Wessex Cyclocross League Round 8
Wessex Cyclocross League Round 8
Graham Robins
Wessex League Round 8 on Sunday 2nd November 2014
Farringdon Rider Dan Guest (Performance Cycles) overcame the tricky conditions to win the latest round held at the Sparsholt Agriculture College near Winchester. For half the race he was kept in check by Joe Hickerton (Charlotteville CC) as the two were locked together until Dan broke free with a couple of laps to go. Jamie Norfolk (PedalOn) was third but towards the end of the race he slipped away finishing nearly a minute down.
The first lap saw Guest, Norfolk and Hickerton slowly pull away from the others and they managed to put distance into the chasers on the tricky course made more difficult by the early morning heavy shower and by the earlier races. Parts of the course did cut up making some of the off camber descents very slippery which produced some strange lines being used by some.
After a couple of laps Guest and Hickerton were together with the nearest rider back at 30secs as the two worked well. Jamie Norfolk was being chased down by Daniel Bell (Ellmore Factory Racing) with Sam Allen (UCI Nantes Atlantique) 42secs further back.
With a lap to go the order didn’t change it was just the gaps between riders that changed. Guest was now on his own with Hickerton at 20secs, Norfolk at nearly one minute and Bell a further 20secs down. Sam Allen closed out the top five just ahead of Chris Pedder.
Mike Simpson (GS Henley) to full advantage of Crispin Doyle’s (Hargroves Cycles) rolled tub on the first lap to build up a large lead while Doyle had a carry his bike to the pit to replace the offending rear wheel. Once up and riding again Doyle again slotted back into second place but 30secs down on Simpson. Sean Williams (Cotswold Veldrijden) had Tim Hyde (GS Henley) for company on the early laps with the rest loosing time as the course began to cut up.
With Simpson holding a 30secs gap from Doyle, Williams and Hyde were another 45secs back with Phil Bowley (Alton CC) and Dean Hitchings (Eden Veranda Racing) right on his wheel now over a minute down on the leader. Tom Sewell (Cotswold Veldrijden) was the first junior and he was back in seventh place along with team mates Graham Rogerson and Robin Wilmott.
Provisional Results
Seniors
1st Dan Guest Performance Cycles 48mins 20secs
2nd Joe Hickerton Charlotteville CC@20secs
3rd Jamie Norfolk PedalOn @57secs
4th Danny Bell Ellmore Factory Racing @1min 20secs
5th Sam Allen UCI Nantes Atlantique @1min 56secs
Vets
1st Mike Simpson GS Henley
2nd Crispin Doyle Hargroves Cycles @22secs
3rd Sean Williams Cotswold Veldrijden @1min 26secs
4th Tim Hyde GS Henley @1min 53secs
5th Phil Bowley Alton CC @2mins 01secs
6th Dean Hitchings Eden Veranda Racing @2mins 22secs
There were no other results for the Women’s or junior riders available at the time of writing report.
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