Surrey League 2/3cat Crowhurst 6/3/2010

[huw williams]

A nice day at the races today. Coldish, very windy but nice and sunny. Sell out field on a Crowhurst course which was just about rideable - the winter snow and ice has left some savage craters on this course and there were lots of punctures. Keith Lea was starting his campaign as a second cat and the 60miles must have seemed like a long way after a winter spent largely in his kitchen staring at the little yellow box.

After a couple of early sparring attacks the selection actually got made really early on as a group of seven riders got a gap of about a minute on lap 3 (out of 9, one nutralised) and they worked so well together that they stayed away. Keith tried working to close them down and burned a few too many matches in doing so as there didn't seem too many others prepared to hang themselves out in pursuit.

The seven leaders came down to five by the last lap when at one point they had a gap of 4 minutes with James Stuart braking away on the last drag up to the church to take the win. Keith finished in really good shape in a group of riders all credited with 16th so a pretty pleasing first outing.


1 James Stuart Norwood Paragon CC 2 20 2:37:00
2 Tim Benham DHCcyclesport.co.uk 2 6
3 Nick Abraham Private Member 2V 31
4 Matthew Myers Twickenham CC 3J 50
5 Andrew Dolan Team Toachim 2 47
6 Alex Camier Team Toachim 2 48
7 Thomas Bell Twickenham CC 3 51
8 Peter Bolke DHCyclesport.co.uk 3V 7
9 Roland Chuter Reading CC 3 36 @ 3:30
10 Mark Ottaway VC Meudon 2V 55
11 Steve Jackson Rollapaluza CC 2 38
12 Simon Whiten Mosquito Bikes 2V 19
13 Luke Wallis Pearson Cycles 2 30
14 Benjamin MacLand VC Meudon 2V 54
15 Simon Bird Dulwich Paragon CC 2 9
16= Keith Lea Addiscombe CC 2V 2
16= James Jones Beeline Bicycles RT 2 3
16= Anthony Moye CC Luton 2 5
16= James Astbury DHCyclesport.co.uk 2 8
16= Richard Friend Gemini BC 3 11
16= Paul Drake London Dynamo 2 15
16= Stuart Spies London Dynamo 2 17
16= James Peckham Onelife Fuga Racing Team 3 23
16= James McCarron Onelife Fuga Racing Team 3J 26
16= Rupert Beale Onelife Fuga Racing Team 3V 28
16= Nick Busst ProBikeKit.com 2 33
16= Jason McStay Probikekit.com 3 34
16= Luke Smith Whyte Racing UK 3 37
16= James Wilson Sigma Sport RT 2 42
16= Mike Saunders Team Corridori 3V 44
16= Pete Smith Team Endura 2V 46
16= Declan Higgins Twickenham CC 3J 49
16= Alex Pantelides Twickenham CC 3J 52
34 Matthew Theobalds CS Grupetto 3 18
35 Nicholas Beale Onelife Fuga Racing Team 2V 27
36 Stewart Martin Onelife Fuga Racing Team 2V 29
37 Philip Murrell Finsbury Park CC 2V 10
38 Damien Breen Kingston Wheelers 3 13
39 Clive Copeland Onelife Fuga Racing Team 3V 25
40 Richard Horton Bournemouth Jubilee 2J 4
41 Simon Coles Norwood Paragon CC 3 22
42 Joe Harris Reading CC 2 35
dnf Chris Beales Sigma Sport RT 2V 41
dnf Nick Allen VC Meudon 2 57
dnf Niall Digby Sigma Sport RT 2V 39
dnf Cameron Fraser La Fuga.cc 3 14
dnf James Leach Onelife Fuga Racing Team 3 24
dnf Simon Thomson AD Cycles RT 3 1
dnf Taylor Johnstone Team De Ver 2J 45
dnf Paul McGuigan Norwood Paragon CC 3 21
dnf Chris Tune Private Member 2 32
dnf Rob Marcus VC Godalming & Haslemere 3V 53
dnf Mark Simmonds Kingsnorth International 3V 12

[Keith]

Thanks Huw, I logged on to give a report, and you've already sorted it out .

I barely seem to have started winter training and it's the start of the season already . This race was only a couple of miles from home, so it seemed daft not to enter. It was nice to ride to and from the race, rather than having to pack everthing in the car.

The course was in such bad shape that the first (of 9) laps was neutralised and used as a "sigthing" lap. The surface also made the pace quite up and down as some of the worst holes were on the junctions and the peleton ground to a virtual halt to get round, then gave it full gas on the exit.

Once Norwood Paragon had a man up the road in a successful break, their 2 other members did a superb job of controlling breaks and chasing down others. After about half way, when the initial breakaway had substantial gap, the entire peloton seemed reluctant to let any further riders get up the road.

Thanks Huw & Paul for the support.

[Toks]

oh...is that it then? OK well done, dude

[Keith]

[quote="Toks"]oh...is that it then?

[huw williams]

Sorry Toks, slack reportage i know but I missed half the race broom-waggoning riders with punctures back and forth to HQ, Keith might have been up the road by 25mins on his own and got knocked off by a hippo in a tutu and I wouldn't have known about it

[Toks]

[quote="huw williams"]Sorry Toks, slack reportage i know but I missed half the race broom-waggoning riders with punctures back and forth to HQ, Keith might have been up the road by 25mins on his own and got knocked off by a hippo in a tutu and I wouldn't have known about it

[huw williams]

Ha, sounds better than racing
Don't worry, there's a few riders set to enter this season's action in the next couple of weeks so normal service will be resumed soon with gushing, full-length race reports.

[Andrew G]

Blimey Toks wait fo rthe season to start it's March 7th .

Well done Keith I guess you'll have a number of rough races this year as a 2nd cat. Are you going to be mainly E/1/2 racing or 2/3? I'm not sure how the races split but guess more of the first.

A better start for you than me. I'm 0 out of 2 so far, ice in the lanes which I didn't fancy concentrating on when I'd rather be concentrating on racing, so I drove home .

[Dominic]

[quote="Andrew G"]A better start for you than me. I'm 0 out of 2 so far, ice in the lanes which I didn't fancy concentrating on when I'd rather be concentrating on racing, so I drove home .

[huw williams]

It went ahead - Simon Smythe trashed a HED3 Carbon wheel in the first 5 miles

[Andrew G]

[quote="huw williams"]It went ahead - Simon Smythe trashed a HED3 Carbon wheel in the first 5 miles

[glyn]

[img]http://www.surreyleague.co.uk/thumbnails/2010/mar6/mar6-18.jpg[/img]

[George]

Nice one Keith good local ride by the sound of it.

[Scott]

Keith,

Looking at that pic I now know why there is a V in front of your 2nd cat

[Keith]

[quote="Scott"]
Looking at that pic I now know why there is a V in front of your 2nd cat