Location: Coates Heath, Stafford
Event: 17 June 2012
Report: Snowdon Sports

Veteran Phil Mason (Climb On Bikes CC) showed his younger rivals a clean pair of wheels as he sprinted to victory in the 61-mile Stafford Grand Prix at Coates Heath.

A 13-strong group went away on the second of five laps in dry conditions for the Stafford RC round of the West Midlands Road Race League and, building up a maximum lead of 1-40, shed two along the way before holding off a charging pack in the closing miles to finish around half a minute clear.

Mason, 47, proved strongest as the leaders went over the top of the final climb and on to a gradual 300-metres rise to the line, beating James Ratcliffe (Fred Williams Cycles) by less than a bike length to record his first road race win since 2003 with Mike Simpson (GS Henley) taking third place.

Result:

1 Phil Mason (Climb On Bikes CC) 2-42-00
2 James Ratcliffe (Fred Williams Cycles)
3 Mike Simpson (GS Henley)
4 David Griffiths (Paramount CRT)
5 Stephen Smith (Vita CT)
6 Jeff Vernon (Birkenhead North End CC)
7 Mark Corbett (Worcester St John’s CC)
8 Ian Holbrook (Stone Wheelers)
9 Matthew Burnhill (Stafford RC)
10 Jason Meyer (Stourbridge Velo)

British Cycling would like to thank the organising team, officials and everyone else who helped promote this event. Our sport could not exist without the hundreds of people, many of them unpaid volunteers, who put in many hours of hard work running events, activities and clubs.