| Location: Stafford College Earl Street, Stafford
Event: 4 July 2012
|
Graham Briggs continued his winning ways in round 2 of the British Cycling Elite Race Series at Stafford.
The podium: from the left, Rico Rogers, Graham Briggs and Matt Cronshaw
SLIDESHOW
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REPORT
The Team Raleigh GAC rider attacked from the gun in a rain drenched race that saw numerous crashes throughout the evening on the slippery surface. Within the opening three laps Briggs had made his intentions clear that as the previous round he was not going to hang around and when Node 4's Rico Rogers had jumped across the two riders looked a formidable pair.
Briggs and Rogers worked well together and a 15 second gap was quickly established from the chasing field which was headed up by Rapha Condor Sharp with Team Raleigh monitoring proceeding. The gap hovered around 15 seconds for the majority of the race, the two leaders able to take the tight corners in relative safety while the chasing field was now strung out into small groups around the circuit. Such was the weather riders were starting to abandon the race because of crashes and roughly only half the field would remain to the chequered flag.
The first sprint was taken by Rogers who rolled across the line a wheel ahead of Briggs to take the points. With 35 minutes gone, Rapha Condor Sharp put three riders on the front of the chasing group and had pulled the two leaders back to 10 seconds but the pair put a couple of hard laps in and took the gap back to 15 seconds which they held till the closing laps.
Still the race was on with Jimmy McCallum and Dean Downing orchestrating the chasing group with Node 4 and Raleigh policing. Again Briggs and Rogers put in a couple of hard laps and with seven laps remaining had pushed the gap out to 20 seconds but the chasers were beginning to organise themselves and with four laps remaining had got the gap to 14 seconds but they had left the chase too late and even though the gap was down to six seconds in the closing couple of laps Briggs held out to take the sprint from Rogers.
Matt Cronshaw(Node 4) took the bunch gallop just ahead of Team Raleigh's Dan Holloway, Tobyn Horton and Metaltek-Scott's Marcel Six.
Speaking after the race, Graham Briggs said: “I knew tonight was going to be tough so I took the race on from the front. It wasn't the plan to go from the gun but I got a good start so I made an advantage of that while the others were caught napping a little bit, I pretty much got a gap straight away so I just decided to go for it.
“I thought it was Matt(Cronshaw) who came across to me at first but when I realised it was Rico (Rogers) I did get a little bit worried because I know how good he is in a sprint but we worked together well throughout the race. I knew I had to get the final corner first so I'd have the best chance of winning. We kept the gap pretty well but with six or seven to go I decided to put a couple of hard laps in just to get a bigger gap and keep pushing to the finish. We were able to take the corners ok with just the two of us and that’s probably where we did make a lot of time up.”
Runner-up Rico Rogers commented: “I didn't intend to go off the front to be honest, I went to get Graham back into the bunch. I really didn't want to be out there all night long but it worked out pretty well for us. We worked well together, we are pretty similar riders.
“It was slippery tonight so I really had to be on my toes, the corner on the bottom of the finishing straight was bad but we just took our time and made sure we got round them ok. Towards the end the gap started to come down but we had a couple of laps where we really dug hard to get the time back to 16 seconds and then we knew we could ease back a little. I hate second place but he rode well tonight so good on him with the win.”
Results (Series Standings)
1 Graham Briggs Team Raleigh - GAC 58:23:00
2 Rico Rogers Node4 - Giordana Racing @ same time
3 Matt Cronshaw Node4 - Giordana Racing @ 7s
4 Daniel Holloway Team Raleigh - GAC @ same time
5 Tobyn Horton Team Raleigh - GAC @ same time
6 Marcel Six Metaltek - Scott @ same time
7 Dean Downing Rapha Condor Sharp @ same time
8 Matthew Holmes Team Raleigh - GAC @ 12s
9 Bernie Sulzberger Team Raleigh - GAC @ same time
10 Oliver Beckingsale Endura MTB Racing @ same time
11 James McCallum Rapha Condor Sharp @ same time
12 Jeroen Janssen Team Raleigh - GAC @ same time
13 Tom Barras Metaltek - Scott @ same time
14 David Collins Team Hope Factory Racing @ 58s
15 Jake Hales Team IG - Sigma Sport @ 01:04
16 Luke Grevell-Miller Rapha Condor Sharp @ same time
17 Blair Windsor Cycle Premier - Kovert @ same time
18 BEN GRENDA Rapha Condor Sharp @ 01:18
19 Russell Falder Cycle Premier - Kovert @ 01:27
20 Adam Lewis Wolverhampton Whls @ same time
21 Simon Holt Team Raleigh - GAC @ 01:51
22 Liam Stones Team Corley Cycles/Blue @ same time
23 David Clarke Node4 - Giordana Racing @ 1 lap
24 Matt Higgins Node4 - Giordana Racing @ 1 lap
25 Matthew Jones Team Corley Cycles/Blue @ 1 lap
26 Dale Appleby Metaltek - Scott @ 1 lap
27 Evan Oliphant Team Raleigh - GAC @ 1 lap
28 Simon Gaywood Team IG - Sigma Sport @ 1 lap
29 Andy Warren Base2Racecycles.co.uk Bikeshack @ 1 lap
30 James Ratcliffe Fred Williams Cycles @ 1 lap
31 Dan Booth Team acingHope Factory R @ 1 lap
32 Andrew Hastings Metaltek - Scott @ 1 lap
33 Matthew Gee Metaltek - Scott @ 1 lap
34 Chris Lawless Maxgear RT @ 1 lap
35 Blake Cowley Clay Cross Road Team @ 1 lap
36 Jake Womersley Sportscover Altura RT @ 1 lap
37 Jacob Tipper Teamwallis CHH Racing Team @ 1 lap
38 Chris Nicholson Lotto-Predictor-VC Ardennes @ 1 lap
39 Steven Clarke WHEELBASE.co.uk/MGD @ 1 lap
40 Matthew Bonehill Stafford Road Club/Henry Burton @ 1 lap
41 Jack Adams Zappi's Cycling Club @ 2 laps
Youth Results
Under-16
1 Joe Evens Velocity Race Team
2 Danny Fox Solihull CC
3 Christian Braybrooke Velocity Race Team
4 Jack Escritt Fred Williams Cycles
5 Harry Crew Derby Mercury RC
6 James Ireson Wolverhampton Whls
7 Callum Warrilow Wolverhampton Whls
8 Jack Smith Wolverhampton Whls
9 Paige Milward Lyme RC
10 Edward Scott
11 Jessie Ansell Wolverhampton Whls
12 James Ellmore MSW
13 George Scott
14 Isabelle Clarke Lichfield City CC
15 Emily Capewell Lichfield City CC
16 Ben Williams Epic Cycles RC
Under-14
1 Matthew Walls Velocity Race Team
2 harry Yates Lichfield City CC
3 Ewan Grivell-Mellor Mid Shropshire Whls
4 Alex Taylor Mid Shropshire Whls
5 Sophie capewell Lichfield City CC
6 Charlie Cox Lichfield City CC
7 Phoebe Martin Wolverhampton Whls
