PREVIEW: BYJL at Hethersett

The BYJL moves to the East this weekend when Hethersett are the hosts for National Round 2 on Saturday.  Club championship leaders Poole will be there in numbers to defend their lead and with a good turnout expected from Kesgrave and Ipswich organisers are hoping to at least match the 115 riders who competed in Round 1.

In Round 1 the U8s as expected was a battle between the S&SW and Eastern riders with Poole’s Oliver Saunders leading home Exeter’s JJ Wildman, and the Kesgrave duo of Tommy Rope and Charlie Parr, and these are likely to be the front runners again.

In the U10s it was the four regional winners who were the A finalists with Kesgrave’s Olly Reynolds just keeping the very quick looking John White into second place. Not far behind were Rosie Tidball, who won yet another SSW junior round last weekend, and Connor Steel and we can expect these four to be challenging again for the win.

Defending U12s champion Lewis Brinkhoff looked very impressive as he completed an unbeaten series of rides in round 1 and he starts as clear favourite for another win, although round 1’s other A finalists Tom Whitwam, Jake Vincent and Nathan Goulden might well think otherwise.

Although Ipswich’s Harrison Bacon was undefeated in the heats he had to settle for second place in the U14’s A final behind Sheffield’s James Bunting, with Newport’s Sean Bennett and Exeter’s Owen Tidball filling the minor places. They can also expect a challenge from Poole’s Callum Smith and Stockport’s Michael Preston.

Lauren Hookway as expected was too strong for the rest of the field in the Girls section but a lack of training did not appear to have dulled the speed of Poole’s Kristina Mines who claimed second place ahead of teammate Macie Schmidt and Ipswich’s Lily Gedge. The Midlands girls who contested the B Final will be hoping to move up a final this time.

The U17s lived up to expectations with some highly contested heats culminating in an exciting final. It appeared that defending champion Brandon Whetton had overcome the disadvantage of an outside gate as he made an electric start and rounded the field but as he headed down the back straight the other three riders were in a heap on the second bend.  In the re-run he was slightly blocked and that was all Callum Albin needed as he hit the front and under intense pressure he held on to win from Brandon, Reece Pollitt and Ben Harvey. Adam Watson who was unlucky to miss out on the A final on countback is one of a number of riders who are capable of beating the top 4 and it looks like this group will be providing a worthy finale to all the rounds.

Current team competition standings are:   

Club – 1. Poole, 2. Exeter, 3. Wednesfield 4. Kesgrave, 5. Ipswich, 6. Coventry. 7. Sheffield, 8. Bury

Top 3 club in each age category:

U8 – Poole, Exeter, Kesgrave

U10 – Exeter, A&T, Horspath

U12 – Poole, Kesgrave, Leicester

U14 – Poole, Stockport, Coventry

U17 – Poole, Wednesfield, A&T

Girls – Poole, Exeter, Biirmingham

As always the action gets under way at 10am with the U8’s – anyone wanting further information can contact Ross Mee via ross.mee@nixonmee.co.uk or 07769 734581.