Local Riders,Local Races

Photo,Graham Robins

Toby Neave gave his new team, Primera-Specialized their first win of the season at the Mountbatten centre, Portsmouth. Neave made his move with four laps remaining in the senior race. The bunch hesitated and the Primera rider was clear, crossing the line alone. Neaves teammates Jason Eastwood & Will Stephenson both finished comfortably in the main field. Stephenson had ridden the BJW 20 tt the previous day, finishing 2nd.

Dave Gilham reports on the womens race.......The women’s race came down to a sprint finish and with 2 laps to go the pace went up substantially leaving 3 riders in contention for the sprint. The speed went even higher down the back straight on the final lap shedding Fran Blake (Southdown Velo / Hunter Spring Consultancy), leaving Nikki Wheeler (Wiggle) leading out the sprint with Ellie Gilham (VC ST Raphael/Waites Contracts) on her wheel. Ellie jumped coming into the home straight attacking Nikki on her outside quickly drawing level, then drawing on her track experience, used the height gained from the corner banking and came past Nikki to take the victory by a clear bike length and finished about 11th in the men’s sprint!.....Gilham has just come off a three week intensive training block,her next competitive outing is at the Thruxton motor racing circuit on Sunday 18th March.It will be her first opportunity to race with her VC St. Raphael racing team.
In the supporting men’s race Steve Moss (Bournemouth Arrow/Hotel Collingwood) had to settle for second place behind Matt Hargroves (Hargroves Cycles). Harrison Fielding (Poole Wheelers) also took second place in the youth race.

Dave Pickering (BJW) won round 4 of the inter-club series. Pickering clocked 48.16 for the 20 mile two lap circuit at Furzehill. Will Stephenson (Primera-Specialized) 48.45 took second place, with Cliff Rowe (BJW), 50.16, third.

The following day on the Wareham –Gallows Hill 15 mile circuit, Gary Dighton (Poole Wheelers) won round 5. Several riders went off course but Dighton had no problems, recording 35.03. Tim Wallis (SUCC) 37.41 finished a distant second.

VELO Club St Raphael’s Andy Rivett was the only rider to better 25-mph in New Forest Cycling Club’s first 10-mile time trial of the season. Bob Jolliffe reports.......He was on the rivet right around the tough Holmsley-A35-Burley Lawn-Burley loop which this year was made even more difficult with a cyclo-cross element thrown in for good measure where a cattle grid is being replaced in Lyndhurst Road.Veteran club member Chris Gannaway took charge of the adjoining access gate to ensure livestock did not get onto the A35 while competitors took to the mud for a few yards.Despite the short delay, Rivett took full advantage of the sunny but cool conditions to clock 23-55.

His time was 29 seconds faster than those of New Forest CC’s Gary Lock and GA Cycles’ Ray Claridge who tied for second with 24-36.Sotonia CC’s Stuart Martingale was a further 24 seconds off the pace with 25-00 for fourth, while Rivett’s teammate Bryce Dyer took fifth with 25-20.There followed a trio of good times from NFCC riders with John Heffernan clocking 25-30, Ben Boardman 25-37 and Colin Humm 25-41.Women’s 25-mile competition record and multi-national champion Julia Shaw (Drag2Zero) followed up her winning ride in the recent Mersey Tunnel time trial with 26-09 for ninth place, while New Forest CC’s Stuart Ward made a welcome return after a broken wrist kept him out of competition last season with 26-15 for tenth.There was a record turn-out for the event, with 40 signed on and one non-starter.Other times (NFCC) unless stated: Peter Wilson (Bournemouth Arrow CC) 26-25, Chris Grant (private trial) 26-35, Chris Hughes 26-40, Stuart Peckham 26-42, Geri Robinson 26-52, Steve Roberts and Lee Hookem tied with 27-13, Rob Brinsden 27-32, James Bannister 27-50, Richard Mason 27-51, Ben Saunders 27-57, Gary Plumb 28-21, David Wilson 28-40, Richard Rajski 28-44, Phil Underwood 29-01, Nick Williams 29-06, Konner Bracher-Walsh 29-23, Mike Ahearn 29-31, Stuart Grace (GA Cycles) 29-44, Nigel Gemmell 30-22, Antony Moyle 30-26, Peter Weaver 31-21, Bob Jolliffe 31-35, Donna Shaw 32-23, Chris Mills 32-26, Peter Hawker 32-45, Nick Cooper 33-19, Martin Balk 34-34, Andrew Bunch 35-09.This Sunday’s (MARCH 18) event, the second in the Forest Aggregate Series is over 12.8 miles starting from Holmsley and taking in Brockenhurst and Rhinefield before returning south along the A35 to Holmsley. Event HQ is Goatspen car park and the start time 9.31am.

Mark Chadbourne (Ridebike.co.uk) reports on the Gorrick MTB series Rnd 3 at Crowthorne Woods in Berkshire.

A typical Gorrick course, with lots of fun, twisty singletrack with a few short sharp climbs to tire the legs. At first glance its not to tough, but if you race it, the constant accelerations out of the corners will take their toll by the end.
Liz Gilmour got her first win in the Masters women and looked very comfortable as she crossed the line. Stu King had a fantastic start that saw him leading at the end of the first lap with a small gap. However luck wasn’t on his side as he had a slow puncture and had no choice but to fix it. Stu was pleased to be back on his Top Fuel again and knows he is in shape. Mark Chadbourne had his first race back and spent it dicing with his main rivals from last year. Lacking that little bit of a racing edge he was content to watch the sprint unfold and rolled in for a satisfying 3rd. Steve Moors was sampling the Grand Vet racing for the first time this year. Finding he was very quick in the technical stuff but losing out on the fire roads meant that he was playing catch up. Despite this he recorded a great 2nd place and has the opportunity to take a look at his rivals for the season ahead. Other Locals in action included, Mark Hardwicke & Ash James (Bournemouth Arrow) & Garrett Hill & Ashley Sutton (UK Biking-Primera). The first round of the Southern series is this weekend at Checkendon,Kent

Parkstone cycle clothing specialists, Prendas Ciclismo are to continue their support for one of the country’s top women’s teams.

The Matrix Fitness-Prendas Ciclismo team includes Great Britain Olympic hopefuls, Dani King and Jo Rowsell and has a full programme of national and European races. The average age of the team is just 20 with former British Champion Chris Walkers daughter, Jessie, the youngest at just 17. Mick Tarrant of Prendas said: “They all make great role models for other girls looking to get into the sport, they don’t get supported like the guys do, so it’s great for Prendas to put something back into the sport” (HARGROVES CYCLES have announced they will also be sponsoring the team this season)