Braintree Bullets had some awesome results as the national BMX season kicked off at Manchester Velopark.

The youngest Bullet out on track was Freia Challis in the seven to eight girls in her first venture into national racing following success at the British Championships last year and she carried confidence into the races with second and third place finishes.

Seb Pantlin had a great first national season in 2014 and hit the ground running in the 11-years, securing podium finishes on both days.

The cruiser classes followed and the first win for the club came from Shane Redgewell in the 15 to 16s.

Redgewell looked at ease on the big wheels and only dropped one point over the weekend to take two wins and lead the national rankings.

Oli Cutmore rode with his usual finesse in the 17-29 class and he took a third place, while the equivalent girls’ class saw Kelsey Dixon bag a pair of second places.

The intensity stepped up a notch as the older riders warmed up for the second block of racing on the hard and fast raceway.

The 14s saw Ollie Rowe take top points to head the national rankings, but he was made to work for his position by Charlie O’Grady, who claimed a spot on the podium.

The 13s had earlier seen Sydney Allen achieve his goal with a seventh spot in the B final after being stuck in the quarter-finals for most of 2014, while Shane Redgewell kept things consistent with B final finishes on both days in the 16s.

In the Championship women’s class, Kelsey Dixon was eighth in the A final on the first day, with 16-year-old Josh Butson claiming a second spot in the B final of the competitive 17 to 24 class.

Julian Allen was riding in the Veterans’ class and took a fine fifth place in the A final before winning the B final on day two.

Oli Cutmore and Taylor Andrews were in the Championship men’s class and only narrowly missed out on spots in the A final, but took their places in the B finals both days to kick off their seasons well inside the top 16.