EDIT!   Ahem...  We have an amendment to make to the results - it turns out that D grade was actually a lap up on everyone else.   This changes the result to give Doug Barrett a hugely deserved win with Dianna Borman in second and then as below - with Katie the next home.   Apologies to Doug and Dianna - that's the difficulty in counting laps that Paul Rawlinson detailed so well in his report on the first event of the season.   

What a glorious night for a fun ride round in circles?   (well – type two fun anyway 😊)

I’d say perfect conditions greeted a nice contingent of riders keen to enjoy each other’s company and test each other a little bit.

First up was the social grade with a noticeable lift in pace with the group of riders in the field.  Big thanks to Andy Ross for pointing out a few tips and tricks along the way.  Andy got so carried away with helping the social grade that he missed the start of his race 😊   We let him join us though.   I didn’t see the last lap but I’m guessing this was where the pace went on even more (I’d joined for a couple of the earlier laps and was impressed at the pace – big improvements).   Jo Warren was first across the line from new rider Mitchell Holmes (welcome Mitchell) and a great ride from Danielle Rule.  

The next on the course was a handicap event where the D grade went off first followed by C then A/B.   The idea of a handicap event is to work together to stay away from those behind – or to catch those in front.  It’s all about teamwork.  Interestingly the handicaps were the same as the last time we ran it on this course but the result was very different with A/B riding through most of the field to take line honours.   C caught D with about 3 laps to go and big kudos to Doug Barrett who used his cornering skills to hang in there with the C grade group. With around 2 laps to go the A/B group caught the main C grade group and after a valiant struggle for around a lap, from most in C grade, rode through them.  Only 2 of the C graders survived the onslaught and managed to hang on to the A/B’s.   Great ride from Tony Levaggi who gritted his teeth and clawed his way onto the back of the front group after they’d put on a burst after a turn that saw the rest of us spat out.   And Jon Cox made the jump from C to A/B look easy.  And when Katie attacked from a long way out Jon tried to chase her down and was caught between Katie and the bunch.   And that’s how it finished with Katie taking a well-deserved win (on very little sleep) and then a fantastic result from Jon Cox who represented the C grade by beating all the B graders 😊.  And Richard Graham was strong as usual and rounded out the podium ahead of the B grade bunch.

Riders of the day would have to be Jon Cox, Tony Levaggi, and Doug Barrett.  Chapeau gents.

Thanks as always to our marshalls, timekeepers, race managers, assistant race managers and course set up and take down people.  We can’t do it except by a team effort and it was awesome to see people jumping in to help with various roles.   

Let's do it all again next week 😊

Article added: Tuesday 23 November 2021