Race Report by Brad Stow
The 2nd race of the Western Cape BMX Winter pump track series took place at the Crosswinds pump track this past Sunday. The event was organised by the Princess Vlei BMX Club and they did a great job of promoting the event which resulted in a bigger than usual turnout. songo.info was represented by 12 riders from the program as well as myself and my wife Nicole.
The kids met at the Songo clubhouse at 8am and after a bit of a delay waiting for the taxi to arrive they drove to the Velosolutions pump track in Sunningdale where I was waiting. I quickly fitted all the number boards to the bikes and did our usual pre race bike and safety check as well as a quick team talk. We unfortunately missed the first practice session so some of the younger kids were not able to ride the track before the race but it didn’t seem to worry them too much. As soon as the second practice session for the older kids was over the racing began.
The format was as follows, each rider was allowed two timed laps of the track with their best time counting towards the final result. Each lap took between 28 and 50 seconds to complete depending on the rider. This doesn’t sound like much but when you are riding a pumptrack at 110% it becomes very physical so fitness as well as bike control are both big factors for these events.
The songo.info team had some great results with 2 of the top 5 riders overall coming from Songo as well as the fastest female rider of the day. We also had a few kids who had never competed at a pumptrack race before and it was great to see them enjoying themselves while gaining valuable experience. Some of the kids also walked away with some awesome lucky draw prizes which was a highlight for some of the younger kids.
All in all this was a good event for the songo.info team. The Winter Series is a great way to introduce more kids from the Songo program into BMX racing. It is more focused on fun and growing the sport so it is not as intimidating for beginners as the Provincial and National BMX series.We are already preparing for the next leg of the Winter Pumptrack series which is taking place on the 3rd of August.
Thank you to Specialized Bikes and Ninety One for their continued support and also a shout out to Princess Vlei BMX club for hosting us and putting on a great event.
