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New Facility at Tameside in Manchester Opens
June 16, 2010, by Larry Hickmott | Tameside Cycle Circuit Races
Tuesday evening saw the first ever race at the new cycling facility in Manchester, the Tameside Cycle Circuit which is located in Ashton-under-Lyne not far from the Ikea superstore. Sitting alongside the Curzon Ashton Football Club, this new addition to the Tameside sports park found itself the centre of attention on a busy evening of sporting activities in Greater Manchester.
With football coaching going on in one area of the park, athletics in another and the new kid on the block, the cycling, taking place on the one kilometre of black stuff, the sports centre saw people from all over Manchester and beyond taking full advantage of the glorious summer weather. With special guest, Sky professional Ben Swift looking on from the sideline and looking like he wished he’d brought his bike, the racing was fast and furious with the race faces telling the story of the effort required to be competitive as the riders got stuck in from the word go.
The pan flat, 1,000 metre circuit twists and turns either end of two shortish 200 metre straights and with a smooth but grippy surface, it found favour with the riders who were able to race flat out. With around 60 riders supporting the first race meeting at the circuit, and plenty of other people tagging along, the place was buzzing as racing started with the Under 10 and Under 8 riders using a shortened section of the course.
With the engineer who designed the circuit for the local council looking on, the kids racing round the circuit also grabbed the attention of many who looked on from the other side of the fencing and were asking what was happening with a view to bringing their own off spring to the circuit to try this great sport of ours.
The Youth A and B riders then followed and they were able to enjoy using the complete circuit for their race which was over half an hour. The Elite/1/2/3/4 race was then held with two races being combined to give riders an hour long effort around the circuit. Setting off just in front of the category 3-4 riders, the Elite/1/2 riders started flat out and for the first 15 or 20 minutes, the speed of the riders was visibly quick, very quick, before the pace settled down to a fast tempo.
A few attacks in the closing laps didn’t bear any fruit for the riders making them and it came down to a bunch gallop with Junior Lewis Balyckyi the fastest to the line, just, to record his name as the first ever winner at the circuit. After the racing had finished, riders swapped stories and they had plenty of praise for this new cycle circuit which had great support from the cycling community in its maiden meeting.
Post Race Reactions
Organiser Phil West, North West Regional Events Officer for British Cycling said afterwards,
"I was really pleased to see such a good turn out of senior riders for the first event. There were also a lot of riders who turned out to take a look at the circuit and so we hope to see those riders racing next week. Speaking with the riders after the event, the circuit was running fast and the combination of turns and short straights meant the racing was fast moving and exciting throughout the event."
Lewis Balyckyi: The Wallis CHH rider is currently third in the Junior National Series rankings and as such, is one of the country’s top riders which was easy to see as he handled the pressure cooker of a bunch kick around a twisting and turning circuit like Tameside.
“The circuit is really good, proper smooth, really flowing and the only slow bit is the bottom bend” he explained afterwards. “It’s really well made and I like it. It felt good being the first person to win here but I wasn’t sure I was going to coming out of that last bend when I saw a big guy coming round me. It’s such a short distance to the finish line from the bend (150 or so metres) I thought I’d have a really good shot at it if I came out of the bend in second so I did. It was a fast race and we did really well to catch the thirds and fourths.”
Ryan Bonser: A rider who not long was racing around the country with top teams is Ryan Bonser and he said after his race that he’d wish this circuit existed 10 years ago. Asked to describe the circuit from a rider’s perspective, he explained “It’s a very fast circuit with only one bend which you really have to kick out of and that is the bottom corner so it’s good because you can keep the speed, and we were averaging over 40k an hour. It has a great surface which is really grippy and you can really bank it over in the corners.”
He had a warning for riders though because several found they were clipping their pedal as they tried to pedal all the way round the hairpin which despite the camber, still needs riders to take care otherwise they may end up like two who fell on that same corner. Both seemed okay and rode away from the crash.
The really wide radius hairpin at the top end of the circuit
The only really slow corner which has a sligh banking to help riders keep their speed.
Youth A/B riders going for it in the sprint at the end of their race.
Riders Note: Parking Info. It will be fine for competitors to park in the Curzon Ashton FC car park where signing on was last night. If numbers exceed that capacity, riders can use the Cricket club car park as a back up rather than a first choice.
Racing Details:
The series will run for the next 9 weeks on a Tuesday. The promoting club for week 2 will be Mossley CRT.
Sign on/Warm up 6pm
Youth D/E – Fun event – 6.45pm
Youth A/B/C race – 7pm – 20 mins + 1lap
Reg C+ 3/4 – 30mins + 5 lap
Reg C+ E/1/2 – 45mins + 5 laps
Parking and Changing – Curzon Ashton Football Club. Facebook group “Tameside Circuit Series 2010”
Results
Elite/1/2/
1. Lewis Balyickyi, Team Wallis - CHH J1
2. Shane O'Neill, GS Surosa 1
3. Conan Mayman, Raleigh RT 1
4. Ryan Bonser, WheelGuru CC 1
5. Richard Bott, Team Herbalife 1
6. Josh Hunt, Mid Devon CC 1
7. Sam Pedder, Base 2 Race 2
8. Chris Sherriffs, Team Wallis - CHH J2
9. Jimmy Froggatt, Wills Wheels RT 2
10
3/4/Women
1. Jacob Ragan, Sportcity Velo YA
2. John Crellin, Manchester Wheelers 3
3. Michael Tomlinson, WheelGuru CC 3
4. Luke Boulton, Team Wallis-CHH J3
5. Greg Newton, Wills Wheels RT 3
6. David Eckersall, Surosa GS 4
7. Dave Micklethwaite, Private Member 3
8. Eric Fitton, Sportcity Velo J3
9. Martin Wallis, Team Wallis-CHH 3
10. Simon Winston, VC St Raphael J3
11. Karl Freeman, Team Corley Cycles 2
12. Mick Style Manchester Wheelers 4
Youth ABC
1. Jacob Scott, Holme Valley Wheelers A
2. Fabio Close, Sub 7 Bikes B
3. Matthew Walls, Eastlands Velo C
4. Archie Stewart, Manchester Tri Club C
5. Ryan McGillick, Mossley CRT C
6. Mitchell Cross, Mossley CRT C
7. Joshua Ferguson, Mossley CRT A
8. Andrew Hathaway, Bolton Hotwheels C
9. Mark Wilkinson, Mossley CRT C
10. Reece Player, Mossley CRT C
11. Maddy Deane, Manchester Tri Club C
12. Elliot Web, Manchester Tri Club C
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