Scott Beaumont
National Championships – 4th
Last Friday, the 30 fastest BMX riders in the UK were invited to Birmingham BMX track for the inaugural Lloyds Bank British Cycling BMX National Championships. For the first time in BMX, British Cycling would be awarding the National Champion with the ability to wear the union Jack sleeve to signify being National Champion.
The National Championships takes place in every other cycle discipline. It is a single race event where the winner claims the title of National Champion for the next year. It is the race everyone wants to win and finally, it has arrived in BMX.
Scott is an 11 times National Champion in 4X, so for him this race is a very big deal.
The team were excited and Scott was proud to be invited as one of the 30 riders.
The preparation was prefect and the track looked immaculate. Kudos to the Birmingham Club for all the hard work they had put in to prepare the venue.
On Friday afternoon we arrived and parked the team Adria Motorhome, before a few warm up laps of practice. Everything went well on track and we were ready. We were focused on trying to win this title!
Racing started at 7.30pm. However. So did the rain! Conditions were extremely tough, but it was the same for everyone and we focused on the job in hand. The format was a little different to normal BMX races, but the same as we use at 4X ProTour. Straight knockout. Finish in the top 4 and move onto the next round. It’s ruthless and gives no room for error.
The gate dropped in the first qualifying round and Scott battled into turn 1. With an eye on the slippery conditions he slipped into 3rd and held that to the finish line. Riders almost needed tear offs on their goggles; the spray was so bad. But the speeds certainly didn’t reduce! Lap times were close to track records, even in the poor conditions.
In the semi final, Scott made a great start and led the race from start to finish to book his spot in the final. It was a dominating ride and set us up for the last race of the evening.
In the final, Scott made the decision to go wider on the start than normal to give himself space in the slippery conditions. The gate dropped and the drag race to turn one kicked off. Scott swooping in from the outside, almost got there but didn’t quite make it and found himself pushed high in turn 1. He battled back on the second straight and moved into 4th. He held this to the finish.
“That was a hell of a night. Conditions were as bad as I’ve ever known! I am actually really happy with 4th. Our big race is tomorrow where I can seal up the national series title.”
So that was it for Friday. It was back to the motorhome to prepare for Saturday.
On Saturday it was the penultimate round of the 2024 BMX National Series. The equation was simple. If Scott won, he would claim the title with a round to spare. Full press release about that follows.
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