Sam Allen (UC Nantes Atlantique) 24 from Overton was the winner of the final round of the highly successful League held in the Army Garrison town of Tidworth close to Salisbury Plain Sam held of the challenge of Crispin Doyle (Hargroves Cycles) on the last lap to win by 10 secs. The two riders had been locked together for four laps along with the new Wessex League Champion Dan Guest (Performance Cycles) who began to fade with two laps to go although he only finished 14 secs down on Sam.

After a gap of a month the league returned and saw a huge turnout on what turned out to be a very chilly day. The course was laid out in the grounds of Tedworth house around the sports pitches and small wooded section surrounding the grounds.

After the initial sort out Guest, Allen and Doyle ‘fresh’ from winning the vet race earlier in the day (more to follow) began to pull clear of the rest on the first couple of laps. Jamie Newell (Pedal Heaven) was the next rider up and he was already 36secs down on the leaders, with the remainder now at over a minute down.

After lap four of seven Allen and Doyle now had clear distance to Guest with Newell the best of the rest at 45secs. The two leaders were locked together for the remainder of the race until Sam made his move with less than half a lap to go pulling out just enough of a gap to be able to finish alone up the tarmac road and across the line. Guest finished a handful of seconds down on second place Doyle with Newell now over two minutes adrift. Mike Smith (Cycleworks.co.uk) was fifth over three minutes adrift of the winning time.

below:  Crispin Doyle (2nd), Sam Allen (1st), Dan Guest (3rd)

Crispin Doyle’s’ (Hargroves Cycles) morning started with the emphatic win in the combined vet/jun/women’s race pulling out a large lead right from the start leaving the rest in his wake. The first lap saw Doyle lead a strong group of junior rider Tom Sewell (Cotswold Veldrijden) along with team mates Graham Rogerson, Sean Williams and Robin Wilmott and Tim Hyde (GS Henley) were all lined out behind the charging Hargroves rider. In the 50+ race it was Phillip Roach (Team Jewson) the World master champion leading Dave McMullen a champion himself and Chris Hutchings (VC Venta) and Tim Costello (GS Vecchi).

below:  Up the steps!

On lap three with Doyle in the distance Hyde, Williams and Rogerson were locked together at 30secs down followed by Wilmott and Sewell now at one minute. On the last of five laps Hyde slipped Williams to take second place by two seconds on the line after a sprint up the tarmac strip. Rogerson was next at 1min 16secs. Roach won the +50 race from McMullen and Costello third. Sarah Barber (NHRC) won the women’s race ahead of team mate Susan Parker and Harriet Guest (Performance Cycles) in third.

Erin Baker (Team MK) won the youth race with an empathic win leading from start to finish on his strongest ever showing in a Wessex race winning by 53secs over Charlie Cooper (Eden Veranda) and Harry Rose (Giant) another 8secs further back. There were also wins for Angus Hawkins (PPV), Maddie Wadsworth (Beeline Cycles) and Emma Pitt (PPV).

 

below:  Start of the Under 12s race

below: action from the Under 12s race

Report by Graham Robins

Photo gallery by Graham Robins click HERE

Full Results now available click HERE

Please contact Black Sheep Sports by email if you have a query about the results.  They will double check the timing information and can also cross reference the manual lap sheets.

Email:  blacksheepsportsltd@gmail.com

Summary Results

Seniors

1st Sam Allen UC Nantes Atlantique 57mins 20secs

2nd Crispin Doyle Hargroves Cycles V40

3rd Dan Guest Performance Cycles

4th Jamie Newall  Pedal Heaven

5th Mike Smith   cycleworks.co.uk

6th Jamie Norfolk PedalOn   V40

7th Paul Lloyd  Rides On Air

8th James Bracey  Pivot Boom Pods Racing

9th Joe Hickerton  Charlotteville CC

10th James Cotty Eden Veranda

 

Vets 40+

1^st Crispin Doyle Hargroves Cycles  V40 43 mins 50secs

2^nd Tim Hyde GS Henley  V40 @1min 04secs

3^rd Sean Williams Cotswold Veldrijden V40 @1min 08secs

4^th Graham Rogerson Cotswold Veldrijden V40 @1min 22secs

5^th Robin Wilmott Cotswold Veldrijden V40 @4mins 23secs

 

Vets 50+

1^st Phillip Roach   Team Jewson

2^nd Dave McMullen Cotswold Veldrijden

3^rd Tim Costello GS Vecchi

4^th Chris Hutchings VC Venta

5^th Martyn Dymond Cotswold Veldrijden

 

Women

1st Maddie Smith  Bolsover  CC  V40  44:25

2nd Sarah Barber North Hants RC  45:54

3rd Helen Pattinson  Solent Pirates V40  46:09

4th Susan Parker North Hants RC  46:39

5th Lydia Gould Torq  V50  47:16