BRAINTREE Bullets BMX Club claimed eighth place at the British BMX Championships in Blackpool.

The club saw 49 riders out of the 1,270 present go to work on the track which saw 15 riders into the finals and crowned their own British Champion.

In only her fifth full year of racing, ten-year-old Friea Challis added her fourth British title to her already long list of achievements.

Challis has already wrapped up the national title but the coveted British title rubber stamps an excellent year as she went unbeaten through all the rounds to stand on top of the podium.

Josh Cates kept the momentum rolling from the last rounds of the national series into the British Championships.

Cates was on the hunt into the final of the 9-12 Cruiser class and rode like a man possessed to a superb second place finish.

He backed up his success on the second day of racing as he also claimed second in the 12-years BMX category.

The next Bullet up on the podium was Oli Cutmore in the 17-29 cruiser class.

Cutmore was among the favourites for the class title as he won the semi-final in convincing style.

Off the gate in the final, Cutmore took the lead, but as the race funnelled into the second corner, the Bullets man was bumped by another rider and lost momentum, settling for third after he regained composure.

The finalists kept coming for the Bullets and the 15-16 Cruiser class saw two in one final.

Matt Goodwins and Syd Allen took to the gate after some great racing through the qualifying rounds.

Allen had already claimed the national title and was looking to add to it, but he wasn’t quick enough from the start and battled mid pack into sixth.

Goodwins was flying and was close to a podium finish as he made his mark in fourth.

In the 16s BMX class, Goodwins was also into the finals and he put on a great show as he took fifth place.

In the senior classes, James Yeo was representing the Bullets at his first British Championships in the 50+ Cruiser class.

Like Allen, he missed the start and had to fight through the field into a fine fifth-place finish.

In the Veterans class, club coach Julian Allen led by example as he put in some fantastic laps to take sixth place.

Allen also competed in the 40-44 Cruiser class and made some moves to secure seventh place.

At the opposite end of the age range, Phoebe Ollett and Caitlin Yeo made their British Championships debut and made their wat into the eight year girls final, taking sixth and seventh respectively.

Keeping the end up for the girls and not to be outdone by her little sister, Phoebe Ollett also made the finals in the 13 year old girls, taking seventh.

Molly Nice made it a trio of female finals as she took seventh in the 15 year olds.

Finally it was the turn of Josh Wallis in the super competitive 17-24 class.

Wallis was super consistent through the qualifiers as he made his way to the main event and he was well on the pace as he took eighth place.

The Bullets will be hosting the East Anglian Championships at their Deanery Hill track on October 7, with free entry for spectators.

For more information on the club, coaching and racing email joolsxlr8@btinternet.com