Bradley king

dissapointing two days at the welsh

The welsh two day enduro always takes place on a Thursday and Friday in late June and i travelled up late Tuesday hoping to build on my good result in Hungary at the last round of the European championship. Looking at the results from Hungary i realised that my enduro special tests were quick but there was room for improvement on the motox tests. so i had been practising on the mx tracks at rogershill raceway trying to get abit more aggressive on the mx corners and jumps.

I think this may have led to my mistake on the first test at crossgates because i came into a corner too aggressive and tryed to use the berm on the outside but the berm gave way and i went through the tapes into some loose logs and fell off. it took me a while to get the bike going again and the next rider on the test Tom Braddock went past before i got moving again. Obviously my time was well of the pace and with only 4 more tests over the whole weekend it would be hard to make time back but i would do my best. On the other two tests on day1 i struggled along with many other riders to work out how much grip was available on the grass.

On day 2 i had hoped for the rain to come on the first test but it didn't and my time wasn't bad but i still felt well off my potential. The rain did come for test 2 though, most of the E1 class riders made it onto the test before the rain started and by the time us in the E2 class reached it was tipping it down! I got a feel for the grip at the start of the test and started to go gain confidence and push on. I caught and passed two expert riders but as i was coming back down the hill towards the finish i gave my Gasser abit to much gas and lost the back end on the off camber

The only decider left was the tight check at the end of the day. All the riders knew it could be tight with the rain and were going for it. Me and Jamie Padgett set off together and over-toke each other a couple of times until i binned it in some fast ruts and smashed my roll offs out of my goggles. I pushed on for the rest of the check being caught by my team mate ash woods who was flying. i saw a few riders stuck on a hill up in front and managed to weave through as quick as possible. I ended up losing a minute and was gutted not to stay on time but pleased with how i was riding at the end and felt fit enough to do another lap.

I'm now looking forward to gbxc next week then the knighton enduro

pics to follow soon

Brad king - enduro and hare scrambles on GAS GAS UK EC250 - www.freewebs.com/bradking25 - supported by K4OFFROAD, TALON, STEVE PLAIN M/CS, MICHELIN, GAERNE, NAU, RENTHAL, MOTUL, KRIEGA, ROGERSHILL RACEWAY AND RUSH RACING.

gbxc rd5

The 5th round of the 2009 gbxc series took place just the other side of Abergavenny. The track was completly different to previous rounds with mostly tight woodlands, fast rocky fireroads and a grassy "special test" section. The 15 minute lap was in perfect condition after the morning race rider took the wet stuff of the top and the fireroads cut up and many rocks coming out.

I managed to get a better start than i ever have in a gbxc race and came into the first corner in 3rd place! i was so shocked i nearly dropped it in the 2nd corner! Lincoln brewster and mark roberts were infront. knighter and greg evans managed to get overtake me quickly but i held my place and overtoke brewster. My arms pumped up really quickly and i couldnt shake this off till my pit stop. Daryl bolter got past right at the end of lap 1 and i was in 5th place. Tom sagar, aston bird and si wakely got past on lap 2 but i hung with them and managed to pull some time on the riders behind except gasgas team mate Ash wood who went past on lap3. I then had the track to myself and kept a good pace up until the pit stops. i found myself in a battle with linc brewster again , i was just as quick as him but lincoln seemed to work his way past the lapped riders quicker than me. Again i found myself riding on my own in 10th place overall until 3 1/2 laps from the end a small crash let ollie moyce catch me up. we had a good battle for a lap and a half which i really enjoyed . I got the 2 laps left signal and ollie managed to pull a 20 second gap on me in that lap. As i came round the grass test at the end of the lap i could see that knighter wasent far off lapping me. Dad pulled me over to check how much feul i had and i didnt have enough to do another lap so waited for knighter to come past and went into the finish so i didnt have to do another. i still finished compfortably infront of the next rider euan mcconell. This is by far the best ride ive ever had at a cross country event and i really enjoyed it. i felt really fit at the end and maybe if i didnt get such bad arm pump in the first half i maybe could have gone abit faster but when i get a good start next time i will be used to it. I was really pleased at the end. Im feeling confident and really looking 4ward to the bec knighton enduro next weekend thanks again to everyone who is helping me at the moment and all my sponsers.

First european championship points!

The 2ND round of this years European championship took place on the last weekend in may in tokod Hungary. In my previous two trips into Europe i had failed to make the top 20 and get any points so that was my aim for this weekend. Most of the British riders bikes were taken over together in a lorry provided by purple helmets team members Robo and Leo. we all flew on Wednesday with Thursday and Friday involving lots of test walking bike testing and signing on. The enduro and motox special test were right next to each other and very dry and dusty. There was a very relaxed atmosphere inn the Brit camp with everyone helping each other out and i was confident of good results.

On day1 my test times were a tad off the pace on the mx test but i felt quick on the enduro test and was told my times were very good. there were no results for day 1 until mid day Sunday and i was pleased to find i had finished 13Th e2/e3 junior and 68Th overall. i also managed to place 2nd best Brit on the day.

Just after i had finished on day 1 it rained hard for a hour which transformed the track for the start of day 2 changing from loose and dusty on day 1 to perfect grippy tests. Lap 1 on Sunday i struggled to find the speed from Saturday but put in a good mx test at the start of lap 2. As i was riding away From the mx test it started raining again which made the track very slippery. I made some mistakes on the remaining tests but made some time back on the going because alot of riders lost time on the tightest time check when the rain came. i had to work hard to stay on time having to overtake a group of 6 riders and getting taken out by a out of control Italian! My Sunday result was 14th in class and 69th overall.

Full results can be found on http://daihatsueuropeanendurochampionship.com/index.asp and pics will follow.

Id like to say thanks to everyone involved in organising a great trip and everyone who helped me during the weekend. Also get well soon to the unwell and injured Leo, Ash wood, Tom Braddock and Matt ridgway after his collision with the Hungarian bush pig!

gbxc rd3

Bradley King's report

Gbxc round 3 was held in north wales at the weekend with me hoping to improve on my performance from round 2. the track presented more of a challenge than rd2 although very motox'y the rough bumpy hills and rocks meant that line choice and fitness would come into play.

I got of to bad start but gained some places on the first lap and was in the top 10 after a few laps. I caught up to my gguk teammate Luke Meredeth and was also racing with Gav houson. after a couple of laps i felt that i could up the pace and catch the next group in front. I went for the pass on Luke only for my front wheel to drop of the edge of a bank and i had a big over the bars crash. This knocked me and the bike about abit and i rode the next lap and a half without the use of the clutch having knocked it down on the bars. I pitted and refuelled and fixed my clutch in the process but struggled to get back into the race until the last 2 laps. on the last lap i managed to catch and overtake Andrew Edwards and Tim forman as well as the unlucky gav houson who had run out of fuel. this put me 9Th in the pro open class and 14Th overall nearly getting Luke at the finish. I was abit disappointed at the finish because i felt that if it wasn't for the silly crash i could have made the top 10 overall but pleased with my recovery in the last 2 laps.

May will be a busy month for me with the brecfa enduro and rd2 of the European enduo champs in Hungary.

Sponsorship?

I am looking for sponsorship in any shape or form. If you are interseted in sponsoring me please call 07989053283 or email me on bradkingmx@btinternet.com. For more details please go to thesponsors page

K4 OFFROAD -mx shop

go to the K4 OFFROAD page for datails of the NEW MX SHOP FOR DORSET