPS 4X 2006 series…south of France, Dubai, some other tropical
country that never gets rain….No the north of England!! Sheffield
to be precise! Luckily the organisers had the indoor BMX track facility
to use, so I for one was quite looking forward to dusting off the cobwebs
and getting back into some racing action. |
| The track was great fun (if you like that sort of thing!), a decent sized start hill took you into a fairly long start straight ending with a nice set of doubles into a large berm, the next straight contained a step-up to double to step-down thing followed by a smaller step-up into a tighter berm, the third straight was nice with a step-up then double then triple into the final berm, jumping all of these gave a nice trail session feeling that would bring a smile to anybody’s face when you got it right. The final straight was packed full with four sets of quite tight doubles, made more difficult by the fact that you had left your lungs behind you from sprinting so hard on the first three straights. |
 |
Aidan
on top form |
| It’s interesting going to 4X races nowadays, there is a definite change in the racers attending and the crowds, usually you would see many familiar DH faces about but not so this weekend, an indication that the discipline is growing its own identity more as each season passes. I wouldn’t know where to begin with telling you about who came where in what category, because to me it seemed like there was one for every three riders on the track! What I will say is that there were some super fast guys riding this weekend of all ages. I really don’t think that anyone under the age of 16 should be going as fast as I saw some going, it’s just not right! |
| The elites racing I can tell you a little about as I knew half of who was racing! Gee was going well, leading the B final until an opponent (probably a BMX’er) went inside and collided with enough force to knock Gee’s chain off, ending his race. The final was down to Beaumont (in new kit and new bikes), Ogden, Batey and the other I couldn’t tell you. First blood of the series goes to Ogden, managing to out power Scott down the first straight and stay out front until the finish, Scott showing good determination after being block passed to come back to finish 2nd with the unnamed rider taking 3rd. |
| This RapidRacers first outing into the Master’s category was a pretty successful one. Starting poorly in the first moto, going from first to last! I managed to get into the swing of things, battling my way to the final. An over eager snap at the gate saw me at the back of the race, but held in and managed to make some inside moves on the berms to come through and finish in second place. I’m pretty chuffed with how the racing went and am looking forward to seeing how the rest of the year will pan out, with the other venues being less BMX track like it will be interesting to see if I can find that extra position on the podium. |
| Until next time, this is Aidan Bishop signing out…I’m heading to the fridge for a nice cold Bud!!! |
| Thank you to all our sponsors who have again supported me and the RapidRacers team for 2006. |