Wessex Cyclocross League Round 14

Graham Robins

Wessex Cyclocross League Round 14 Sunday 1st February 2015

Sam Allen (UC Nantes Atlantique) 24 from Overton was the winner of the final round of the highly successful League held in the Army Garrison town of Tidworth close to Salisbury Plain Sam held of the challenge of Crispin Doyle (Hargroves Cycles) on the last lap to win by 10 secs. The two riders had been locked together for four laps along with the new Wessex League Champion Dan Guest (Performance Cycles) who began to fade with two laps to go although he only finished 14 secs down on Sam.

 
After a gap of a month the league returned and saw a huge turnout on what turned out to be a very chilly day. The course was laid out in the grounds of Tedworth house around the sports pitches and small wooded section surrounding the grounds.
 
After the initial sort out Guest, Allen and Doyle ‘fresh’ from winning the vet race earlier in the day (more to follow) began to pull clear of the rest on the first couple of laps. Jamie Newell (Pedal Heaven) was the next rider up and he was already 36secs down on the leaders, with the remainder now at over a minute down.
 
After lap four of seven Allen and Doyle now had clear distance to Guest with Newell the best of the rest at 45secs. The two leaders were locked together for the remainder of the race until Sam made his move with less than half a lap to go pulling out just enough of a gap to be able to finish alone up the tarmac road and across the line. Guest finished a handful of seconds down on second place Doyle with Newell now over two minutes adrift. Mike Smith (Cycleworks.co.uk) was fifth over three minutes adrift of the winning time.
 
Crispin Doyle’s’ (Hargroves Cycles) morning started with the emphatic win in the combined vet/jun/women’s race pulling out a large lead right from the start leaving the rest in his wake. The first lap saw Doyle lead a strong group of junior rider Tom Sewell (Cotswold Veldrijden) along with team mates Graham Rogerson, Sean Williams and Robin Wilmott and Tim Hyde (GS Henley) were all lined out behind the charging Hargroves rider. In the 50+ race it was Phillip Roach (Team Jewson) the World master champion leading Dave McMullen a champion himself and Chris Hutchings (VC Venta) and Tim Costello (GS Vecchi).
 
On lap three with Doyle in the distance Hyde, Williams and Rogerson were locked together at 30secs down followed by Wilmott and Sewell now at one minute. On the last of five laps Hyde slipped Williams to take second place by two seconds on the line after a sprint up the tarmac strip. Rogerson was next at 1min 16secs. Roach won the +50 race from McMullen and Costello third. Sarah Barber (NHRC) won the women’s race ahead of team mate Susan Parker and Harriet Guest (Performance Cycles) in third.
 
Erin Baker (Team MK) won the youth race with an empathic win leading from start to finish on his strongest ever showing in a Wessex race winning by 53secs over Charlie Cooper (Eden Veranda) and Harry Rose (Giant) another 8secs further back. There were also wins for Angus Hawkins (PPV), Maddie Wadsworth (Beeline Cycles) and Emma Pitt (PPV).
 

Provisional Results
 
Seniors
1st Sam Allen UC Nantes Atlantique 57mins 20secs
2nd Crispin Doyle Hargroves Cycles @10secs
3rd Dan Guest Performance Cycles @14secs
4th Jamie Norfolk PedalOn @2mins 32secs
5th Mike Smith Cycleworks.co.uk @3mins 24secs
6th James Bracey @3mins 39secs
7th Joe Hickerton CC Charlotteville @4mins 06secs
8th James Cotty Eden Veranda @4mins 25secs
9th Tom Budden Sotonia @5mins 24secs
10th Julian Mann @5mins 31secs
 
Vets
1st Crispin Doyle Hargroves Cycles 43 mins 50secs
2nd Tim Hyde GS Henley @1min 04secs
3rd Sean Williams Cotswold Veldrijden @1min 08secs
4th Graham Rogerson Cotswold Veldrijden @1min 22secs
5th Robin Wilmott Cotswold Veldrijden @4mins 23secs
 
Vets 50+
1st Phillip Roach Team Jewson
2nd Dave McMullen Cotswold Veldrijden
3rd Tim Costello GS Vecchi
4th Chris Hutchings VC Venta
5th Martyn Dymond Cotswold Veldrijden
 
Women’s
1st Sarah Barber NHRC
2nd Susan Parker NHRC
3rd Harriet Guest Performance Cycles

 
Wessex Cyclocross League
 
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