The Yorkshire BMX Series 2013 was a pre-season race series put together between the Yorkshire clubs Doncaster, Rotherham and Bradford but open to riders from anywhere. There was novice and expert racing available, and all classes were open to all wheel sizes from micro-minis to MTBs. There were a few postponements due to the frozen conditions but eventually the 3 races were held on consecutive Sundays: Doncaster on February 17th, Rotherham on February 24th and Bradford on March 3rd.

Due to the changed dates Team Rhodes riders Francis and Tom couldn't make the first 2 rounds. At Doncaster (rd 1) newest team rider Devin was thrown into expert class for the first time, taking a very solid 3rd place and riding well, although never really challenging class act Arthur Herrington for the lead. The team's most experienced rider Jon was on a 20" bike for only the 2nd time since the old days, and performed above expectations to be the only 40+ rider to make the A-final, where a steady lap saw a 7th place finish. The atmosphere at Doncaster was excellent as it has been for all Team Rhodes' visits there.

Jon in 17+ at Doncaster

Round 2 at Rotherham saw frozen conditions turning to mud as the day warmed and a track layout that had a feel of the original 80s tracks but with far more jumps than the good old days. Devin improved from Round 1 with some serious racing moves taking a couple of places but in the end finished with 3rd again. He was unhappy not to finish in a higher position but eventually accepted that he'd ridden really well which was more important. That competitive spirit will see him well in the future. Jon had more of a mixed day with an ankle injury that saw a couple of fine gate starts mixed with slightly poor technique & fitness on the 2nd half of the track which cost a couple of places. Another A-final was reached though and a reasonable 7th place finish again, and this time the 2nd 40+ rider home. It was great for Team Rhodes to try a new track, and a nice touch for star racer Kelvin Batey to give out the medals.

Devin with his medal at Rotherham

The final round at Bradford (rd 3) saw Team Rhodes riders Francis and Tom returning to action and looking to blow some cobwebs away. Where possible in the series the expert and novice racers raced together with points tallied separately afterwards for the 2 classes. Devin achieved a good 3rd place in u7 open, and again got 3rd place for his expert class after a few tussles.

Devin at Bradford

Francis raced in 10-11s but comfortably finished 1st in his own class (10 expert).

Francis (045) at Bradford

Almost 3 full gates greeted Tom and Jon in the combined 17+ class. Tom put in some very smooth laps, including a great gate start in moto 2 which was unfortunately called back due to a technical issue with the gate. In a highly competitive class Tom joined a number of good riders who didn't quite make the cut for the semifinals.

Tom in vintage racepants and elbow sliders

Jon was going very well in the motos and being unsure of the number of points needed to qualify went almost flat out to make sure. With an ankle injury and with semis and a final looming was this a mistake? The jury is out as missing the semi because of coasting round in the motos would have been the worse option. As expected the 17+ semi-finals were red hot and Jon was some way off qualifying for the A final. For the B-final, Jon had a very good gate pick of lane 2. After a great snap, Jon was ahead by a wheel going in to the first berm and chose to rail the berm to carry speed but didn't count on Billy Fieldhouse diving up the slower inside line and blocking the exit line of the berm. Jon dabbed the brake and chose to duke it out with Billy on straights 3 & 4. As often happens the 3rd place rider took advantage of the battling pair to sneak 2nd on the finish line. Great racing.

Considering that Team Rhodes are still in pre-season mode, with no sprints or speed training done yet the Yorkshire Series went very well overall. In terms of racing, it didn't tell us anything we didn't already know: Devin & Tom are both very determined all-rounder racers, Francis is the class act of the team and lacks a little bit of power compared to his rivals, and Jon is the opposite with a good first straight but lacks finesse and stamina. On a side note we've shown that you don't need a huge budget to race at a decent level, race fees for each race were only £6 , and none of our bikes are new so it doesn't have to cost the Earth.

For the technically minded here are the bikes we raced:
Devin - REDLINE PROLINE MICRO MINI with 18x 1&3/8 tyres (the 1" tyres kept bursting), Crupi mini bars, Sinz mini pedals w/screw-in pins, DK short-reach stem.
Francis - DK DART JUNIOR with Crupi Junior/expert bars, Answer cranks, Maxxis tyres.
Jon - SUPERCROSS UL XXL with GT stem, Haro bars, Sinz cranks, Wellgo pedals, Tioga tyres.
Tom - SUPERCROSS UL PRO 24 almost stock with Gusset cranks, lock-on grips, Maxxis tyres.

Just to show that it's not all serious racing:

Next race for Team Rhodes is the War of the Roses, Yorkshire v Lancashire (East v West) on March 17th.