2008 Busa Student Championships.

Our man Ralph Jones picked up a silver, here’s what he had to say:

“This year’s BUSA’s was held in Cwmcarn South Wales. The track is mostly man made, cut into the hill side with some big jumps, berms and a bit of natural woods, this made a big difference when the weather came along with the rain and the wind for the weekend, the track held up well for some good racing. I practised on Friday getting in a few runs, the track was running very fast but with lots of wind making the jumps a bit sketchy.

Saturday was race day and my first run was a disaster. I went over the bars when my chain snapped on the fastest part of the track smashing my knee and needing a sit down afterwards. So I had to put in a good second run and try not to crash. But I was a bit too wary and on the brakes a lot and ended up with a silver in second. Chris Hutchens who put down a good run got the gold.

LJMU finished 3rd in the team event. Saturday night we headed to Monmouth for some food then to Rob Breakwells house for a big pool competition on his new table. Breakwell (the one armed bandit) took the most wins over me, Tudor and Zeb for the overall pool championships. We finished the night with a newly invented game of piggy back doubles.”

Results:Men

1 Chris Hutchens Edinburgh 1
2 Ralph Jones Liverpool J M 2
3 Will Soffe Swansea 3
4 Mike Gray Bristol 4
5 Nick Geoghegan Hertfordshire 5
6 Tudor Jones Cardiff 6
7 Thomas Wheeler UW Newport 7
8 Ric Hollows Manchester 8
9 Liam O’Ryan Manchester 9
10 Paul Burford Oxford Brookes 10
11 Chris Barnard Swansea Met 11

Women:

1 Sue Mahony Bristol

2 Briony Croft Southampton

3 Susie Morris Plymouth

4 Kathrine Smoker Bristol

5 Joanna Smith Manchester

Chris Hutchens and Ralph Jones giving it the red eye look.

Ralph celebrating his silver medal with a good old fashioned game of “piggy back pool”

2008 BUSA STUDENT CHAMPIONSHIPS