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Anglo Polymers RR 11th May

edited May 2008 in Road Racing
What a difference a year makes. Last year it was cold wet & windy. This year sunny and hot.
The race is a 3/4 over 55 miles and an 80 man field with the added bonus of a 6 mile lead in & 6 mile home trundle after the race.
Keith, Pete, Matt Palmer, Trahern & Richard Law all took part in what is traditionally a sprint finsh down a wide straight road.
Having started a little late there was a crash whilst the race was neutralised (too long to the race start) and we had to wait to get it sorted out. The main race is 5.5 laps with a significant road narrowing half way round that caused entertainment on each lap., and a little hill up to the finish straight that was again narrow and caused interest with on coming cars.
Not a lot happened for 3 laps with breaks being chased down. On the 4th two riders got away and built a lead of about 1.5 minutes. Matt moved to the front and made 3 or 4 breaks but each time was chased down. With half a lap to go and the main bunch catching the pair we came around a sharp left - right combo to see the two riders in the field having clearly taken each other out. A StIves rider went for a last minute break, but was caught in the up hill section to the finish straight. So Oh Surprise a bunch sprint. A lot of riders wound up too quickly not remebering how far down the road the finish was. Matt was close to the front and went backwards as his legs went ( after all his breaks I'm not surprised) Keith took the right I took the left and pushed on up through the field with Richard Law about 5 places in front of me. With about 100yds to go a huge rider in front of me sat up and swerved across the road in front of me and that was the end of my sprint. Apparently, two riders popped out from the pack on the right side in the last 20yds and took 1st & 2nd.
Richard Law came in 7th, Trahern 22nd, Matt 24th, Keith 27th.
A pleasant ride back to HQ for tea & cakes. Matt's GPS clocked between 23.8 & 24.4MPH for each of the laps so a good pace through out.
Need to make sure Matt gets his Ashwell top as it was really hard to pick him out in a crowd. Good race from the CCA chaps in a difficult race due to the number of riders & difficulty in moving through the bunch.
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