The 4X National Champs took place in a great rural location, Hornton near Banbury. A host of the UK’s top 4X riders took part ensuring that the Senior category was a close-fought affair. The weather threatened the event on a number of occasions, but on the hottest day the UK has ever known, a few thunderstorms cooled things down.

Racing got underway just after 1pm. Chief Commissaire Kelvin Hoy briefed the riders on the rules just before racing commenced and MC Dan Jarvis got the riders ready to go.

Novice racing involved 15 riders in two categories. These categories have been popular throughout the 4X series, so expect to see a few of these guys looking for top results in Championship categories next year:

12-15 Novice Results

16+ Novice Results

The Juvenile category is becoming more popular and the flowing track made for good racing. Lewis Lacey dominated the event, as he has done throughout the 4X NPS.

Juvenile Results

With no Ben Wookey to contend with, the Youth category was won by Ben Stephenson from Brendon Fairclough. Good result for Brendon who came through from some tough motos to chase Ben all the way.

Youth Results

The Juniors was the first of our Championship categories and didn’t disappoint. Big names like Adam Dayson, Dan Stanbridge and Phil Shucksmith went out in the semis. Defending Champion Gee Atherton was the favourite to retain his title, but Jordan and James Gould had other ideas. Jordan got the snap from the gate and held Gee off for three-quarters of the track. Gee’s outstanding track skills pulled him through in the end closely followed by Jordan.

Junior Results

The Masters category was an open affair with no rider dominating his motos. Shock result in this category was current NPS 4X number one, Miles Kirby going out after 3 tough rounds. Alun Brooks was looking favourite after Miles went out, but a snapped crank in the 3rd moto meant a borrowed bike for the final to make things more difficult. A clean gate from Roger Wilbraham in the final helped in holding Simon Paton off into 2nd.

Masters Results

The Senior Women had defending champion Tracy Moseley dominating all motos. 4X newcomer and new Downhill riders rep Jules Coventry took a bad fall in the 3rd moto and dislocated her shoulder. This left Helen Gaskell, Kim Boffey and Caroline Mackinley battling it out for medals with Helen coming through from a close start to take 2nd from Kim.

Senior Women Results

The Senior category was a mixture of Senior and Elite riders. Strongest out of the senior riders was Mark Elvidge who was competing on level terms throughout the motos, but went out in the last 16. Biggest surprise was current Elite NPS 4X number 1, Richard Batey going out in the last 16. An audacious move by Dan Atherton took away Richard’s momentum in turn two and left him with nowhere to go. Ross Tricker was another casualty of the last 16 as the racing became tighter.

The last eight were all potential finalists with Will Longden, Dale Holmes, Martin Ogden and Scott Beaumont looking the strongest. Will took a fall in his semi which shook him up on the fastest part of the course. The consolation final was a battle between Dan and Will with both riders going down in the last corner after coming together while looking for the fastest line. Duncan Ferris came through for the win followed by Will Evans.

The Senior final was dominated by two riders after Martin and Nigel tangled on the first straight. Dale held the line round the second corner with Scott right on his back wheel. Dale took the outside line down the third straight to set himself up for the last corner allowing Scott to take the faster inside line. Scott took full advantage of this by nipping into the last corner just ahead of Dale. Scott’s tight line into the last corner allowed Dale to come underneath Scott on the exit. Both riders came into contact on the exit and Scott lost his momentum allowing Dale to take a well deserved win, adding to his numerous World and British titles from BMX.

Senior Men Results

Consolation Final

Thanks to all the event sponsors: Specialized, FUNN, Playstation2 Magazine, British Cycling, Dirt Magazine, The PPC Image Lab, Mountain Biking UK and High TV.