NPS 4X Rd 4 - South West Extreme

This was a new venue with a fresh built track. Rocking up we had no idea really what to expect from this place. The location is amazing, the track is in Bideford near the North Devon coast. We made a weekend of it and got a load of surfing in on top of the racing which was brilliant. The weather also managed to defy the weather men and produced fantastic sunshine all weekend.


All this sunshine left the track incredibly dry and dusty creating some really interesting racing and a lot of crashes. In the corners only the main line had grip and so making a pass was risky. It was all about drifting moto style and then trying to hold as much speed to make the pass stick. It was a track where taking a longer line and holding more speed out of the corners paid off as many riders struggled to maintain their position after making a pass as too much momentum was lost doing so. This all created some really lively racing. The plumes of dust being ejected from the rear wheels of riders was pure moto cross and made for some great spectating. It would be nice to see a few meatier jumps on the track but for a newly built track it was a lot of fun.

Racing the track was a tough one the first straight was tight and narrow so as ever the first corner was the one to get. Once cleanly in front the track was so much easier because you could just hold the main line and stay out of trouble. The tightness of the first corner however meant a clean lead was hard to get and most motos were well battled with a lot of inside lines and cutting up. My motos went well with 2 wins a 2nd and a 4th. One moto was particularly eventful, leading into the 3rd corner I slid out managing somehow to stay rubber side down but veering across the track in the process. This caused the other 3 riders to crash one guy managed to scrape the ends of his bars down my back in the process, total carnage!
Unfortunately quarters were less successful and in trying to make a move from 3rd to 2nd I lost the front wheel and finished in 4th getting knocked out of the comp.

Isaac was on it all day in the youth and has some serious talent shredding the other riders, he will be one to watch for the future. Senior in the end was won by AJ Boardman. There seem to be far more Elite riders this year which is great to see. The racing was well contended. Will Evans was one of the crowd favourites as usual and doing a lot of passing to take 3rd. Pat having recovered form his brutal crash at Blandford came second with Beaumont taking the win.

Next round is back to Redhill, another great venue and a really good track. This will include the National Champs so definately one to get to even if it is just to watch and check out the action.