Result
from Westgate 24 Mile TT held on Saturday 4th September
2004 Hardriders
Circuit
Narrowest
of wins by Blair Buss
A
nice day for a change - enjoying the late summer - warm
with a westerley breeze and the few clouds contributed to
a pleasant riding situation. Racing? Well, the V733 is not
the easiest of courses and today wasn't the easiest of days.
The wind was mostly from the west - you get off to a reasonable
start up the good surface of the Driffield Road, bit of
a rise through Cranswick but nothing to really slow you
down. From the roundabout at Driffield it's a different
story and this was a tough stretch up to Bainton roundabout.
The undulations back to Beverley are a bit more severe but
the fit don't even notice them on this sporting circuit.
First
back was Featherstone's Nick Griffiths and I could see that
he was well under the hour - a fair target for all. The
next rider I anticipated to do a good time was Eddie Woollock
and I could hardly believe that he was losing about 4 minutes
to Nick. Dan Ashman's 59 was a good one, much better than
I'd seen him do before, and then Jeremy Ireland cam in with
a 57. Nick Griffiths had set up a real target with his 53.53.
The
first of the ladies, Clifton's Claire Gilmartin, came back
with a 1.7, a decent time for the fair sex, and Stan Mills
(who I'm sure is older than me) did a 58.58. He doesn't
seem to slow down.
Our
own hero Chris Whitelam was back next into second place,
17 seconds behind the leading time but 54.10 is not to be
scoffed at. Then came Blair Buss to push Chris into third
and take over the lead; but only by one second.
The
girls seemed to be having their own competition, and Claire
Gilmartin had started the ball rolling with a fine 1.7.44.
Samantha Mannion topped that with a 1.6.14 and that stayed
the best although Robyn Oldham (1.6.42) and Lindsay Heasman
(1.7.32) slotted in between and made it quite a close match.
Best entry we've had from the ladies for a long time.
So,
Blair Buss won the race and the A section. The B section
was won by Simon Nicholls (58.58) from Dan Ashman (59.39).
Wish we had more of this kind of weather.
See picture gallery
