Mother Nature’s continual deluge of water has meant that the 4X National Champs will now be held at Harthill instead of Bridgnorth.

An inspection of the Bridgnorth venue earlier this week revealed that there was no way the race was going to be able to take place there this weekend, it was just too waterlogged. Without anywhere even semi-dry to park cars or camp the condition of the track was almost irrelevant.

As you can see, Bridgnorth was looking far from pretty. The good news is though that a last minute reprieve was found in the shape of Harthill, Cheshire. The full press release is below…

Schwalbe British 4X Series round 4 and 4X National Championships this weekend

The British summer 2012 is causing havoc with sporting events right now. The most recent victim looked like being the Schwalbe British 4X Series and 4X National Championships which are taking place this week. A track/venue inspection on Tuesday provided some bad news though. The original venue – Bridgnorth was completely waterlogged. Simply accessing the venue was a problem and just went to show how much rain the has been recently. We are truly gutted that the events will not be in Bridgnorth this weekend but the weather has simply gotten the better of us.

In a frantic few hours of phone calls and a visit to the venue, the decision has now been made that the race will run this weekend at a different venue. Round 4 of the Schwalbe British 4X Series and the 4X National Championships will be held at Harthill, Cheshire this weekend.

Harthill hosted the 4X National Championships in 2011, so as a venue, is no stranger to hosting the biggest domestic 4X event. The organisation at Harthill has changed though. Recently the former manager of the park has left and the landowners are now in charge bringing a new friendly and enthusiastic lease of life to the park. We are really excited to be heading to Harthill now and hopefully the weather will hold off to give us a sunny weekend of racing.

All the big guns will be racing this weekend. Britain’s 4X ambassadors in the 4X ProTour this year, Katy Curd and Scott Beaumont will both be at Harthill looking for the National Champs title. But who is going to challenge them.

In the women’s Katy heads into the race as the favourite, but Suzanne Lacey, Cara Murray and Jess Greaves will be challenging her all the way trying to take the win and the National Champion jersey. The women’s racing in 2012 has been fantastic and the Harthill track always provides close racing, so expect the unexpected in the women’s race.

In the men’s, Scott ‘Boom Boom’ Beaumont has been in some amazing form in 2012 with podiums against e worlds best 4X riders in the 4X ProTour, however as last years National championships showed, nothing is certain and the mix of elites and seniors always provides fresh results. In 2011 Luke Limbrick’s dream came true. As a senior rider, Luke rode smart all day, found himself in the final then took the win to be crowned as National Champion. As defending champion on the Harthill track Luke goes into the weekend as a favourite in 2012.

Scott Roberts won the last round of the British 4X Series at Redhill a couple of weeks ago and is flying right now. Tom Dowie, Lewis Lacey, Issac Mundy, Alex Metcalfe, Will Evans, Duncan Ferris, Martin Ogden and a whole host of other riders have a fantastic chance of being crowned the National 4X Champion this weekend.

Who’s your money on? Even better, why not come and watch the race.

Hale Superbole,
Harthill nr Tattenhall,
Bolesworth Estate,
Chester,
Cheshire,
CH3 9LQ.

Timetable:

Schwalbe British 4X Series runs a 3 Moto qualifying format.

Saturday Practice
10.00am Open Practice
11.00am Gate Practice – Fun, Big Fun, Juvenile, Youth, Master, Veteran, Girls
11.30am Gate Practice – Junior, Senior & Pro Elite
12.00 Midday Track Closed Lunch.
12.30pm Racing starts – Moto Format
Moto 1,2,3
Run offs if required
1/8 Finals (** Minimum number of riders required in a class)
1/4 Finals (** Minimum number of riders required in a class)
Semi Finals (** Minimum number of riders required in a class)
Finals
4.30pm Presentations

Extra Event Saturday Night

Only £10 to enter and great prizes for the Rippers, Open and Ladies.

Sunday 15th July 2012 >; British 4X National Champs
09:00 – 10:00 Riders registration
10:00 – 11:00 Track open for training
11:00 – 11:30 Gate training
12:00 – 12:30 Timed Qualification for Senior
13:00 – 14:00 3 Motos Qualification for Fun, Big Fun, Juvenile,Youth,Junior,Master & Veteran
14:30 – 17:00 Quarters, Semis & Finals
17.30 Presentations

Camping

Camping this weekend will be charged at just £5 per person for the whole weekend. Camping opens from Friday morning so we hope to see plenty of you the taking advantage of the full weekend.

Please Note Happy Days no longer works at Harthill the new owners are really looking forward to meeting eveyone this weekend.

Finally apologies for the late venue change, but we hope everyone understands the problems that the weather has provided and we hope that the track and racing this weekend will more than make up for the late change.

See you there.

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