ACU Youth champs take to the Rocks
By TMX Archives on 30th Apr 08
MANSFIELD Maun and East Midland Racing provide the backdrop for the ACU National Youth Championships this holiday weekend at the daunting Bracken Rocks trials venue. It will be the third round of 2008 on Saturday for the C and D boys and girls then the A and B lads and lasses hit the Peter Beardmore-devised three lap 12 section woodland course at Holloway on Sunday morning. For the older riders it will be round four after over a month's rest following the Otter Vale round in March. Engines start on both days at 11am.
In Class C on Saturday, 11-year-old Iwan Roberts is the boy on the move. Iwan lives at Gwnyedd and the Welsh starlet is a mountain biker, master of the unicycle, and a black belt in karate! You have been warned. In a direct clash of cultures, Billy Bolt lives at Wallsend, former home of British shipbuilding on the River Tyne. These two youngsters are locked on 37 points.
Hudderfield's Jack Price and current Class D medium wheels champion Dan Peace are the shakers in the class. In Medium Wheels, Jack Peace, Sam Yeomans and Sam Johnson battle for the championship. It's two East Yorkies Ben Teasdale and Zac Collinson against Lakelander Joe Hiley in Small Wheels. Terry Crabtree will plant the flags on Saturday with a three lapper of 15 sections.
The A and B show on Sunday will lift the lid on latent talent nationwide, and from all points of the compass. Jack Sheppard heads Ben Morphett, Jonny Walker and Jonathan Richardson.
Shep has done the Colin Appleyard Youth with Ben and Richo but the Richmond youngster has just ridden America so he will be either sharp, or jet-lagged.
It's Herne Bay against Ipswich and the Lake District and bets are flying on Jack Sheppard this weekend but stir in Joanne Coles, Josh Brain, Josh Maude, Andy Chilton and Chris Hunt.
As far as Class B, Richard Sadler is about able to ride across a ceiling! The West Witton Wonder is on a maximum but Whitby's Jack Howell and Bodmin traveller Keelan Hancock and Chris Short are not travelling to go sight-seeing in the Derbyshire Dales. Add in the other Welsh Dragons, Iwan Roberts is one, plus Ali Bedford and Jake Evans-Luter and anything could happen.
Jack Stones, Duncan MacDonald, Mat Maynard and Rob Waite take on Isle of Wight duo Chris Stay and George Gosden. The entry breakdown reads 21 Class A, 33 Class B, 22 Class C, 10 Small Wheels and five Medium Wheels.
The basics for Bracken Rocks are no overnight camping but there are toilets and refreshments on site. Full report and pics next week from both days!