Cumbernauld Centurions on the march south

FIVE Cumbernauld Centurions made the three-hour trip south to Barnard Castle for round two of British Cycling’s North Region BMX Championship.

With around 250 riders signed up for the days racing, it promised to be a hard fought round with close racing from the off. With Junior Expert representation from Owen Kelly in Male 7, Fergus Whitehouse, Male 8 and Cameron Reid, Male 10 and Senior Expert representation from Danny Kelly in Masters and Raymond Reid in both Veteran and Cruiser classes, the club had a small but effective presence.

The track was new to the North Region series and this helped level the field as most riders were unfamiliar with the track. This slightly offset the disadvantage that the Centurion’s out-dated home track normally gives the riders and they did not a second invitation! There were convincing performances right across the team with Centurions riders punching above their weight in all categories.

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The father and son combination of Danny and Owen Kelly saw Danny take a convincing seventh in the Masters ‘A’ final with Owen beating his dad with a fourth place in the Male 7 ‘A’ final. In the Male 8 category, it was Fergus Whitehouse who took the win in the ‘B’ final, with ‘40-something’ Raymond Reid taking a third in the Veterans ‘B’ final and fourth in the Cruiser ‘B’ final. However, it was left to Master Cameron Reid to provide the outstanding result of the day. The Junior Male 10 category is one of the most hotly contended categories in the UK and with three of the UK’s top eight riders in attendance it was always going to be a tough one.

With young Reid consistently getting the snap out of the gate and managing a second, first and second placing in the three qualifying Moto’s, it left him with second pick on the gate in semi final one. A convincing second place behind Oliver Cope (UK rank five) meant Cameron was through to the main event, the coveted ‘A’ final. As the final was called, Reid wheeled his Pure Bicycles BMX to the start gate and with fourth pick surprisingly giving him the option of taking lane 2, he didn’t hesitate for a moment. A great snap out of lane two still saw him overhauled into the first berm by Cope and Matty Gilston (UK rank 7), but when Gilston passed, Reid pushed hard and stuck with him. As the group of three entered into berm two, Cope and Gilston touched and went down with Reid narrowly avoiding the mayhem by swooping above the entangled two. With Matthew Baptista (UK rank 8), three bike lengths behind, it was first to the line to take his first A final win and the Club’s first A final win south of the border this century.

For the full story on this event visit the club’s website at www.cumbernauld-news.co.uk

With Centurions now beginning to make their presence felt across the border and the club ranking beginning to claw it’s way it up, things are simply just getting better. With the new International standard track going in at Broadwood this autumn, the opportunities to take part in BMX and cycling in North Lanarkshire are ever expanding, which is truly a great thing.

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Interested in BMX Racing, aged four and up? Want to come and have a go, then see www.cbmxc.co.uk for more details. If you want to come and watch, then the next race is round four of the Scottish Summer BMX Race Series on May 12 at the Condorrat track and the first gate drops at 1.30pm! See you there!”