HAYES Hawks BMX Club hosted the opening round of the London BMX Race Series, marking the return of this competition after a six-year gap.
It brings together riders from regional clubs Hayes, Merton, Brixton and Peckham, as well as Cyclopark, now renamed the Bethany Shriever BMX Track in honour of the 2020 Olympic gold medallist and current world BMX champion.
The series provides a perfect platform for new riders to begin their racing journeys, with novice race classes running alongside expert categories.
Hawks introduced an impressive 17 first-time racers, many of whom benefitted from the club's support programme, which offers loan bikes and helmets to help newcomers transition smoothly into competitive racing.
The team had fantastic results across the board. In the novice male 11-12 class, Heath Hardy impressed with strong moto performances and a third-place finish in the final.
The youngest competitor of the day, Finnegan Rowe, aged just four, also took home a well-deserved third place.
Other A final performances came from Zacharia Penthio-Hall, Leon Horsted, Jason Philogene Need, Armann Pal, Charlie Christian and Neyemiah Dash.
In the female 13 category, Lily Laker was the only girl competing among the boys 13-14 class and held her own brilliantly.
Several riders also reached the B finals, including Arthur Whapshott, Ayaan Chaudhary, Leo Christian and Gurmaan Pal.
Jahzeh Fleming narrowly missed the finals but showed commendable effort in his motos.
Alongside the new racers, the Hawks fielded 32 regular competitors in the expert categories -- and they didn't disappoint.
George Cruikshank dominated his class, going unbeaten all day, while Georgia Surtees delivered four consecutive wins. Malachi Smith also claimed first place in his category.
In the Male Payback event, Cody Coker stormed to victory, securing the top spot and £100 prize money.
Cody continues to shine as one of the club's standout talents and is currently part of the British Cycling Talent Pathway.
London BMX Series continues with round two at Merton on November 23.