Evening 10s, Round 3
After a change of course enforced by roadworks the week before, Round 3 of Lewes Wanderers’ 10-mile time-trials returned to the Broyle-Laughton course on the evening of Monday 17th June.
David Wilkins by Paget Cohen
On a warm sunny night the spoils were taken by host club rider Dan Street in a time 1 second outside of 24 minutes. Ryan Machin (Destination Bike RT) was runner-up and won the road bike category with 24:23.
Taking the other two places on the TT-bike podium, and 4th and 5th overall, were Darren Haynes (25:11) and Peter Baker (26:04) who was frustratingly forced to come to a virtual standstill by traffic on the A22 as he tried to join it. Graham Faultless claimed 6th and the final spot on the road-bike podium with 27:51, while Ben Probert (8th in 28:18) and David Wilkins (9th, 31:01) were similarly delayed by traffic .
Lewes Crits, Round 3
After Round 2 was cancelled due to a burst water main on the course, the club hosted the third and final Chris Hough Memorial Criterium Race on the swelteringly hot evening of Thursday 19th June. Twenty-six riders signed up for six laps of red-hot racing action.
The first intermediate Prime Sprint was contested as the racers crossed the finish line at the end of lap 2. Josh Worley (VCGH) beat Ian Vagg (Project 51) and Declan Egan (Kingston Wheelers) to the line.
Vagg was third the next time around as Sam Benge (trainSharp Roman RT) beat Jacob James (Wolfox CAMS Le Col RT) in a photo finish. James was victorious at the culmination of lap 4 ahead of Mak Larkin (trainSharp Roman RT) and Benge. In so doing, James clinched the overall series sprints competition ahead of Benge.
The sprints had been the sole province of a group of seven riders who had got away on the second lap, but they never gained a huge advantage. Apart from the half-a-dozen or so riders who had been dropped or abandoned, the final sprint was open to all.
In a spectacular elbow-to-elbow contest, it was Joe Hill (Strada Wheels RT Lucentsys) who just got the better of Larkin, with Jack Bartholomew (Stolen Goat Race Team) a close third, just ahead of Declan Egan.
Eastbourne Rovers Birling Gap TT
Down on the south coast, Ben Gregory and Peter Baker were in action as Eastbourne Rovers held one of their hilly Birling Gap based time-trials. From the start to the top of Beachy Head, Ben was one second quicker than Peter as they placed 5th and 6th respectively.
By the time they had completed the 7.2-mile loop back to Birling Gap, Ben had increased that advantage to 49 seconds. He crossed the line after 23 minutes and 20 seconds of effort to improve to 4th overall and runner-up in the road bike category. Peter (24:09) was 8th overall and 5th road bike.
Sussex Racing League
Peter had the excuse of racing in Round 10 of the Sussex Cycle Racing League at Preston Park outdoor velodrome the night before. In the 5-lap Scratch, he was 6th of 7, but took a fine 3rd place from six in the 6-lap “Points Rampage”. He repeated the result in the 3-lap Dash.
Peter did even better the week before on Wednesday 11th June as he won the 5-lap Scratch by 0.21 seconds ahead of three others. He triumphed again in the following 5-lap Elimination. He then placed second in both the 6-lap Points Race and the concluding “Unknown”, where the riders start without knowing how many laps they’ll do.