Pete grabs some final points

Pete Wager reports from the Last Chance Points Grabber 08 (ERRL)

Sunday 28th September - It was clear blue sky and dead calm for the full field of 60 riders lining up at the Last Chance Points Grabber. I'm still chasing (chipping) my 1st Cat license so this was a must on the race calendar and also came as a recommendation from John W who won this event in 2005. His heads up on the course was, as always, invaluable!!

A full field rolled out of Whitwell village at around 0900hrs on the Sunday morning for 7 laps, primes on each, of rolling Hertfordshire roads. Most teams had only a couple of riders with the exception of Finchley RT who were riding for there man on form Edgar Madeline with 5 riders. I was the lone rider for VC Meudon. First 4 laps and the field stayed together with the occasional few chipping off the front to try and get a break going or just to get the prime money available each time through the finish - I won the 4th prime having been pipped on the line for the 3rd.

It was clear Finchley RT were controlling the race so any move that didn't contain Edgar was going get chased and anything that did then they would block the bunch - perfect. Each time up the long drag to St.Paul's Walden the pressure was applied and I made sure I was near the front or on the front. Just over 2 laps to go and Flavio Zappi (Oxford Uni CC) gave it a little dig over the top and dragged 7 others with him including me - sticking firmly to his wheel - a quick look round and we had 30 metres on the bunch and 2 Finchley Rt riders with us including Edgar - the break was ON!! We nailed it down the decent and along to the start/finish area with everyone pulling hard to extend the advantage. A couple of riders tried to bridge the gap but as soon as we hit the head wind section they lost any chance of making contact.

The 8 of us kept the pressure on and extended the lead throughout the lap and through to the bell with a comfortable 2 minutes over the bunch. Final time up the climb and the pace was steady but I noticed Edgar had dropped to the back. A few moments later he attacked with Flavio Zappi going with him - I spotted the danger and immediately bridged. The group did not chase deciding they could catch us on the decent. In the last 100m of the climb Flavio again turned up the heat and Edgar did not respond turning to me to chase - a few words were exchanged by which time Flavio had noticed the hesitation and given it full gas over the top and into the decent. We were left to chase and the group behind left to chase us.

At the base of the decent we turned left for the final 3km to the finish area - Flavio maintained a 15 second advantage - I was forced to do the lion share of the chasing as I was after the points more than the glory - Edgar sitting on in the last km completely. Up the ramp to the finish and he swung passed me but I was done and content with 3rd place and 21 points. The bunch, unable to catch us on the run in, coming in a further 20 seconds back . Flavio was a worthy winner - he was a Pro in the 80's with results that include 12th at Milan San Remo 1984 plus 2nd in the Mountains Classification in the 1984 Giro !!! Someone to watch out for next season now he's a 1st CAT :)

Goodwood circuit race and the Ottershaw series to go!!

see you there
Pete W