Eady returns for home-track glory to cap memorable year

After a successful campaign at the national championships recently, Whangarei's BMX Club's Nicole Eady  put in another polished performance at the Northland championships on her home track.
The Whangarei rider won the 16-year-girls national title at Pukekohe three weeks ago, and capped off a stellar year by taking the Northland 15-16 year girls honours at Whangarei BMX Club at the weekend, up against riders from around the country.
Nationals runner-up in the 11-year girls, Julia Carter-Bell, dominated her age-group to win at the weekend ahead of her campaign with the New Zealand Mighty 11s contingent, who will compete against Australia in Casino, New South Wales, during June.
President of the host club Stuart Bell said he was extremely pleased with the running of the championships, which went by without a hitch.
"We had 170 entries for the event. We were down on numbers a little, but it was post-nationals and people were beginning to wind down as it was the end of the season. We still had a lot of top-end riders turn up  for the second to last round of the New Zealand Superclass racing on Sunday - it was a great weekend," he said.
Whangarei riders also stood out in the Superclass series, with Eady placing second in the ladies division, and 16-year-old Trent Jones winning the intermediate class to go with his first place in the Northland 16-year boys category.
While the local riders all performed well at the championships, Bell said some of the younger competitors put in some gutsy efforts, including Nathan Gavin and Cameron Vincent, who placed first and third respectively in the 13-year boys division.
"Cameron crashed out at the nationals so to come back with such a strong performance was great," he said.
Siblings Sharrell and Shayden Toka were impressive representatives of the Whangarei club, with the pair snatching second places in the 14-year girls and 11-year boys, respectively.
Another duo to keep an eye on were sprockets James Taylor and Joshua Marker, who put pressure on World No1 Rico Bearman  in the 5-7 year division.
"The focus for sprockets is on participation at regional competitions, and there were no placings at the weekend, but the two Whangarei youngsters chased Rico around the track - they looked pretty good for first-year riders," Bell said.
The annual Northland event was the last major meeting for most riders until the North Island titles, in October.