Event Four - Newbald Course - 52.5 Km - club Cottingham Coureurs

 

A dreadful night - and a dearth of competitors. This was anticipated with the severity of the course - four times up Newbald hill is not for the faint-hearted. On top of that we had an England European cup quarter final (they lost to Portugal) and it never stopped raining throughout the event. And of course the rain brings its own problems, especially along the back road to Newbald which is covered in grit and took a terrible toll in punctures. Even Shirley, who signs on the riders, punctured her car tyre and had to call out the Green Flag.

There were 31 starters and 17 finishers - that tells a story in itself.

Consequently we had only four groups tonight - the first 4 riders - Anthony West, Mark McKeown, Andy Penny, and Rob Saunders were given a five minute start on the next group.

Group two comprised Andy Barnes, Nathan Wilson, Chris Brearley, Andy Abbott, Mel Blatchford, Simon Collins, Martin Ruepp, Paul Rooney, Derek Palmer, Simon Nicholls, Andy Peers, Jeremy Ireland and John Galbraith.

Group 3 tonight is basically the old three and four together and comprised Chris Burton, Paul Purdy, Ben Roberts, Lee Cairns, Ryan MacLachlan, Stuart Pickard, Martin Cockerell, Steve Macklin, Matthew Fenton, Paul Noton and Gary Fulstow. They started a further minute back.

Another minute before the back group, only three riders, but of sufficient quality to get up to the others. They were Alastair Kay, Steve Ward and Chris Daddy on a visit to this country for the nationals at weekend.

After the first lap two riders from group one were in the lead, Anthony West and Mark McKeown, after 25:02. Rob Sauders was a little off the back - the climb had done its worst. Barely two minutes passed before a stretched group two came over the line (net time 22:05). First there was Andy Barnes and Simon Nicholls, then Andy Peers and Derek Palmer, and then Andy Abbott, Martin Ruepp, Chris Brearley, Nathan Wilson and Jeremy Ireland.

Half a minutes later came group three in a line (net time 21:35). These were Chris Burton, Lee Cairns. Martin Cockerell and Ben Roberts. 33 seconds later came the remains of group three, Chris Daddy and Ali Kay, (net time 20.22) and among those succumbing to the puncture bug were Steve Ward, Paul Purdy, Paul Noton, Mel Blatchford and John Galbraith.

The second lap was a prime lap and Mark McKeown managed to keep ahead, just, from Chris Daddy, Ali Kay and Ryan MacLachlan. Close behind were Chris Burton and Martin Fenton. Mark had gone round this lap in 24.10, Chris and Ali in 20:17. Having just got over the line Chris Daddy's tyre went down and another rider went back to the 'dressing room'. At least England were one goal up.

Another prime on the third lap and this was fought out between Ali Kay and Matthew Fenton with Matthew getting there first - a jolly good sprint. Ryan MacLachlin was close on their heels but the rest of the field, what was left, were over a minute down. At one minute Stewardt Pickard, Steve Macklin, Chris Burton and Martin Ruepp. At 1:19 Andy Barnes and Lee Cairns and then at two minutes Simon Nicholls, Martin Cockerell and Andy Peers. Nathan Wilson, Chris Brearley and Mark McKeown were a further 55 secs down and Paul Rooney and Simon Collins were trailling a further five minutes.

A good but expected win for Ali Kaye and a superb ride from Matthew Fenton. This puts Matthew top of the points table and brings Ali up to third, just behind Martin Cockerell.

Despite the conditions it was quite a good race, I even heard more than one rider say he enjoyed it (masochists). A real pity that the punctures had such a big say in the way things went - I reflected on this Friday morning thinking to myself that it's quite a long time since I had a puncture. Foolish to do that as I punctured six miles later!

 

Result

Pos.	Rider	Club/Team	Time	Group	Points
1	Alastair Kay	York Cycleworks	01:32:35	4	15
2	Matthew Fenton	City Road Club	@ 10 sec	3	14
3	Ryan MacLachlan	Cottingham Coureurs	@ 21 sec	3	10
4	Chris Burton	Hull Thursday RC	@ 1:25	3	8
5	Steve Macklin	Hull Thursday RC	s.t.	3	7
6	Stewart Pickard	Bridlington CC	s.t.	3	6
7	Martin Ruepp	Private	@ 1:41	2	7
8	Andy Barnes	Hull Thursday RC	@ 2:55	2	4
9	Lee Cairns	Pete Read Racing	@ 3:25	3	3
10	Martin Cockerill	Bridlington CC	@ 4:08	3	2
11	Simon Nicholls	Knaresborough RT	s.t.	2	1
12	Andy Peers	Hull Thursday RC	@ 5:25	2	1
13	Nathan Wilson	Hull Thursday RC	@ 6:40	2	1
14	Chris Brearley	City Road Club	@ 6:55	2	1
15	Mark McKeown	Bridlington CC	s.t.	1	3
16	Paul Rooney	Race Scene	@ 12:18	2	1
17	Simon Collins	Bridlington CC	s.t.	2	1

 

 

Points

Pos	Rider	Club	Ev1	Ev2	Ev3	Ev4	Total
1	Matthew Fenton	City RC (Hull)		14	6	14	34
2	Martin Cockerill	Bridlington CC	14	15		2	31
3	Alastair Kay	York Cycleworks			12	15	27
4	David Compston	Bridlington CC	10	10	6		26
5	Stewart Pickard	Bridlington CC	7	4	8	6	25
6	Ryan MacLachlan	Cottingham Coureurs	2	10	2	10	24
7	Chris Burton	Hull Thursday RC	4	3	1	8	16
8	Ben Roberts	Bridlington CC	8	7			15
8	John Hopper	T Rex	15				15
8	Stephen Ward	Pete Read Racing			15		15
11	Mark Bateman	Triangle RT			12		12
12	John Galway	Keswick MTB	5	5			10
12	Steve Macklin	Hull Thursday RC	3			7	10
14	Andy Peers	Hull Thursday RC		6		1	7
14	Dave Shackleton	Hull Thursday RC	2		5		7
14	Paul Purdy	Star Bikes			7		7
14	Martin Ruepp	Private				7	7
18	Andy Barnes	Hull Thursday RC	1	1		4	6
18	Kevin Holmes	Yorvik	6				6
20	Lee Cairns	Pete Read Racing	1		1	3	5
21	Dave Hudson	City RC (Hull)		1	3		4
22	David Allen	Scunthorpe Poly			3		3
22	Gary Fulstow	City RC (Hull)	1	2			3
22	Mel Blatchford	Bridlington CC			3		3
22	Mike Gill	Team Chevin	1	2			3
22	Paul Rooney	Race Scene	1	1		1	3
22	Steven Waterall	Bridlington CC	1	2			3
22	Zak Thackray	Yorkshire	2		1		3
22	Mark McKeown	Bridlington CC				3	3
30	Alistair Watson	Knaresborough RT		1	1		2
30	Anthony Weston	Huddersfield RC	2				2
30	Chris Brearley	City RC (Hull)		1		1	2
30	Lee Watson	Pete Read Racing	1	1			2
30	Nathan Wilson	Hull Thursday RC	1			1	2
30	Simon Nicholls	Knaresborough RT	1			1	2
36	Andrew Abbott	Bridlington CC		1			1
36	Dan Keena	Cottingham Coureurs			1		1
36	Jason Benham	Scunthorpe Poly			1		1
36	Jeremy Ireland	Caygill Frames			1		1
36	Jim Baker	Leeds RRC		1			1
36	John Brearley	City RC (Hull)	1				1
36	Mark Perry	Leeds RRC			1		1
36	Martin Grantham	Dale Racing		1			1
36	Phil Bateman	Triangle RT			1		1
36	Tony Boynton	T Rex		1			1
36	Simon Collins	Bridlington CC				1	1