Location: Wincham, Cheshire
Event: 30 September 2012
Report: Eleanor Underhill/Snowdon Sports
Photos: Adrian Japp
Weaver Valley CC’s own rider Kristian Zentek secured victory in the club’s road race, staged over 50 miles around the village of Wincham in Cheshire on Sunday morning.
Zentek, 37 and from Winsford, won a three-up sprint finish to the race from Terry Greenwood, while veteran Nick Giles, a 53-year-old member of the Fibrax-Wrexham club, took third spot.
The trio were 35 seconds ahead of the chasing bunch, which was led in by Stephen Baillie (R Whitfield Heating), who pipped Alessandro Williams (Tunstall Wheelers).
A relative newcomer to the sport despite being 37, Zentek’s only previous competitive performance was in the John Boote Memorial Road Race back in June where he finished 24th.
This was a fast and hard fought race, on undulating and rough country roads near Northwich. A break established itself early, with Josh Williams (Paramount CT) and Stephen Stoneman (private member) working well together.
They stayed away from the main field for 6 of the 8 laps, at one point establishing a lead of nearly two minutes. The bunch made various attempts to establish breaks to challenge these two but none succeeded, until the last lap. With 5 miles to go, three riders, including Kris Zentek of Weaver Valley, Terry Greenwood and Nick Giles, of Fibray Wrexham, rode hard off the front of the bunch, catching Williams and Stoneman, who were now tiring, on the A559.
Zentek then rode away up the final hill, with Greenwood and Giles on his wheel. This trio then powered to the line, with home club rider Zentek winning the final sprint, a bike length clear of Greenwood. The bunch was closing all through the last lap and finished only 35 seconds behind the winners, with Stephen Baillie winning the bunch sprint.
In the meantime, promising 20 year old ex moto-cross rider Josh Williams, who had performed so well in the early break, was riding ahead of the bunch, in fourth place. On the final corner, 400 yards from the finish line, a marshal held out his hand to direct a car – which Josh misunderstood, taking a wrong turning, and missing out on what would have been a well deserved fourth place.
The organisers and judges rewarded Williams with a “most unfortunate rider” prize in acknowledgement of his bad luck, and in recognition of his efforts during the race.
The race was promoted by Weaver Valley CC, and their organisers and marshals were delighted with what was an excellent race, and with their own rider Zentek’s victory.
Results:
1 Kristian Zentek Weaver Valley CC 1:59:03
2 Terry Greenwood Private member st
3 Nick Giles Fibrax Wrexham st
4 Stephen Baillie R Whitfield Heating & Plumbing RT @35 sec
5 Alessandro Williams Tunstall Whls CC st
6 Toby Holmes Otley CC st
7 Jonathan Rooke Wills Wheels Cycling Club st
8 Fred Bamforth Private member st
9 Cameron Reilly Dinnington RC st
10 Benjamin Goddard Newport Shropshire CC st
11 Philip Turton Yorkshire RC st
12 Mark Tickle Leigh Premier RC st
13 Giles Bett Weaver Valley CC st
14 Edward Mitchell st
15 John Barraclough High On Bikes st
16 Peter Ware St Helens CRC/D.Sparrow Plumbing & Heating Services st
17 Dane Walker Team iOptix.co.uk st
18 Kevin Stuart Leeds Mercury Cycling Club st
19 Colin Hodgson St Helens CRC/D.Sparrow Plumbing & Heating Services st
20 Kevan Underhill Weaver Valley CC st
21 Matthew Hacker North Cheshire Clarion st
22 Graeme Huston GS Metro st
23 Rob Wilkinson Oldham Century RC st
24 Josh Williams Paramount CRT st
25 Jason Dobson Manchester Whlrs Club @14:12
26 Greg Plummer Lancs Fire Racing @17:00
27 Heather Bamforth Private member @23:07
28 Ruth Taylor Manchester Whlrs Club @26:28
Woman: Heather Bamforth, private member
Under-23: Cameron Reilly, Dinnington RC
Most Unfortunate: Josh Williams, Paramount CT
Please credit www.britishcycling.org.uk and link back if you use any of our race results.
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.
