Luke Gray races and reports……….Sunday was the 2nd round of the Wessex League CX taking place at Swindon.
There had been rain all morning and it carried into the start of the race.
The course was very different in the 2 half's, one was open and exposed with flat grass, corners and switch backs, while the other half was in the woods with mud, banks and roots.
The Commisaire with the starting whistle was very keen to get going as he said ''right, is everybody ready?'' while 2 riders in the front row had left their bikes standing and having a pee somewhere. So much for 2 minutes before the start!
On the first half of the lap on the open field last weeks Wessex League winner was keen to press on, I was sat back in about 3 position just going with the flow. With a few hundred meters to go before entering the woods a couple of riders passed me and there were 4 riders fighting to get into the woods first, I let them battle it between them. On the 2nd lap exiting from the woods I was leading the race and there were a couple of other riders with me (Andrew Hargroves and Jody Crawforth) while 4th and 5th place weren't far behind. I led into a series of bends and used some effort to try and stretch the riders give them something to ride for. After I led around the field the other 4 riders all raced to get into the woods first again, this time it would have payed to be at the front because I got held up on a steep muddy bank as Ben Sumner (Wessex League round 1 winner) made a mistake and I had to dismount so I lost the leaders. I was around 20 seconds down on the now 2 leaders as the pace was too hot for Mike Cotty to follow. Over the next couple of laps I pitted for a clean bike and made my way past Mike and was making ground fast on Jody who was now riding alone. I went straight past him when I caught him, he hung on to my wheel around the field and didn't have enough power to come around me before heading into the woods. Somewhere he was left behind and just after coming out of the woods I caught the leader Andrew Hargroves. I over took him on the switch-backs just after the pits and on exiting I corner I accelerated hard, as he tried to follow his back wheel slide and he was left laying in the track. When I got to the set of planks I saw I had a 15 second lead but didn't know he had fallen. I carried on riding my own pace and made no mistakes going into the last lap and went on to increase my lead and take the victory.
1 Luke Gray Trek Cross
2 Andy Hargroves Hargroves Cycles
3 Jody Crawforth Hargroves Cycles
4 Michael Cotty Wheelbase
5 Ben Summner Bee Line Cycles
6 Will Bjergfelt Cycle Premier Kovert
7 Crispin Doyle Hargroves Cycles
8 Matt Macdonald Hargroves Cycles
9 Paul Lloyd Rides On Air
10 Ian Legg Primera
11 Christopher Minter Pedal On
12 Peter Kench G.W.R
13 Scott Chalmers Dream CC
14 Paul Sheers Vicious Velo
15 James Cotty Wheelbase
16 Dan Smith G.W.R
17 Richard Lewis CC Basingstoke
18 Scott Chappell Behind The Bikeshed
19 Ryan Keynes 1st Gear Cycles
20 Chris Atkins Specialized
21 James Brett Wightlink
22 Tom Ward Giant Radleft
23 Mike Holborow Cotswold Veldrijden
24 Ben Hall Bristol Rc
25 Martin Eadon Hargroves Cycles At 1 Lap
26 Tom Holden Cotswold Veldrijden At 1 Lap
27 Jason Painton Rides On Air At 1 Lap
28 Tony Parker North Hants RC At 1 Lap
29 Tom Underhill Finsbury Park CC At 1 Lap
30 Steve Bale Reading CC At 1 Lap
31 Leith Henderson Westbury Wheelers At 1 Lap
32 Peter Beish Scunthorpe Poly CC At 1 Lap
33 Oliver lee Not Known At 1 Lap
34 Kamden Reedy Jetset Racing At 1 Lap
35 Sean Townsend Glos City CC At 1 Lap
36 Andy Henderson Westbury Wheelers At 1 Lap
37 Antony Grabham Fareham Wheelers At 1 Lap
38 Fraser Macdonald Cotswold Veldrijden At 1 Lap
39 Tim Jones Zappis At 1 Lap
40 Stuart Watson Cotswold Veldrijden At 1 Lap
41 Joe Walsh Not Known At 1 Lap
42 Paul Hoy Not Known @ 2 laps
PHOTOS: Rob Gray
No comments:
Post a Comment