Will Longden and Katy Curd are the new British 4X National Champions after a weekend of racing in Bideford, Devon, at the South West Extreme track.
Longden won his fourth National Points Series race this season on the Saturday, wrapping up the 4X National Series, then went on to win the British Championship title on Sunday.
The Lapierre-Oakley rider lined up with defending champion Scott Beaumont, Nathan Parsons and Scott Roberts in the final race of the day. With a long first straight all the riders were determined to make it to the inside of the first right hand corner in the lead. Beaumont and Longden both got the snap and had a coming together just before the first corner which put Beaumont out of contention and off the track.
Scott Roberts and Nathan Parsons were then left to fight it out for second and third places.
Incredibly, Longden’s national championship win comes 15 years after his first British Downhill title in 1995, with national titles in the old dual race format and 4X in between.
Will Longden told BikeRadar: "It was a good weekend of racing for me. The NPS race on Saturday was a good warm up, I hadn't ridden at South West Extreme before so the extra track time was good.”
Will Longden heads towards another podium-topping race to win the British 4X Championships
“On Sunday I was conservative with my efforts, saving everything for the final, I really wanted to win this one for my dad. He's been through a lot these last couple of years and I'm really proud of how he's dealt with everything. This one was for him."
In the girls race, Katy Curd was unbeatable all weekend, taking the title as well as the NPS round on Saturday. She now heads for Canada to represent Great Britain at the 2010 UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships in Mont-Saint-Anne.
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