Cromwell BMX Club recently had 10 riders head away to Hamilton to compete in the 2022 BMXNZ Nationals.
With Omicron ramping up around the country it was a huge effort by BMXNZ to run this event and the riders were not disappointed.
Bubbles meant each rider could take just one support person and they had to sit with other riders in their age group rather than with their own club riders.
Although it was weird seeing your club mates over the track or not seeing them at all throughout the weekend it still didn’t take away from the exciting racing and awesome results from the club.
First up on Saturday were Charlie Leyser (12 Boys), Jack Stanley (14 Boys), Jono Hansen (10 Boys), Liam King (11 Boys) and Brayden King (14 Boys).
Charlie was hoping to get a podium this year and didn’t leave disappointed.
Placing 1st and 2nd all morning got Charlie into the semi where he placed 2nd ready for the final.
Awesome racing by Charlie saw him head off last year’s NZ1 crossing the line and taking away NZ2.
Jack has improved so much this year and did so well to make it into the semi-finals in a very fast age group. Unfortunately, he was left just short of making the finals and finished 10th overall.
Jono has been very fast this season and was also looking for a podium finish, but unlucky for him a few errors in his semi-final had him finish just 0.01 seconds off the pace and his finals hopes were dashed, leaving him 9th overall.
Such is BMX racing, and just so gutting for the riders after all the training and effort put in over the season.
Sunday saw Hamish and Anika Leyser pull out due to injury, but still left Lily Huband, Brooke Fevre (both 16-24 Female) and Josh Smith (17-29 Male) ready to hit the track.
Along with Brayden and Liam King out there in the 11-14 year old Cruiser.
The brothers did awesome against some tough competition with Brayden finishing 5th and Liam 8th. Lily and Brooke had some tough racing but both managed to get placings and make the finals together.
In the final Lily was able to spot a gap, hold her line and hit the first corner 2nd (very much to her surprise) with Brooke right next to her.
The rest of the race was very close with Lily coming over the line with NZ2 and Brooke NZ5.
Josh hit the track against the big boys.
These guys are so incredibly fast, and their skills are next level.
It would’ve been awesome to see Josh on the podium and going into finals it looked like he was heading in the right direction.
BMX racing is tough and a near crash on the first straight saw him slip back.
But in true Josh fashion he didn’t give up and managed to pull back a few placings coming away with NZ5.
All the riders made the club very proud and with so many new riders in the club the future looks very bright. Check out the Cromwell BMX Club Facebook page to see all that is happening in the BMX world.
