HSBC British Cycling BMX National Series Rounds 11 & 12
Last weekend USN Racing team has its final race of the domestic season in Huncote, Leicestershire. It was the final rounds of the 2018 HSBC British Cycling BMX National Series. This was the final two rounds of the twelve round series and vital for Scott to qualify for the 2019 UCI BMX World Championships in Belgium.
The weekend started with two days at the Cycle Show in Birmingham where Scott has a race bike and two helmets on display on the Silkolene, Bell and USE stands.
From there it was straight to Leicester for practice on Friday evening. Scott rode a few laps just to get the cycle show out of his legs, then it was back to the Dethleffs motorhome for dinner and an early night.
Saturday morning and Scott had three laps of practice to get dialled.
Into the qualifying motos and they were action packed from lap one. Leading from the start scott entered the final turn with a small lead but got a bump mid turn and slipped back to third. In the second Moto he got a bump in turn One and finished second and in the final Moto he ran a clean lap to take the win!
So onto the final. With all the bumping and banging, Scott decided to take an outside gate in the final so he could get a clean run on the start straight and carry good speed into turn one. The gate dropped and Scott made his best start of the day. There was a huge drag race to turn one and Scott almost got there but entered the turn level for the lead and got pushed wide. On the second straight Scott was in third but then made a clean move into second. From here he reeled in the gap but at the finish he couldn’t quite make it having to settle for second.
Onto Sunday and Scott was ready to end the season on a high. Dominating his motos Scott won all three races to give him the vital gate choice for the final. Going straight for gate one Scott wanted the holeshot. The gate dropped and Scott’s gate wasn’t perfect dropping down the start in fourth. With a powerful first straight though Scott fought into the lead in turn one. From there he rode a solid lap until the final straight. Still in the lead but it was tight. The last straight has 10 single jumps on it. Scotts line all day was to double manual the first eight then jump the last two. On his final manual he bumped the landing, lost a little speed then had to jump a little higher on the final jump. It was all it took as Scott crossed the line it was a photo finish. By just a couple of thousandths of a second Scott was just beaten at the finish and ended up second.
At the finish Scott said:
“It’s been a tough weekend with a lot of hard fought laps out there. But that’s the reason we are here racing – to improve my 4X speed and skills into 2019. The final today was my best lap of the weekend and although I lost the race on a photo finish I am stoked to end the year with a solid lap like that. Roll on 2019”.
It was an incredible year for Scott on his BMX. Competing in just six of the twelve round series series, Scott was able to finish up the year in fourth position overall in the National Series.
This has qualified Scott directly to the UCI BMX World Championships in 2019. Scott is daring to dream big about his chances on both 4X and BMX in 2019.
We want to thank all our team Partners and sponsors for their incredible help and support with the best parts and products throughout the 2018 season. We simply could not do this without you and Scott could not maintain the continuous results at the sharp end of all his races. Thank you.
See you all in 2019.
Images – Sandra Smith