Published: 26 August 2010
With the recent poor weather taking a break, riders commenced a busy evening program bathed in bright sunshine. The opening 10 lap Senior Hare & Hounds set the tone for the evening's endurance racing with the As content to allow the Bs plenty of space, steadily reeling them in until the groups came together with three to go, nothing too frantic. The pace increased as the race entered the penultimate lap but a very big group entered the bell lap set to contest the sprint. Out of the melee popped the AW Cycles-clad Stephen Bradbury and Neil Cooper closely followed by Newbury RC's Ian Greenstreet. In a desperate lunge for the line Bradbury took the win by a tyre from Cooper in second and Greenstreet third.
It was now the turn of the sprinters in the Keirin heats. As on many previous occasions this season the sprinters faced fierce competition from the endurance riders. The heats saw the As up first with Sam Sturgeon and John Williams of Team Terminator, Matt Gittings and Stephen Bradbury of AW Cycles, young Harry Strudley from Palmer Park Velo, Gavin Mitchell of Twickenham CC and, pure sprinter, Eddy Sobieralski of sports-coaching.com all progressing to the final.
In the Bs U16s George Withers, Frazier Carr and William Macke all of Palmer Park Velo were joined by Rikki Pankhurst of AW Cycles, Gawain Bailey of Team Zappi's and Paul Cooper of Reading CC in progressing through to the final, the latter two helping to raise the average age a little.
The Ladies, Jayne Paine of Willesden CC, guest rider Corrine Hall of Team Corridori, Rohan Battison of Max Gear RT and Sarra Boyd of Mildenhall CC then lined up for their Keirin final. With Sarah taking the Derny and Jayne tight to her in second, Corrine laid off a bike length with Rohan tucked in. With 220 meters to go positions were held until Corrine showed her obvious class by rushing the gap rounding the others to take a clear win with Jayne in second and Rohan rolling Sarah for third.
As the light noticeably faded and threatening dark skies appeared overhead the As commenced their Devil. Sitting firmly in commanding positions at the front were a trio of AW Cycles riders, Bradbury, Cooper and Gittings joined by Donal Lenihan of Newbury RC's, Gavin Mitchell of Twickenham CC and Daniel Maslin of Hillingdon Slipstreamers with Corinne Hall joining them for a little extra 'training'. In the final sprint Gittings and Bradbury broke away with Gittings taking the win by a wheel from Mitchell in third.
The Bs Devil was won in commanding style by Gawain Bailey of Team Zappi's from Anthony Hargroves of Hargroves Cycles in second and George Withers making a late run for third. I'm sure I saw Corrine Hall in the mix again doing a bit more training but I may be mistaken. First and second Ladies were Rohan Battison and Sarah Boyd respectively.
The Keirin finals were up next. The A final seemed well primed to be a battle between those with fast twitch fibres and the endurance boys. Ultimately, the battle never materialised and an endurance trio took the final sprint to the line. Sam Sturgeon showed super speed (in spite of heavy support strapping pointing to obvious injury) in taking the win from Stephen Bradbury. Worthy of special mention is close third placed Under 16 Harry Strudley. This was Harry's first point in the As and a good indication that his form is coming good at precisely the right time for the forthcoming Nationals.
The B Keirin final was a test of youth versus experience. It was the experience and power of Gawain Bailey who took the win by a length from the Under 16s George Withers and William Macke.
As is usual, the finale was the AW Cycles and Sonim sponsored 20k endurance race. The twist this evening was the incorporation of the Regional 20k Championship.
Whether the Regional Championship had a bearing on the style of racing I can't say. But it seemed a more evenly paced and cagey affair than we have seen of late. Early breaks by Gavin Spiers of AW Cycles accompanied by Martyn Harris of Banjo Cycles and then Matt Gittings all came to nothing. Within the final quarter of the race Rob King of AW Cycles decided that enough was enough. Launching a fierce attack King powered away and gained close to half a lap fairly quickly. With seven laps remaining Gawain Bailey made his move to bridge the gap to King while the other chasers seemed content to hang them out for a few laps. Pursuing hard Bailey slowly gained on King coming tantalisingly close before fading back in to the group. With his freedom assured King continued to power round increasing his gap little by little to take a beautifully timed and very impressive win. In an extremely close and feverish sprint for second, Stephen Bradbury just took the place from Matt Gittings for an AW Cycles 1, 2, 3 on the night. First B was George Withers with Trevor Bradbury of Reading CC just nipping past Martyn Harris on the line.
You'd think that was the end of the matter and final mention would go to the winner of the Regional Championship. Well, from one rider's perspective, it wasn't. Rob King had failed to enter the Regional Championship. So in spite of riding to success on the night King only took race honours while a visibly embarrassed and upset second placed man, and teammate, Stephen Bradbury took the Championship.
I'm sure there's a moral in there somewhere.