Three Phantoms riders makeit through to national finals

Three members of the city’s Phantoms BMX Club made it through to A finals on both days - in rounds 11 and 12 of the HSBC UK National BMXSeries - and another progressed to a B final.

Leah Pearson, riding in the 30+ ladies class, was runner-up in all three of her motos (heats) on Saturday and followed that up with a third place in her semi-final and a fourth-place finish out of eight in the A final.

And she was a model of consistency on Sunday as well, claiming two seconds and a fifth in her motos, a second place in the semi-finals and sixth place in the A final.

That gave her a final placing in the series of fourth.

Joseph Carey also starred in the Male 12yrs group with a fifth place in his A final on both days. On the Sunday he strung together four race wins on the trot.

His impressive set of race results were: Saturday - heats 2nd, 7th, 2nd; quarter-finals - 3rd; semi-finals - 4th; final - 5th. Sunday - heats 1st, 1st, 1st; quarter-finals - 1st; semi-finals - 4th; final - 5th.

Carey finished seventh overall in his category.

The third Phantoms rider to make it into two A finals was Darren Putland in the 30-39 cruiserweight class.

He finished eighth on Saturday after a crash held him up in the first corner and seventh on the Sunday. His heat placings were second, fifth and third in round 11 and fourth, second and third in round 12.

Owen Putland was seventh in the Male 12yrs B final on Saturday.

Other Phantoms riders in action were Harvey Putland, who reached the Male 10yrs quarter-finals on both days, Jacob Elkin, who achieved heat placings of sixth, seventh and seventh on Saturday and fifth, fourth and seventh on Sunday in the 40-44 cruiser class, and Beth Campbell, who unfortunately crashed in her first race and took no further part in the meeting.

Elkin’s efforts earned him tenth place overall.