BRAINTREE Bullets BMX Club’s Freia Challis has claimed the world title for a fourth time.

She was in fine form to secure the 16-year-old girls’ title at the UCI BMX World Championships at Rock Hill, USA.

The Halstead teenager was fully focused to secure the title in her last year as a challenge class rider before going into the Junior Elite category, in 2025.

Challis put on an amazing performance throughout the day’s racing, going unbeaten through the heats with the fastest lap times in class.

The event took a historic turn when the UCI commissaries decided to cancel the day’s racing due to a massive electrical storm that blew into the area.

The results were called on the heat results, with Challis crowned champion for a fourth time.

She said: “I gave it my all in every lap, knowing the UCI could call the results on the heat races and I couldn’t be happier to take the title.

“It’s not the way I would have planned the race day as I would have loved to have shown it all in the final, but that’s racing, and I’ll take it.

“Looking forward to the European Championships in a couple of weeks and going to try and do the double again.”

The event welcomed nearly 3,000 riders from more than 40 countries from around the world.

The Bullets were the most well represented club from the UK, with 11 riders and three finalists.

Braintree’s Poppy Bishop fought her way through to the 11-year-old girls’ final to claim a fantastic sixth-place finish.

Bishop was giving away nearly a foot in height to the other girls and had to use her amazing track skills to work through the pack through the qualifiers.

In the final, she was battling for a podium spot but got caught up in a crash behind the leaders into the second corner and had to remount to claim a solid sixth-place finish.

Bishop was racing in her third world final and will also be heading out to the European Championships.

The youngest Bullet to make a final was the younger Bishop sister Holly, who was racing in her first world championships at just nine years old. She battled for position in every lap setting up a showdown into the semi-finals.

The youngster was on the pace but out of position for the first half of the race, she dug deep to make a last corner pass that put her into the finals. In the main she was out gunned again but showed amazing spirit to claim world number seven.

Braintree Bullets BMX Club lead coach Julian Allen went to the event to support the riders and was in the pits during the race days to assist them and the other GB riders through their day.

Allen said: “The girls are amazing and should be super proud of their efforts.

"I was privileged to have spent the race days with them and saw the true warriors they are to take to the world stage in some difficult conditions.

"Holly had to battle the heat on her day and at just nine, she showed a wise head.

"Poppy had the opposite weather with torrential rain all day, but she never waivered form the job in hand and has shown some great qualities which will help her develop into a great senior rider in the future.

"Freia was all business from the moment she arrived and was in race mode all day.

"We knew that the weather could throw us a curve ball and she did everything possible to ensure she was in the best place if it did.

"Her lap times were comparable to the Junior elites and I’m looking forward to seeing what she can achieve as she moves into the championship classes next year.”

Also taking to the stage were Teresa Challis – 40+ women, Julian Allen – 50-54 cruiser, Heath Thomas – 14s, Smiley Maloney and Annalise Cadman-Carpenter – 15s, Freddie Richardson and Oliver Tyers – 13s and Harry Tyers -12s.

The Bullets summer race series continues every Wednesday evening at their Deanery Hill track - for more information on the club, coaching and racing, visit www.braintreebmx.com.