Round up to 10/6

The results are now in from Eelmore, so here's this weeks roundup. At Dunsfold Jamie continues to dominate, getting in and then away from the winning break with Simon McNamara to finish second,  picking up a bunch of primes along the way. Gianluca led out Ken for the final place. Jamie now looks odds on favourite for the series.

At Eelmore lone attacks from Craig Wilson and Dave Creeggan failed to stick in the windy conditions and aggressive riding from Jamie and Tim and John Felt also went unrewarded as riders sat on waiting for the bunch finish. That was duly won by Tom Smith, with myself, Pete Wager, Dave and Jamie spread over the other end of the placings.

In the thirds Nick Allen had to be encouraged by Colin with two laps to go to take part in the sprint. This inevitably resulted in Nick completing his hatrick of wins. He's now working out how he can guarantee not finishing higher than 2nd in order to stop going up to second cat. Bob Moore continued his great run of form in 4th and must also be close to a licence upgrade.

In Thursday's handicap, Mark Bremner's new goal of going in the other direction - from 2nd to 3rd cat - went badly wrong when he finished a good third behind new Divs winner Gary Dodd and Lee Smith. Ken Prince followed up on the day before's result with a decent 7th.

Meanwhile over in Sussex, Mike Lancaster finished 8th in the Surrey League race on the tough Barcombe course.

LVRC Dunsfold-update

Both Keith Brooks and Craig Wilson rode strongly on Sunday at Dunsfold. Keith finished powerfully up the finish hill to take 2nd and moves up to joint overall leader in the series.


Craig also made the key break in his race held over 60 hot miles and consolidated his lead in the overall B category.

KEITH'S REPORT
After the initial shock of finding we had to ride with the younger group, the fact that there were 50 riders around aflat Dunsfold road circuit should have been an armchair ride for the sprinters…not to be. Feeling frisky and with no warm up I went from the gun, which lasted a lung bursting 4k, and after I was caught it was attack after attack from then on. Just before half distance the pressure was on and it was looking like a small split would occur when the ubiquitous horse and rider appeared in the middle of the bunch. The leaders pushed on but as many riders had to stop the lead car wisely took the initiative to slow the race until it regrouped.

The attacks started again and a group of seven got away, no Vecchis but including the series leader from the Ds and a couple of good Es.I managed to eventually get across with the help of Sid Lovatts back wheel and that was it…I can’t understand why we all had to go through so fast for the next two laps when we were minutes clear but then on the last lap the attacks started again and a good opportunity to sit on and get a breather. With 2 k to go John McMillan made another huge effort and this time there was no reaction and he gained 100 metres which he held up the climb and to the finish. The last lap breather obviously did me some good and I was able to lead the break home for 2nd in the race and category just in front of youngster Ray Palin who won the Ds.

Hard work and we’ve got to do it all again next Sunday.

TIM'S ABC RACE REPORT
A good result for the Ciclisti Vecchi B team (that's age category B) on Sunday with Craig extending his lead in the points competition.

The team worked well together to make sure that Craig was placed in the winning break and that there were no dangerous counter attacks. When the bunch split there were four CVs on hand. We (Colin Addo, Keith J, Terry and me) almost caught the break at one point which would have meant five CVs up front. Keith was victim of the phantom that scattered drawing pins on one part of the circuit.

Craig was third just pipped by Martin O'Grady (?) from VC Deal who, most independent and unbiased witnesses agreed (that's Keith and Mrs Keith), had switched Craig all over the road. His card is marked. Just wait until the Scicilian chapter of Ciclisti Vecchi hears about this ... you gotta show respect ...

In the C Category VC Meudon's Martin Hulbert also made the lead break and scored highly.

Cycle Kingdom Series - Race 5 Results UPDATED

U8
1st Alex Foster
2nd Joe McGuinness

U12
1st Cameron Thomas
2nd Emily Foster

E12
1 Tom Smith AWCycles E 15
2 Lewis Atkins www.agiskoviner.com 2 14
3 Lee Smith www.agiskoviner.com 1 13
4 Darrell Pembroke www.agiskoviner.com 2 12
5 Tim Elverson Felt Racing E 11
6 Alex Peterson AWCycles 1 10
7 Anders Christensen Cycle Kingdom Race Team 1 9
8 Matthew Carden Team Quest 2 8
9 Ben Macland VC Meudon 2 7
10 Thorsten Klassen Kingston Wheelers CC 2 6
11 Daniel Duguid Sigma Sport/Specialised/Sportfull 1 5
12 Pete Wager VC Meudon 2 4
13 David Creeggan VC Meudon 1 3
14 Jamie Newall VC Meudon 2 2
15 Neil Cooper AWCycles 2 1

Overall Classification

34
1 Nick Allen VC Meudon 3 10
2 Nick Mawson Swindon RC 3 9
3 Nick Onslow Pedalon.co.uk 3 8
4 Bob Moore VC Meudon 3 7
5 Robert King Reading CC 3 6
6 Steve Smith Python RT 3 5
7 Justin Radford Python RT 3 4
8 Andy Cracknell Pedalon.co.uk 3 3
9 Gareth Dickenson Agiskoviner 3 2
10 Martin McCrossan Team Terminator 3 1

Overall Classification

Pete survives Central Divs

A strong field lined up for the 2008 Central Divs Champs including PCA (Tony Gibb and his pink ladies), AW Cycles, Agisko, London Dynamo, Sigma Sport, Team MK, Felt Racing (my brother and ex VC Meudon rider John Wager) plus the legendary Roy Chamberlain,Team Corley and Aaron McCaffrey, VTT Pyrenees (he said he was only riding for a laugh!!). VC Meudon was being represented by me - Pete Wager. Just under 7 laps of the rolling Cublington circuit lay ahead in calm and overcast conditions.

Lap 1 produced the usual flurry of attacks with nothing really getting away. Coming to the end of the 2nd lap a large group of 15 riders went clear over a short drag and pulled out a maximum lead of a 1 minute - this group included all 4 of the PCA team and at least 1 from all the other major teams with the exception of VC Meudon, Team Corley and Felt. It was on the 2nd lap that I managed to loose a full bottle after hitting a pot hole and with no one handing up drinks I was left to survive on a single bottle and a handful of gels....

Lap 3 - The chase was on! A combined effort of around 10 riders including Team Corley, Aaron McCaffrey, myself and John, worked for the next 3 laps in an attempt to pull them back - the rest of the bunch enjoyed the views over the rolling Buckinghamshire countryside. Slowly the gap came down and we began to catch the now fragmented front group just before the final lap. At the bell only Tony Gibb remained off the front with a 27 second advantage going over the climb.

Final lap and the attacks started - nothing really stuck and Tony Gibb maintained his gap. A London Dynamo rider escaped and was quickly followed by James Millard (PCA) in the last 5km and they appeared to bridge across to the leader. Into the final kilometre and the bunch were preparing for the UP HILL sprint. Tony Gibb attacked and held on for the win from the front group while the bunch swallowed up the other two riders on the hill. My attempt at a sprint only proved how much the effort over the previous laps and a lack of fluids had affected me and I rolled across the line almost to a standstill in 28th position - Totally exhausted.

Chapeau to my brother, John (Felt racing), for sharing his drink on the last laps and a creditable 10th place - I would not have finished the race otherwise.

Moore Gibbs (updated)

POST UPDATED - scroll down for the race report ....

Scanning through the foto galleries of the Central Divs I spotted that familiar Meudon jersey, so dug a bit deeper into the results to find that prolific points scorer Bob Moore had sneaked out of region to ride the supporting 3rds race with Mark Gibbs for support.

Not sure what happened in the race yet, but Bob finished a fine 3rd with Mark backing up in 8th place.

I thought both must be perilously close to their 2nd Cat licences by now, so checked the BC rankings and sure enough Mr Gibbs sits proudly at the top of the South East 3rd Cat rankings with 39 points

At last Bob's comprehensive race report ....
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Carry On Bike Racing, 3/4cat support race to Central Divs, supported by Gibbo, Simon (no 10), Mike Lancaster and me, (Bob)(of Moore fame)
This race had everything, mystery route, headwinds, tailwinds, parked cars and crashes (there's a clue).

It went ballistic from the race HQ, the warmed up riders chasing the Lead Car at 27mph in the neutrallised zone..... I'm glad real racing is not as hard, it was only when we ended up negotiating traffic lights in Leighton Buzzard and coming to a stop in the High Street that the Lead Car realised something was adrift. After an 80 rider 'U' turn we headed back to the race course and that's where the real fun began
Having started 10 minutes behind the real Divs race we should have been well out of the E123's way, but because of our mystery trip to Leighton Buzzard we were now just in front of the main race.

After about 3 miles of racing the commisaire stopped us at the side of the road to wait for the main race to come thru'. I got a glimpse of Pete Wager at full flight in the bunch with Plowmen Craven on the front, those guys looked pretty quick as they ripped past us spuddos waiting at the roadside.
(Pete finished in the bunch after 80 miles at 26mph, a really good ride in that company.)

When we eventually got started again I could hardly be less enthusiastic about racing. However the race bowled along OK and Gibbo was good enough to tell me where he was going to jump for the finish line and if I wanted to be on his wheel that would be OK!
A couple of riders attempted to get away but that ended when the bunch collectively,
didn't exactly chase, but just somehow caught them up again.
Mike Lancaster looked pretty lively as he romped through the hilltop finish line on lap 3 stretching out the field and I really thought that he would have a good result on the day.
However on lap 4 with about 8 miles to go the red parked car which had been there all the race claimed a victim when a guy ploughed into the back of it bringing down 7 other riders including Mike. Mike couldn't get untangled and his race was over.

I was lucky enough to be level with this incident so not held up, but both Gibbo and Simon got stopped: Gibbo chased and got back on but Simon couldn't bridge the gap, finishing just off the bunch.

Seeing Gibbo with about 2 miles to go making his way towards the front I was unaware that he had had to chase to get there.

Good to his word he jumped from about 400 metres and shot up the outside with me on his wheel. The headwind and the chase took it's toll on him leaving me to get 3rd about a length down on the winner and Gibbo claiming 8th on the day.

Warren re-lives the Divs

Below is Warren's report from yesterday's SE Divs Champs - he managed a great result amongst exalted company - Great Ride!


VCM entered 7 riders for the divs run down on the Tenderten course in Kent

Craig Wilson
Duncan Hards
David Creeggan
Jamie Newall
Steven Richards
Warren Jesse
Ben Macland

Myself Steve R and the enemy Tim Elverson drove down together we managed to under estimate just how far away the course is and arrived with about 20 mins to spare much to Tim’s annoyance as he couldn't carry out his usual pre race ritual of warming up on the rollers. Instead of this he decided the best way to warm up would be to attack almost immediately along with another rider. Jamie was prominent on the front early on waiting for his chance to jump but no one else had this idea and the two were left to act as carrots for just over a lap.

When they were inevitably caught it wasn’t long before the next attack went this one looked promising as it consisted of 6 riders including Tim (again) and Steve as well as Dan Duguid of Sigma and Simon McNamara of Wildside, Matt Seaton of Rapha and Keith Goffey of Bec CC. They built up a lead of 1min 40 at one point but the momentum of the bunch was always reasonably high and just as we approached the bottom of the hill for the bell lap they were swallowed up.

Now was my chance after sitting comfortably in the bunch for 5 laps! The usual suspects gathered at the front on the penultimate climb and forged ahead, there were 9 of us which included Sigma riders Gary Dodd and Andy Bye, Wildside rider Chris McNamara, Norwood Paragon riders Chris Moores and Steve Calland as well as John Veness, Richard Hoult and Andy Betts.

It was touch and go at one point round the back of the circuit as we were nearly caught again by the pack. Once the elastic snapped though we were gone and were told we had 40 seconds it was obvious now we weren’t getting caught so could afford the usual cat and mouse tatics. Andy Bye made several attempts to go but wasn’t all that strong and was brought back each time, all this time though Mr Dodd was getting an arm chair ride. At the bottom of the climb I noticed the two Paragon riders talking and the next thing Steve Calland launched a flyer with Chris Moores tuck to his wheel, I responded but the pace was way to quick and by the top of the first section of the climb Steve dropped his anchor and literally stopped! Gary Dodd used this as a launch pad and just rode away from everyone. My legs pretty much folded as we all tried to start the sprint again and got 6th place on the line, David Creeggan managed to get 2nd place in the bunch finish for 10th place. Not a bad effort all round but as the school teachers used to say could have been better..