Quite an incredible day in Rock Hill. Day 2 means the first day of practice for Scott and everyone was super excited to get started. The weather, however, was not playing ball. Thunderstorms in the area meant the arena had to be evacuated twice during the practice session due to lightening strikes in the area. The rain fell and it was a tough day for all the riders.

Scott was able to get 3 laps of practice, but team GB will get an extended practice session tomorrow.

Images by Charles Robertson.

Day 1 is in the books here at Rock Hill in the USA for the 2024 UCI BMX World Championships.

Today was track walk day and taking a look at the venue. Safe to say this is one of the best BMX facilities I have ever been to.

This is my 34th World Championships – spanning MTB 4X, BMX and Snow Bike. Im excited to see what the next few days bring.

Rounds 3 and 4 of the 2024 British BMX Series took place at Cyclopark in Kent. An incredible facility for BMX, road cycling, cyclocross, XC and a great skatepark too. 

We arrived on Friday afternoon, parked the Adria motorhome, set the team tent up and then it was a couple of official practice sessions. The weather was, shall we say, breezy. Cyclopark had transformed into Cyclone-Park. However the show must go on and with a better forecast for the weekend, the team decided to utilise the Friday session to get used to the flow of the track. With a strong cross wind the session was simply about pumping around the track to lock in where the jumps were and look at some lines.

Saturday: Round 3

Saturday morning rolled around and it was time to get the show on the road. The weather was better. Cloudy, no rain and less wind. 

In BMX riders have 3 qualifying races – called motos which qualify riders through to the knockout stages of quarter finals, semi finals and then the final.

Scott’s day got off to a perfect start, finishing 1st in moto 1. His speed was on point and he looked strong. In the second race he finished 1st again, leading the race from start to finish. In his final moto he took another win with the fastest lap of the day and qualified to the final as the number 1 seed.

In the final, Scott took his favourite gate 1. He wanted some space to the inside to simply focus on his first straight and not bang bars with the others in to turn 1. Making a great start Scott powered down the start, and led the race into turn 1. From here he rode a perfect lap and crossed the line beating his previous fastest lap and taking the win.

“I am stoked with that race. I gave it my all and to take the win is always amazing. That’s 3 wins out of 3 finals so far so I am buzzing. I have had a great day and it’s amazing to be racing in Cyclopark again” said Scott in the finish area.

Sunday: Round 4

After some great food on Saturday night and a decent sleep in the team Adria Motorhome, it was time for round 4 on Sunday.

In the motos, Scott looked on fire. He finished 1st, 3rd and 1st in his motos and was able to progress to the final with the 2nd choice of gate. In his second moto a huge gust of wind literally sent Scott off the track whilst leading! He battled back to salvage 3rd so was happy to not crash!

In the final, with 2nd pick, Scott took gate 2. He made a great start and rocketed down the start straight leading the race once again. Into turn 2 and the rider in 2nd was clearly setting his move up. On the third straight, Scott came up short on a manual and lost the lead. He battled all the way to the line but 2nd was all he had.

“That was another good day even though 2nd isn’t what we are here for. I am riding fast and feeling good. Now it is 3 weeks until the World Championships in USA and I am very happy with my leg speed. We will continue to push and make sure we are ready for a shot at World Number 1”.

Many thanks to all our team partners for your support.

All photos by Tony Twist.

This weekend we attended the annual Leisure Lakes Bikes Demo event at Cannock Chase in the West Midlands. A demo event where all the biggest bike manufacturers and accessories providers give the public a chance to try their products before they buy.

Organised by one of teams principle partners – Leisure Lake Bikes the event always attract a couple of thousand visitors to the event and it is great for us to showcase our race bikes and chat to fans about our race season ahead.

Scott spent the weekend chatting to people about his races coming up, his race bikes, The 96 Podcast and giving riding advice to those who asked.

He was certainly kept busy chatting all weekend!

It was also the first test of our title sponsor Adria Motorhomes as a podcast studio, where Scott recorded a new episode for his hugely popular The 96 Podcast.

Our next event is this coming weekend where Scott goes into rounds 3 and 4 of the 2024 British Cycling BMX National Series unbeaten.

He will certainly be looking to keep that winning streak alive.

Full report will be with you next Monday.

The 2024 BMX race season got underway during the weekend at the National Indoor BMX Arena in Manchester. The facility at British Cycling headquarters is incredible. A £24 million building which holds the world’s only permanent indoor BMX track and seating for 2,000 spectators. It is brilliant and Scott’s favourite BMX track. It also happens to be the venue where Scott spends a lot of his time training, so coming into this race he was confident about starting his season strong.

The racing started on Saturday with round 1. After signing on and registering his transponder for racing, Scott took to the track for his practice session. Just a couple of laps were needed to get up to speed and he was ready to race. 

At this event, his class would race in a grand prix style format. This meant that all 4 races would count towards an overall score, so every race was vital.

Scott got off to the worst start possible. The music kicked in whilst he was on the gate and he didn’t hear the start beeps clearly meaning he was last out of the gate. However. He made the best first turn we have seen in years! Exiting the corner in 3rd! He then worked his way into position and made his move in the final corner, sliding into 2nd. It was a great salvage! The second lap was much better and he took the win. In he set his fastest lap time and took a commanding win. He was riding at his best and going into the final race had a 5 point lead!

With grand prix, start gates are allotted to riders and Scott was given the outside gate. Not ideal but he had points to spare. He made a great start and rocketed towards the first turn. He didn’t quite get there in the lead, but came out of turn 1 in 2nd. On the third straight he carried a lot of speed and into the final turn went for it, but the move did not stick. Losing all his speed, he was able to finish in 4th and took the overall win.

Scott was very happy:

“That was an awesome race. I gave 100% and I’m stoked to take the win. A perfect start and I’ll be looking for the same tomorrow.”

It was then time for food in the Adria motorhome and a relaxing night to regroup ahead of round 2 on Sunday.

Sunday Round 2:

Sunday morning arrived and we were ready to go again. Riders were allowed to do a single lap of practice ahead of racing. Scott made it count with a solid lap that looked as strong as his Saturday laps.

On Sunday, British Cycling decided to merge Scott’s class with the 19-29 category to give riders more racing. The results would still be separated for each class though. 

Onto racing and Scott was looking strong. His first heat was a great lap to get the day started. He made a good start and was able to secure 3rd in that race. In heat 2 he came from gate 3 but got a bump on the first straight. He was able to hustle and across the finish held on for 4th. In the 3rd heat, he rode his best lap of the weekend and finished 2nd.

That moved him into the quarter finals in this merged category. Only 2 other riders made it this far from Scott’s category, so he was assured a top 3 result.

In the quarter final he chose gate 4. He made a good start but the rider next to him bumped his handlebar on the run down the start. Scott’s experience kicked in and he braked, tucked in and dived inside in turn 1. The move was extraordinary but about 4 inches short. He exited the first turn in 5th and the chase began. He rode flat out and across the finish line was very close but it was not to be. Out in the quarter final in 5th.  

However. The good news was, his competitors in his class also exited in the quarters, meaning Scott took the class win!

Commenting after the race, Scott said: “I can’t believe that I’ve won the race after going out in the quarter final! I’m stoked to leave Manchester with maximum points and look forward to Cyclopark in Kent in 4 weeks.”

So a perfect start to 2024. 

Thank you to all our sponsors for your support. We couldn’t do this without you.