Location: Mountbatten Centre, Portsmouth
Event: 26 August 2012
Report: Graham Robins
Allan Ridler (Pedal Heaven) found his sprinting legs to win the feature race in the Susie’s Circuit Races at the Mountbatten Centre in Portsmouth on Sunday.
The 36-year-old from Aldershot outsprinted Toby Neave (Primera Specialized) with the remaining riders on the same lap to scrap it out for the remaining places.
The race was staged on a warm and still morning, and as soon as the race got underway a group of five riders pulled clear of the bunch including Francis Code (VO2 Development Team), Lewis Atkins (Twenty 3C Obrea), Anders Christensen (Pedal Heaven) Chris McNamara (Pedal Heaven) and James Lewis (Team Wiggle). A few seconds down and charging hard to get across to this group was Allan and Toby.
Once the group of seven was established they set about building a big lead, and soon they had joined onto the back of the bunch putting them a lap up on the bunch.
They then were content to settle in for a couple of recovery laps. Another rider Ollie Hitchings (Peter Hansford Racing) was trying to get a lap but soon he was in no man’s land.
After a while Allan and Toby set of again on another attack and this time they collected Ollie and with his help they managed to get a second lap up. Also on the same lap were James, Liam, Lewis and Anders.
All that was left was the remaining couple of laps to complete. Allan decided to attack with three laps to go but at the bell Toby had pulled him back and theses two would contest the sprint. Allan came of the final bend in the lead and held his ground all the way to the line.
The winners crossed the line with a 20 second gap before the remainder of the leading group and the bunch all came in together.
The earlier third cat race saw junior rider Joe Donohue (Fareham Wheelers) continue his recent good form taking a fine solo break win.
Joe had tried on several occasions to break the string, first going away with Sam Baker (Wightlink RT) and then once Phil Burton (Fareham Wheelers) had tried for a few laps Joe came to the front again and this time he got away. He increased his gap to over twenty seconds and the bunch all stayed together.
With a lap to go Gawain Bailey rolled away from the front of the bunch and managed to get a big enough gap to maintain it, but a long way behind Joe. The sprint for third was won by Sam Baker.
Result:
E/1/2:
1 Allan Ridler Pedal Heaven 1hour +5laps
2 Toby Neave Primera Specialized @st
3 James Lewis Team Wiggle
4 Liam Stones Corley Cycles
5 Lewis Atkins Twenty 3C Orbea
6 Anders Christensen Pedal Heaven
Third Cat:
1 Joe Donohue Fareham Wheelers 40mins +3laps
2 Gawain Bailey Zappi’s CC
3 Sam Baker Wightlink RT
4 Albert Ellison VC Meudon
5 Paul Barnard Southdown Velo
6 Andrew Gaylard Yeovil CC
Women:
1 Hannah Manley For Viored
2 Hannah Drewett BC Private Member
3 Christine Hills Wyndamilla
4 Nikki Wheeler Team Wiggle
5 Sarah Tombs Zappi’s CC
U8 Girls
1 Molly Hyde
2 Darcy Hyde
U10 Boys
1 Zac Elverson VC Meudon
U12 Boys
Sam Clark i-Team CC
2 Alex Hall Andover Wheelers
U14 Boys
1 Jamie Hutchinson i-Team CC
2 Ryan White 1st Chard Wheelers
3 Charles Page Hillingdon CC
4 Louis Rose-Davies Hillingdon CC
5 Joe Clark i-Team CC
U16 Boys
1 George Moore i-Team CC
2 Charlie Cresswell-Hogg Portsmouth North End CC
3 Harry Hailwood Fareham Wheelers CC
4 Sam Gardener Southdown 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.
