Follow britishcycling.org.uk on

Report: Finish Line Pile-up at South East RR League R3

Event: 27th March 2011 | Event Details

A determined Paul Hone of Addiscombe CC rode his way to a solo victory at the SERRL 3/4/J/W Biddenden road race on Sunday 27/03/2011. However, what happened behind the Addiscombe rider stole the show, writes Dave Hayward.

Above: Brake caliper failure caused this dramatic pile-up at the end of round 3 of the SERRL series in Biddenden. Thankfully, no-one was seriously hurt.

One of the few flatter courses in Kent enjoyed by those who like a bit of a sprint. However, Sunday's story was all about the escape artist. During the 107km race there was plenty of attacking and chasing but many attempts by riders to distance themselves never gained much of an advantage, until Paul Hone, Addiscombe CC, made yet another attempt to go it alone. With a lap to go he maintained an advantage of 45 seconds, which came down to 20 seconds on the main road towards Bethersden. Complacency was the bunch's downfall as Paul maintained his steady pace the bunch eased, confident that a late charge for the finish would result in a bunch sprint. However second place was all the bunch could race for as they came into view, with the boys from Bigfoot spearheading the bunch for the line.

Jeremy Bishop, Bigfoof cc and Rys Gleg, Kingsnorth RT opened up the sprint. Rys came out from behind Jeremy's wheel to make his sprint for the line suddenly went down as if the ground had opened up before him, with 40 riders behind jostling for position bearing down on Rys...

Four riders downed with injury the rest managed to find an escape route. No touch of wheels, no argy bargey, or bad bike handling. The resulting accident came about from a front brake calliper failure. Reports from the injured riders are that they are well and all at home nursing their injuries. The Team at SERRL wish them a speedy recovery.

Results

1 Paul Hone. Addiscombe CC
2 Jeremy Bishop. Bigfoot CC
3 Wayne van Ry. Dulwich Paragon.
4 Declan Higgins. Twickenham CC
5 Matt Holland. Bikelab.
6 Simon Bird. Vicious Velo.
7 Ross Bryan. Active Cycles.
8 Harry Godding. Sprockets UK
9 Kevin Grimshaw. Bigfoot CC
10 Tim Allen. Bigfoot CC