BLUE Lake BMX Club riders competed for top honours when taking to the track for the South Australian BMX State Championships at Happy Valley in Adelaide over the weekend, returning with some positive results.
The most impressive of them all being coach Stephen Jones’ return to the track.
After retiring some years ago Jones decided to make a “come back” for the state titles to compete alongside his daughter Lilly.
He returned home with the number one plate for his 25-34 Men class after last racing at Happy Valley in the 2001 Australian Titles.
However, rather humble of his achievements, Jones said he was proud of how the young children applied their training to the track over the weekend.
“I was happy with how the kids went,” he said.
“They all gave 100pc on a track that was really foreign to them.
“We have a big start hill and they had to go back to a very low start hill.
“There wasn’t a lot of pedalling either and our riders are quite strong at that and probably not as good on the jumps, but this track was full of jumps.”
Jones said there were a number of notable efforts at the titles as each rider gave their all.
“I thought Jacques Aslin and Jackson Saunders efforts were pretty impressive in making it to the semi-final,” he said.
“They had never been in that situation, they had a heap of kids in their class, it was the biggest and they made it to the semi-finals which is the top 16.
“Riley Hill also did well.
“It was the first time I had seen him manual and jump through some of the jumps.
“Angus McKinnon said he was disappointed with how he went, but he did really well.
“Jade Jennings in her first state title was also exceptional.”
Jones said the technical track was a big influence on the results with the locals finishing well in their respective classes.
“The kids from Adelaide race up to three times a week, so they are at the top of their game,” he said.
“They would race that track once a week so they were competitive all weekend.”
With the track difficulty high and the jumps higher, Jones said he was pleased with the weekend.
“The track was one of the hardest and all of the kids were out of their comfort zones,” he said.
“The sidelines were lined with people supporting, but despite all the hype each competitor went out there and did their best.”
A number of Blue Lake riders will now turn their focus to the Victorian State Titles in Wyndham, before the Australian Titles in Western Australia.
Others will concentrate on South Australia v Victoria which is set to state in June 2018.
South Australian plate holders – 9 Boys: Jaiden Picken 5SA; 9 Girls: Jasmine Morgan 2SA; 10 Girls: Cedar Scott 7SA; 12 Girls: Raine Scott 4SA, Jade Jennings 5SA; 13-14 Girls: Mercedes Scott 6SA; 30+ Women: Tara Dowdell 4SA; 40+ Men: Peter Jelleff 6SA; Retro 14+: Ali Scott 2SA.
