East London Velo 6 Days of Winter 3 2014 – Cat 2/3s

Nick White/ELV

East London Velo 6 Days of Winter Category 2/3 circuit  racing.

The third race of the East London Velo 6 Days of Winter Cat 2/3 series held at Hog Hill (Redbridge Cycle Centre), NE London on January 25.

Conditions had deteriorated for the second race of the afternoon with an Easterly cross wind buffeting riders as they rode up the hill but it didn’t take long for the first attack to come- again from a London Phoenix rider Miles Butler and Vojtech Blazejovsky of Brixton Cycles who opened up a gap of 13 seconds.

Miles Butler and Vojtech Blazejovsky

The Bunch were in no mood to let this break go and they were brought back but this didn’t deter further attempts by Kieran Brady of Citycyclecentre.com and Neal Mackintosh of London Phoenix having another dig and Andrew Carter of Portsmouth North End CC trying to bridge across to their short lived break away attempt.

As the Prime whistle was blown at the 25 minute point series leader Gunther Zechman attacked over the line with Edmund Bradbury of Cambridge CC chasing hard to get on his wheel, stringing the bunch out for the next lap; Zechman took the prime the next time up the hill closely beating Jack Steven of ELV into 2nd. Following the prime the race came back together for the next 15 minutes until Ray Wilson of London Dynamo attacked on the hill and got a 10 second gap with Edmund Bradbury again attempting to bridge across to him.

This effort had a massive effect on the bunch which began to fracture into 3 or 4 small pockets of riders vying for contention near the front; one such group being driven by Gunther Zechman looked strong with a further 3 riders in no mans land behind them. The Zechman group picked up rider number 10- Edmund Bradbury from the initial attack while Wilson the instigator went back to the bunch. This new group of 5 ploughed through the back markers and lapped riders on the back straight and as it appeared up the hill only 3 other riders could live with the pace being set by Zechman and Bradbury- Theo Doncaster of CC Ashwell, Adam Capes of Finchley Race Team and Colin Bailey of North Road CC.

The definitive break of Bradbury, Zechman, Doncaster, Capes and Bailey.

Again the bunch was lined out but didn’t seem to be making inroads into the breakaway who shed Colin Bailey back to the bunch, his place however was quickly taken by Youth rider Lewis Bulley of Sports Traider who had featured in the earlier skirmishes as the main breakaway formed.

Bulley replacing Bailey in the break.

At 50 minutes the wind was picking up on the circuit making things tough for the breakaway who had drawn the gap out to 30 seconds, perhaps using the crosswinds to his advantage Joel Natale of Dulwich Paragon attacked hard taking George Wood of Neon Velo with him, this was short lived for Wood who went back to the bunch after 2 laps leaving Natale to push on alone in no mans land.

Natale and Wood attack the bunch.

As the race wound up to it’s climax the breakaway’s lead was unassailable and Joel Natale looked safe in no mans land battling hard alone against the wind. At the bell Zechman and Bradbury attacked the tiring break and quickly pulled out 10 seconds on the final lap and it was enough to see them both clear to fight it out alone for the sprint. Zechman had taken the earlier prime but it was Bradbury who took a fine victory on the line narrowly beating the series leader into 2nd place.

A great finish!

Doncaster edged out Bulley for the final podium position with Adam Capes taking 5th and Joel Natale putting in a strong solo effort to hold off the bunch for 6th. Kieran Brady went early and caught the bunch napping finishing well ahead of the main sprint with Luke Merrilees of WyndyMilla heading up the bunch charge.

1. Edmund Bradbury- Cambridge Uni’ CC
2. Gunther Zechman- London Phoenix CC
3. Theo Doncaster- CC Ashwell
4. Lewis Bulley- Sports Traider RT ( Youth A)
5. Adam Capes- Finchley RT
6. Joel Natale- Dulwich Paragon
7. Kieran Brady- CityCycleCentre.com
8. Luke Merrilees- Wyndymilla
9. Charles Pearson- Cambridge CC (J)
10. Dan Tulett- Hargroves Cycles (Youth A)
11. Martin Ruepp- Iceni Velo
12. Frank Rawlins- North Road CC
13. Jake Charlton- VC Deal/Active
14. David Barnes- Sports Traider RT (Youth A)
15. Jack Steven- ELV
16. Marcus Burnett- Sports Traider RT (Youth A)
17. Colin Bailey- North Road CC
18. Cameron Woolsey- CC Ashwell
19. George Wood- Neon Velo
20. Leo Lerner- VO2 Development Team (J)
21. Andrew Carter- Portsmouth North End CC
22. Miles Butler- London Phoenix CC
23. Ray Wilson- London Dynamo
24. James Local- London Dynamo
25. Cameron Judson- Kingston Wheelers CC
26. Neal Mackintosh- London Phoenix CC
27. Joshua Maynard- Welwyn Wheelers
28. Pete Stuart- Private Member
29. Vojtech Blazejovsky- Brixton Cycles
30. Rhys Keepence- Dulwich Paragon CC
31. Simon Bromley- London Dynamo
32. Will Sloper- Kingston Wheelers CC
33. Antonius Wubben- Private Member
34. Phil Holloway- Southend Wheelers
35. Daniel Maynard- Welwyn Wheelers (J)
36. David McLean- Cambridge Uni CC
37. Clover Murray- Braintree Velo.

37 finishers from 57 riders.