MATCH REPORT: BYJL South East & Eastern Round 3
There was a good turn out of sixty five riders at Norwich on Saturday. The weather was unsettled, being mainly dull with occasional bright intervals and showers.
Twenty one U8s contested the heats, with four riders on maximum points. A highly competitive A final was therefore expected with championship leader, Oliver Edmunds (Kesgrave), drawn in gate two and Luca Woodhouse (Kesgrave) in gate one. It was Luca who prevailed this time in a very entertaining and hard fought final. Harvey Shumake (Kesgrave) finished a close third with Freddie Fullilove (Ipswich) fourth.
Oliver extends his championship lead to twenty four points over Lily Parr (Kesgrave) who was second in the B final behind Oscar Hammond (Kesgrave). Third in the B final was Emil Gowers (Ipwich) with Tallulah Saunders (Kesgrave) fourth.
It was the usual two suspects in U10s with Charlie Parr (Kesgrave) battling with Ryker Jolly (Kesgrave), Charlie prevailing to win on the day and take the lead in the championship.
Kai Gowers (Ipswich) took the lead in the U12 championship from Torsten Jolly (Kesgrave) by finishing third in the A final. Noah Woodhouse and Charlie Beeton (both Kesgrave) were the class of the field though, finishing first and second respectively with impressive newcomer, Harvey Young (Ipswich), finishing fourth. Having missed the first round, Noah has now moved into third in the championship by winning the last two rounds.
Lewis Brinkhoff again dominated the U14s but it was Charlie Johnson (Ipswich) who came second on this occasion with Ben Clarke (Ipswich) taking third. Ethan Page (Hellingly) did an excellent job to reach the A final and finished fourth. Lewis is totally in command in the championship having won all three rounds.
Keanu Bowers (Blakenham) certainly cannot be faulted for commitment and came to grief again in the heats but, despite this, qualified for the U18 A final. Keanu held it together in the final to take an impressive win from team mate Adam Cooper (Blakenham). Reece Johnson (Ipswich) was third and Owen Wells (Hethersett) fourth.
Reece continues to lead the championship with Keanu moving into second place just four points behind. Adam slips to third but is only two points further back.
Sadly, there was only one entry in the girls race, the ever popular Chloe Pearce (Ipswich). Chloe still got some competitive racing in picking up the twenty five points and now leads the championship by twenty three points from Lily Gedge (Ipswich).
Previous winners in the seniors category, Neil Hollebon (Hellingly) and Matt Hill (Ipswich) were not present, but a first appearance of the year by Charlie Rumbold (Ipswich) made for entertaining racing. Charlie finished second in the A final to the consistently quick Richard Fellgett, who is now joint leader of the championship. Hethersett team mates, Harley Hamill and Olly Buxton were third and fourth.
The veterans race was also missing previous winners, Martyn Hollebon (Hellingly) and Gary Brown (Kesgrave). Home favourite, Paddy Wenn (Norwich) took full advantage to win the A final and now leads the championship by twenty points from Darren Mitchell (Ipswich) who finished fourth in the A final behind second placed Glyn Morgan (Hethersett) and Malcolm Redpath (Blakenham) in third.
It was good to see a number of newcomers in Norwich colours which bodes well for the future. Round 4 is at Hellingly on Saturday 03 June.