BikeYard/Nuke Proof Team at The British 4X Nationals

The Ice Rink

What a weekend for the final round of the British 4x series at Redhill, Gloucestershire.

We arrived early Sunday morning to a glorious sunny day but that wasn’t to last long as the heavens opened and turned the track from what was a dusty dry fast course to an ice rink which made for some good racing and also some good crashes.

The first set of motos kicked off and it was a case of hanging on to the bike and staying upright, even getting on the bike was a mission but it was great for the spectators as they got to see some really messy races with some great crashes, in some cases the riders were 50 metres apart as the first corner on the track was where most of the moves were made using the inside to block any riders from passing but was so slippery it mostly ended in carnage! The last corner covered in grass caused a lot of drifting seeing many riders choosing to run over the finishing line rather than attempt to jump back on their bikes.

All team members bar Cai Mahon qualified, Cai had a number of huge offs not giving him enough points for the quarters. Young Elliot Thompson Knight had a shaky start but finally for the first time all season he beat Dylan in his last moto giving him the confidence going into the finals. So this was it, the last final for the juveniles of the season , Elliot got the snap out of the gate and lead the riders all the way with only Dylan closing him down until Dylan crashed out . Elliot not knowing he had a huge lead peddled his heart out all the way to the finish then collapsing with sheer joy for his first top of the podium this season.

Josh sailed his way to the youth finals, clearly on top form after his collar brake from last season. With yet another snap out of the gate Josh lead from start to finish giving him is second win this year Josh quoted “ gutted I couldn’t enter the first few races this year due to my operation but I am glad I’m back to full fitness let’s see what I can do for 2012 I want the overall win”.

The team’s only senior rider Joe Billingham has improved all year but again was unlucky to crash out in the quarter finals after looking good all day with one of the toughest categories seeing 55 senior riders.

And finally the two team Elite riders Nathan Parsons and Billy Cheetham also had great motos easing them into the quarters but as sods law has it they were up against each other and the infamous Will Longden . True to form straight out the gate into the first corner we were all battling for that 1st and 2nd place but came together and took each other out leaving James Wilson to just stroll through whilst we all ran to pick ourselves and the bikes up, but unfortunately Nate got up first to finish 2nd in that moto which meant Billy and Will didn’t make it through.

Nate "The Natanator" headed up for the semis which he won leading Scott Beaumont the series leader all the way to the line to take him and Scott into the finals.
Nate was looking good and after beating Scott in the semi’s we thought it was Nath's day but again carnage corner got the better of him and left Nath battling from behind but just couldn’t get past, but with his 4th place on the day guaranteed him the 2nd place overall which was amazing as its Naths 1st year in Elite but only his 2nd year racing....watch out pro elite riders in 2012 thebikeyard/Nukeproof are here to stay!

Nathan Parsons – Elite – 4th
Billy Cheetham – Elite – 14th
Joe Billingham – Senior – 11th
Josh Bremridge – Youth – 1st
Cai Mahon – Youth – 10th
Elliot Thompson Knight – Juvenile- 1st

Team standings overall

Thebikeyard/Nukeproof came into the last round all in the top 5 overall so the pressure was on a bit to perform and boy did the team do well. Coming into the final round the team were 3rd with team slam 69/Dartmoor hot on our heels. But with fantastic wins from Josh and Elliot and a final from Nathan we managed to keep our ranking. Excellent work from a team who have all only raced for a couple of years ! From 6th in 2010 to 3rd this year we are looking for the overall team win in 2012!

1st – Naked Racing
2nd – Identiti
3rd – Thebikeyard/Nukeproof

Series points Overall
Nathan Parsons – Elite – 2nd
Billy Cheetham – Elite – 6th
Joe Billingham – Senior – 23rd
Josh Bremridge – Youth – 2nd
Cai Mahon – Youth – 9th
Elliot Thompson Knight – Juvenile- 3rd

We would like to say a huge thank you to our main sponsors Nukeproof for giving us amazing support during this season and for producing one of the best 4x bikes on the scene, also like to thank Will "The Thrill" Longden for looking after us all and sorting us out with components etc.