Hull Thursday Road Club

I knew it! Even before they started I knew they’d all finish together. It was just like a circus when all the acts come on the stage together; you don’t know where to look and when thirty riders thundered down to the finish around 40 miles per hour towards Walkington, the best that my helpers with recorders could do was get four numbers.

It did take a lot of sorting out but I think I’ve got everybody – my camera shots were just after the line but the video – at the other side of the road – looked down on it.

It started well enough, not much wind so everyone kept together, with gaps of three minutes for the first group and a scratch group comprising second cats, firsts and elite riders a further two minutes behind, with four laps to make up the difference.

In the first group were Dave Millson, Terry Parker, Paul Campbell, Jason Young, Andy Cawley, Carl Martin, Tom MacDonald, Andrew Noble, Andrew Yeomans, Adam Yates, Ben Bell, Gareth Taylor, Colin Baldwin, Craig Medcalf, Paul Cutsworth, Paul Waddington
Daniel Wright, Mark Walker, Sam Dyason and Digby Rusling

The second group three minutes later comprised Steve Macklin, Peter Fielding-Smith, Chris Daddy, Mark Ollerenshaw
John Galway, Rob Powell, Lewis Jackson, Ben Roberts, Martin Cockerill, John Oldridge, Jason Benham, Matthew Enticknap, Paul Hickman, Paul Purdy, David Brearley, Rob Busby, Rob Brown and Lee Watson

Finally the scratch group composed of Adam Hardy, Tim Baldwin, Steve Ward, James Wagstaff, James Sampson, Martin Smith, Matthew Fenton, Alastair Kay, Dave Shackleton, Nathan Wilson and Mark Wordsworth

After the first lap the second group had taken a minute from the lead group and the scratch batch had taken a minute out of them, it was a still evening, few were being dropped and everyone was going around at a good pace, a little over two minutes between the front and the back. On lap two the lead group were still out in front, Mark Walker taking the prime sprint, and they still had a minute and half from the scratch and group two who had joined together.

All together for the prime sprint on lap three, taken by Dave Shackleton and I was hoping and hoping that this great block of riders was going to be broken up. This wasn’t to be, Adam Hardy had had a little off the front but was brought back, everyone was watching James Sampson who’d been a real instigator during the speed sessions, but he wasn’t playing. So it was left to the sprinters, and an easy win for Steve Ward.

Pos	Rider	Club / Team	Cat	Time	Points
1	Steve Ward	Star Bikes	1	01:08:59	15
2	Mark Wordsworth	Team Valley Cycles	E	s.t.	12
3	Alastair Kay	York Cycleworks	E	s.t.	10
4	Chris Daddy	Star Bikes	2	s.t.	10
5	Ben Roberts	Swift Allsports	3	s.t.	7
6	Peter Fielding-Smith	Hull Thursday	3	s.t.	6
7	James Wagstaff	Sports Cover	2	s.t.	5
8	Martin Smith	A W Cycles	E	s.t.	4
9	Dave Shackleton	Cottingham Coureurs	2	s.t.	3
10	James Sampson	Kinesis	1	s.t.	2
11	Mark Ollerenshaw	Hull Thursday	3	s.t.	1
12	John Oldridge	Airedale Olympic	3	s.t.	1
13	Nathan Wilson	Cottingham Coureurs	3	s.t.	1
14	Paul Cutsworth	VC Beverley	4	s.t.	3
15	John Galway	Keswick Cycles	3V	s.t.	1
16	Tim Baldwin	Paul Milnes Cycles	2	s.t.	1
17	Matthew Fenton	Cottingham Coureurs	2	s.t.	1
18	Rob Powell	Scarborough Paragon	4	s.t.	1
19	Paul Hickman	Malton Wheelers	4	s.t.	1
20	Andrew Noble	Airedale Olympic	4	s.t.	1
21	Sam Dyason	VC Beverley	4	s.t.
22	Mark Walker	Hull Thursday	4	s.t.
23	Gareth Taylor	Malton Wheelers	4	s.t.
24	Steve Macklin	Hull Thursday	3V	s.t.
25	Colin Baldwin	Malton Wheelers	4	s.t.
26	Dave Millson	Hull Thursday	4	s.t.
27	Andrew Yeomans	Bridlington CC	4	s.t.
28	Matthew Enticknap	Malton Wheelers	4	s.t.
29	Adam Hardy	Wolds RT	3	s.t.
30	Carl Martin	Scarborough Paragon	4	s.t.
31	Paul Purdy	Star Bikes	3	@ 10 sec
32	Adam Yates	Bridlington CC	4	@ 2' 13"
33	Jason Young	City RC	4	s.t.
34	Craig Medcalf	City RC	4	s.t.
35	Digby Rusling	Calder Clarion	4	@ 3' 56"
36	Paul Campbell	Hull Thursday	4	s.t.
37	Tom MacDonald	Bridlington CC	4	s.t.
38	Ben Bell	VC Beverley	4	@ 15'
39	Daniel Wright	Private	4	s.t.
dnf	Martin Cockerill	Bridlington CC	3
dnf	Rob Busby	City RC	4
dnf	David Brearley	Cottingham Coureurs	3
dnf	Terry Parker	Hull & East Riding	3V
dnf	Andy Cawley	Hull Thursday	4
dnf	Jason Benham	Scunthorpe Poly	3
dnf	Lewis Jackson	Swift Allsports	3
dnf	Lee Watson	Swift Allsports	3
dnf	Paul Waddington	VC Beverley	4
dnf	Rob Brown	VC Beverley	4