DMR Dirt Wars FMB Bronze Series 2016 Round 1 Chicksands

With the British weather being so unpredictable at this time of year Chicksands Bike Park in Shefford Bedfordshire was the only choice for round one of the seventh series of the DMR Dirt Wars UK Dirt Jump Series. Chicksands is well known for its all year round riding as its set on a small incline in the middle of a sand based forest. Even if its chucking it down with rain the trails still hold up and run really well.

 

Dirt Wars UK took over the Dirt Jump section of the bike park on the 15th of May and here’s what went down.

After a few hours of both Open/Am and Pro/Elite mixed practice it was all out for the first qualifying round of the year.

Open Class were up first as always and the riders were few compared to the opening rounds in the last few years, this was mainly due to a few of last year’s open riders deciding to take sponsorship deals throughout the winter or like Jack Ambler just wanting to push themselves through the UK ranks by taking on the pro class with no sponsorship backing.

Quallys began and it was soon clear who was going to be getting through to the final.

Jack Cardy throwing down his super stretched suicide’s and Kerry Perts real clean 3’s went down a treat for the judges whilst Ben Nolan (not rode for 6 months) and newcomer Zac Rainbow struggled to put a run together.

Harry Campbell came out with all canons firing pulling the most perfect front flip over the last jump setting the crowd and fellow riders into a frenzy.

After all 10 riders had their 3 runs the 6 riders through to the final were as follows. 1st Harry Campbell 2nd Jack Cardy 3rd Darren Estall 4th Marcus Gilhooly 5th Cameron Crozier 6th Kerry Pert
The Pro riders were out in force for this round with a few foreign riders chucked in the mix too. Both Alexei Domme and Gordon Brown had both travelled over from Germany to compete in the first round, Alexei rode the Chicksands round of last year’s series and enjoyed it so much made the journey to compete again. With 15 riders on the roll in it was time to get this year’s Pro/Elite Class off the ground and see who would make the top 8 for the final.
Altough now unsponsored Joe Simkins totally stunned everyone with an awesome 720 on the last jump securing himself a spot in the final as did Daryl Brown with his super straight stretched out supermans and 360 double barspins. Tom Reynolds Indian Air Tailwhips were off the hook and so clean you could of ate your dinner off them.
After the 15 riders were all out of runs the top 8 Finalists were as follows. 1st Daryl Brown (Bulls Bikes) 2nd Ryan Nangle (Rose Bikes) 3rd Joe Simkins (Radical Bike Park) 4th Tom Reynolds (Specialized UK) 5th Alex Cahill (HT Pedals) 6th Alexei Domme (Beddo Bikes) 7th Freddy Pullman (Canyon Bikes) 8th Alfie Stephens (Dartmoor bikes)
After the riders had grabbed some lunch from the Thai Bar at the top of the trails it was all set to go off in the first final of the DMR Dirt Wars 2016 series. The top 6 Open/Am riders lined up and began to drop in after the 3 runs each were done and the judges had tallied up the scores the results went as follows 1st Harry Campbell 1 foot x-up, Flip 1 foot x-up, Superman, Frontflip 2nd Cameron Crozier Barspin, Flip, Truck driver, Tailwhip 3rd Jack Cardy X-up, Tuck no hander, Barspin, Suicide no hander.

The top 8 in pro all looked ready to throw down their top tricks but a few of the regular podium guys struggled to chuck a run together and ended up without the result they were looking for.

After the top 8 had 3 runs each with the best run counting the top 3 went as follows.

1st Daryl Brown 360, Flip no hander, Tripple Truck Driver, Front flip

2nd Tom Reynolds 1 Foot X-up, Flip Table, Tailwhip, Front flip

3rd Freddy Pullman Tailwhip, 3 invert, Flip Barspin, Front flip

Thats the second year running Daryl Brown has took the win at Chicksands will he be able to make it 3 next year???

A Massive thank you to Ali Dunn and the staff at Chicksands Bike Park for being such an awesome team and looking after a top venue, Thanks to all the Riders and Sponsors as well as the Dirt Wars Team.

See you at Round 2 at Holdshott Trails in Hampshire on the 19th of June 2016.