Martin Ogden continued his domination of National BSX racing with a win and a
shared win at the Dirt Biker X event at the National Adventure Sports Show.

With around 30,000 attending the show this was a real opportunity to showcase
this form of racing and the high quality field did not disappoint.

Saturday’s racing was full of high paced action with nearly every heat
containing passing moves, varying line choices, big air and close racing. The
morning rain had made race action look unlikely but the work of around 15
course builders made the course completely rideable. Martin Ogden (24seven)
dominated the action winning each of his races to take the win, he was
closely followed by Dylan Clayton (Pashley), Jake Michaell and Toby Forte
(Pashley). Andy Bostock made a rare appearance out of retirement and showed
his class by an amazing array of line choices to take 5th place.

As the sun shone and the course continued to dry, racing on Sunday was
expected to be even more competitive with an assortment of riders expected to
take part after their exploits at the National Champs.

Sunday morning brought an array of aches and pains and hangovers as a
consequence of watching Run DMC and Mark B and Blade on the main music stage.
Toby Forte withdrew after dislocating his shoulder and Paul Mason retired
with a damaged ankle, new additions included new National Champs medallists
Will Longden (MBUK) and Ed Moseley (Animal Orange), plus Steve Geall, Andy
Pope and Anthony Revell.

The course was now rock solid and Longden looked awesome in practice finding
new racing lines and clearing a previously unmastered triple. After the
qualifying rounds the quarters looked like a who’s who of BSX racing. The
action was mean and fast with Gareth Bates (Revell Bikes) unashamedly forcing
Will Longden out at the first berm leaving the event wide open. Anthony
Revell (Revell Bikes), Martin Ogden, Steve Atkins (Team Skene) and Ed Moseley
all won their quarters with Chico Hooke (2and8), Dylan Clayton, Alexis Park
(24seven) and Bates joining them in the semis.

The first semi saw about five changes of position until the two Revell riders
came out on top with team boss Anthony Revell in first and Bates second. Semi
two was a controversial affair with all four riders coming together on the
second berm and a marshals flag raised to signify a rider missing the gate.
After much consultation the result stood and Ogden and Clayton progressed to
the final with a disappointed Chico Hooke missing out in third and Alexis
Park a tired fourth after his week of helping to design and build the course.

The consolation final was won by Ed Moseley and the main final was wide open
with Ogden beginning to look tired and Dylan Clayton looking to follow up his
previous weekends success in Switzerland. The Revell riders discussed tactics
but at the first berm Gareth Bates somehow managed to take out his team boss
leaving a straight race to the line for Clayton and Ogden. The outcome was
always going to be close and at the finish line the two riders could not be
separated by the finish judges so a rare dead heat was announced. This meant
Martin Ogden was crowned the first National Adventure Sports Show Biker X
overall champion after his Saturday 1st and Sunday joint 1st, Clayton with a
2nd and joint 1st took the silver medal and Bates was third overall with a 6th
and a 3rd.

The action was probably the most closely fought BSX racing ever in the UK and
the riders all enjoyed a technical and challenging race course that provided
passing opportunities in abundance. The success of the event looks like Biker
X will return as a big part of this event in 2002.

Big congratulations to the course crew of Alexis Park, Dave Watts, James
Mitchell, Matthew Stidston and Tom Counsell for managing to create a superb
race course in the space of 5 days.