A new venue for many of those racing, but a return for veterans of the Wessex league was Newbury Showground hosted by Andy Smith Events on Remembrance Sunday for round 8. It was a sunny and dry day with a good course that twisted and turned across flat grounds with some off-camber banks. It also was a bit bumpy, exploring some woodland area with difficult banking, causing some to run. In honour of it being remembrance, our riders also took part in a two minute silence at 11 o’clock.
Our U8s kickstarted the day with our females Florence Boustred in second and Amie Williams in fifth. Leighton Riley also came second, discovering issues with his bike at the finish… blame the mechanic! Sunni Muriithi came twelfth and Jordan Riley in thirteenth.
Theo Plumb finished third in the U10s alongside Joseph Lovegrove in seventeenth, who had a very good start.
U12s was a good race, the course spreading out our riders. Emily Williams came eighth, with Ruby Boustred in ninth. Billy Dyer finished eighth with James Sutton closing in, ending in ninth. Reuben Lewis came fourteenth and Leeyo Muriithi in sixteenth.
Next, the U14s and U16s hit the big course. Eve Carline finished third after some bike issues meaning she had to pit twice, with Matilda Wilks in fourth and Jaya Martingale in eleventh. Aneurin Gilbert came twelfth and Morgan Gilbert in fourteenth. Our U16 males had a good turn out with Tom Wilks in third, Tom Allen in fourth, Reuben Harrington in sixth and Henry Forsyth in eighth. After coming back from an injury Benji Pike, despite a small course mishap by the pits, was tenth and George Boustred finished in thirteenth. Our U16 female, Marit Davidse finished ninth. Well done to all our youth riders.
In the Junior category, Niclas Olley powered through to second place, Monty Flavell in sixth, Samuel Ridgment in eighth and Samuel Marcade in ninth. The V40s saw Andrew Gardiner in third, Pete Boustred in sixth and Tom Budden in seventh. Gemma Wilks came third in the female V40s, with Helen Meigh in tenth, and Emma Harrison finished a superb second in the female Junior category. The V50s race saw Phil Connell in ninth, Jon Hall in twelfth and Jason Harrison in sixteenth.
All in all, it was a very good turnout once again. Looking forward to Regionals at Dalton Barracks.
