Eastern region Track champs 07

By Peter Waghorn

The record entry of 87 riders (45 seniors, 5 Juniors and 37 Youths) for this years Championship at Welwyn were blessed with a warm sunny day to enjoy an excellent and competitive afternoons racing in the various categories from Senior down to Under 8’s.

The programme opened with the Senior Pursuit won by Doug Bradshaw was able to borrow vital bits of equipment having left these at home in Cambridge. John McClelland was two seconds adrift in second place with Simon Bateson third.

After a round of heats and repechages in the Senior Sprint the four Semi-final winners who went into the final were Andy Ballentyne, Robert Cox, James Jackson and John McCLelland who had narrowly defeated Dave Baker in the first semi-final.
Cox attacked with 300m to go but McClellands power closed the gap and held off the challenge by James Jackson as they came into the home straight to win by a length.

Cambridge CC were comfortable winners from the eight Team Pursuit squads defending the title won last year. Team Welwyn who crashed out spectacularly in the 2006 event took second place with a positive ride with PCA Ciclos Uno in third place.

The various Youth categories competed in the three event Omnium – sprint, pursuit and scratch race.

The Youth A Boys Pursuit was won by Tom Gosbee from Nathan Colman but Colman got his revenge in the Sprint leaving the 8 lap scratch to determine the winner. Tom Gosbee attacked in the last 200m to relegate Nathan Colman to second overall with Dan Smith third.

Hannah Robinson won all three events in the Youth A Girls group.

The 8 strong Youth B group saw three riders dominate the series Edward Bird, Dan Snow and Tom Gallacher were first second and third in all three events.

The Youth C group with 13 riders was a comfortable win for Esther Colman winning all three events in commanding fashion. The battle for the minor places went down to the final scratch race as Cameron Howard, Alan Trolove and Oliver Fensom were all in with a chance. Although Alan Trolove took second place in the scratch race the third place of Cameron Howard gave him second overall.

William Street won the Youth D group while Isabel Scott won Youth E

The final event of the meeting the Senior 10 mile with a field of 45 riders was building up to a close finish with all the main contenders positioning themselves for the finish when, with two laps remaining, a crash occurred as the riders entered the home straight causing the race to be stopped. Ian Clarke and Mario Morias the two riders who came down were transported to hospital and the restart with a much depleted field some 45 minutes later saw John McClelland take the victory from Dave Baker and Trevor Burke.

The result of he Junior Omnium was affected by the crash as Phil Lisher and Mario Morais were tied on points prior going into the final event. Phil Lisher won the Youth group from Patrick Beasant and Mario Morais.
An excellent afternoons racing marred only by the crash in the final laps of the last event.

Senior Pursuit
1 Doug Bradshaw Cambridge CC 3.32.00
2 John McCLelland Agiskoviner 3-33.85
3 Simon Bateson Economic Energy 3.37.10
4 Mark Solly Mildenhall 3.39.31
5 Andy Hudson Cambridge CC 3.40.50
6 Andy Ballentyne Easterley RC 3.42.92

Team Pursuit
1 Cambridge CC 3.25.98
2 Team Welwyn 3.34.43
3 PCA Ciclos Uno 3.36.81
4 Welwyn Whs 3.38.16

Sprint
1 John McClelland (Agiskoviner)
2 James Jackson (PCA CiclosUno)
3 Robert Cox (Cambridge)
4 Andy Ballentyne (Easterley RC)

10 Mile
1 John McClelland (Agiskoviner)
2 David Baker (PCA CiclosUno)
3 Trevor Burke (North Road)
4 James Jackson (PCA CiclosUno)

Junior Omnium
1 Phil Lisher (Team Welwyn)
2 Patrick Beasant (Lea Valley)
3 Mario Morais (Economic Energy)

Youth A Boys –
Tom Gosbee (Team Welwyn),
Nathan Colman (West Suffolk Whs)
Dan Smith (Welwyn Whs)
Andrew Street (Team Welwyn)

Youth A Girls –
Hannah Robinson (Welwyn Whs)
Zoey Littlechild (Economic Energy)
Raqajyah Khwaja (Economic Energy)

Youth B –
Edward Bird (Economic Energy)
Dan Snow (JD Cycles)
Tom Gallacher (Team Welwyn)
Josh Green (Lea Valley)

Youth C –
Esther Colman (West Suffolk Whs)
Cameron Howard (Welwyn Whs)
Alan Trolove (West Suffolk Whs)
Ollie Fensom (Spalding)