Southern Region RR Championships

May 31st, 2009
Report and pictures Graham Robins (http://www.grahamrobins.net/)

The South Region Road Race Championships were held on the Mamesbury-Brinkworth-Charlton course in the rolling Wiltshire country just to the north of Chippenham. The race was for juniors who due to the lack of entries (9) was reduced to two laps of twenty miles (40 miles) and the senior Championship covering four laps of the same course making 80 miles. A very hot day with clear skies and bright overhead sun all around the course with little or no shade anywhere. With no climbs to speak of, the race had a nice rolling feel and the speed was sure to be quite fast.

Junior Race
Nine riders set out from the HQ and with a lap removed so by the five mile point a break of three had already formed with the others 30 secs down. After they took the bell, the three had pulled out a large gap and were never going to be caught. All three raced hard until with about ten miles to go when Tom Stockdale (MJS Racing) made an attack and got away powering though the feed station all on his own. Thirty seconds down was Tom Marshall (Chippenham Wheelers) and then a further minute down was Oli Pritchard. This was the end result.

Gerry Grey the race promoter and commissare said about the junior race “If that was a demonstration of what the future holds for road racing in the south, then those three riders are a promising prospect. They broke away and didn’t stop working all race. They worked their socks of and didn’t stop trying all race.”

Rider Quotes:
Tom Stockdale, 1st Junior (pictured above); “it was a really good race. I always knew it was going to be tough with just the nine of us. With just two laps and only 40 miles to race I knew if I wanted to win it was going to be a tough race. I made a break on the first climb and Tom and Oli came with me. I knew I couldn’t leave it until the sprint, so with 10 miles to go I kicked on. Thanks to my team and sponsors and also the other two riders”.

Oli Pritchard, 3rd Junior: “That was pretty hard going but we started working together well. A few attacks at first then Tom Sockdale and Tom Marshall made up a three with me and we started to work together and pulled out a big advantage. We kept a kept a steady pace, then with 10 miles to go Tom Stockdale attacked and got away. Tom Marshall and I tried to pull him back but he was to strong. Then the Chippenham guy pulled away from me. It was a really good race”.

Tom Marshall (Chippenham Wheelers) and right, Oli Pritchard

Senior Race

The main story of the senior race was the reversal of the result after a protest from Mark Perry (Sport Beans –Willier) about the sprint with Martin Smith (AW Cycles.co.uk). Smith had crossed the line first but was adjudged to have performed an illegal sprint and was demoted to second. After almost 79 miles of good racing, the result was concluded in the HQ with all the commissaries taking their time viewing and reviewing the evidence from the photographer.

There were many breaks coming from all sorts of riders which the two riders from AW (Martin and Sam Allen) managed to cover between them. The team from Sport Beans were controlling breaks and also looked like they were in charge of the pack once a large group got away. Attack after attack and the race kept being pulled back together before a group on lap three did manage to get 30 secs but they couldn’t make it last.

With the finish line about five miles away, the race came back together. A hesitation from some riders gave Martin Smith and Mark Perry the chance to jump away. As they lined up the sprint, they seemed to be hugging the gutter on the right side of the road, Smith seemed to have the sprint sorted trying to make Perry come round him, but as they sprinted for the line, Smith was adjudged to have strayed of the line and was relegated to second.

After the race Colin Docker commissare said “There was a series of photographs taken at the finish, commissare’s 3,2 and 1 all reviewed the photos and came to the decision that the lead rider (Smith) in the sprint had moved off his line sufficiently to impede the guy who was second, and therefore the decision was reversed."

"There were considerable discussions and re-views of it and at the end of the day we finally came to the decision that the reversal of the first and second should stand. Unfortunately that’s bike racing. Sometimes these things happen and the decision can only be made on available evidence and the available evidence showed there was a deviation from the line and according to the UCI code that was irregular sprinting and UCI rules apply to BC and that was irregular sprinting”.


Rider Quotes:
Mark Perry, Sport Beans- Willier 1st o/a -- "We had four riders in the race and there were a lot of eyes on us today it being the regional championships. We knew they were going to make it hard for us today. There were a few attacks, and towards the end there were a lot of tired legs. Team mate Grant Bayton and Steve Dring jumped away and soon opened a gap of 30 secs with one to go which they managed to hold for about ten miles. The rest had a little breather, and then it all came back together. With 3 miles to go there was a slight hesitation, I got a gap and Martin Smith came with me and then we held a small gap to the line”.

 
Martin Smith, AW Cycles.co.uk 2nd o/a “The race today was very tough in the hot conditions. The game plan today was to try and stay amongst things with my team mate Sam Allen and get in any moves that went away with the Sport Beans guys because we knew if they got away they would stay away. I managed to cover every move of the day."

"I got into a big bunch of 18 riders halfway through the race, but it didn’t stay away. Towards the end, another group of 11 riders got away and the Sport Beans guys weren’t prepared to help this along, saving themselves for the finish. With about 4 or 5 km to go I managed to pull away with Mark Perry. We kept looking behind us as we knew the bunch was catching us and closing in."

"With about 400m to go I had lead it up the little climb before the flat finish. Come the finish, I still had Mark Perry on my wheel; I just put my head down and gave it everything. Unfortunately I was not given the verdict at the finish”.

Justin Hoy, Felt Racing 3rd o/a “That result was better than I thought I was going to get as I have been on antibiotics since last week’s win. Luckily I got in a breakaway which seemed to roll. I'm quite surprised they (Sport Beans) wanted to work with me as they had three in the break which meant they were very much in control. With three km to go Mark and Martin got away, but it looked like it would all come back together. I didn’t have the strength to go with Mark and Martin as my legs were cramping. The sprint happened in front of me and I had a clear road in front of me”.