Braintree Bullets BMX Club kicked off the 2016 regional racing season by hosting round four of the East Anglian Winter Series.

There were a number of great individual performances among the 47 entries for the Bullets, with strong rides on their home track.

First out, and making the podium, was Heath Thomas in the seven and under class, with Oliver Cates fifth, Sam Fairbairn sixth and Charlie Long seventh.

The first win for the club came from Freia Challis in the eight to nine years as she came back from a heavy crash in training the day before the race, shook off her bumps and bruises and put in an awesome display.

Molly Richardson had a consistent day and took second in the nine to ten girls’ class from Heidi Gill in third.

It was the Bullets again who came out on top of the ten to 11 years as Cameron Parrish and Josh Cates went head to head in the final.

Cates had the drop out of the gate, but Parrish rode a great first corner and came out ahead as he and his team-mate sealed the top two spots.

Joseph Harris topped off a great day’s racing in fourth, closely followed by Zac Acteson-Rook in fifth and Ewan Thomson sixth.

The success kept coming for the club as Adam Gilbert powered his way to the 12 to 13 class win ahead of club-mate Joe Little.

The next class win went to Charlie O’Grady in the 14 to 16s as he was unbeaten throughout the day, while Hayden Challis scraped hard in the pack to take fourth with Jake Coombs sixth.

In the girls’ class Molly Nice had some strong rides as she rode to fourth in the A final.

The 17+ A final was littered with top riders and it was wide open to who would take the win.

The field of eight were close down the first straight and it was Josh Butson for the Bullets who tucked tight into second place through the first half of the race.

The leaders were kept honest as Shane Redgewell gave chase, showing some great power for fourth and he was closely chased by Oli Cutmore in fifth.

Ollie Rowe earned his stripes in the tough class with a solid seventh and Josh Wallis settled for eighth.

Kev Harris was eighth in the final of the over-17s combined cruiser class.