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Report: Lichfield Wattbike League - Round 7
Event: 18th January 2011, Friary Grange Leisure Centre, Lichfield, Staffordshire
Round 7 of the Tuesday night Wattbike league kicked off again with the 300metre time trial. Dan Cooper was suffering with a cold but gave his all to get a 26 second 3rd place. It was therefore the Parlour sisters who fought it out for the top two places. It was Amie who finished first though less than 1 second ahead of Heather as they claimed the top two places in Group 1 for the Parlour family.
Harry Yates won the 300m dash for victory in Group 2 but Charlie Cox and Matt Sisley followed closely behind him for 2nd and 3rd respectively. In the Ladies group Karen Kelly raced home in 21.87 seconds but 2nd placed Sarah Cox's time of 22.11 seconds pushed Kelly to the limit. Corrine Sisley's time of 23.79 was enough to give her 3rd place. Sisley seems to be getting stronger each week possibly as a benefit of the extra sessions she is doing on the Wattbike each week.
In Group 4 Will Hyde showed his dominance in the sprint event over 500m to finish with a 31.38 second ride ahead of League leader Jacob Kelly in second. Sophie Capewell seems to have accepted her promotion to this group and was the first of the girls to finish, just ahead of sister Emily.
In the scratch race, Will Staite demonstrated his ever improving form over the 1500m distance to clinch top spot 3/10ths of a second ahead of heather parlour who in turn was just 2/10ths of a second ahead of sister Amie. Yates won again in group 2 over the same distance, whilst in the Ladies group Sarah Cox recorded a 2.16.34 ride a clear 3 seconds ahead of Karen Kelly. Group 4 raced over the 2500m distance resulting in a win for Jacob Kelly ahead of Luke Selibas and Will Hyde. Isabelle Clarke who seems to thrive on the longer races was the first girl to finish ahead of Sophie Capewell.
The team Sprint remains popular with the riders and the pairings often inspire the riders to push themselves that bit more. Dan Cooper and Amy Selibas won in Group 1 ahead of Amie parlour and Abby Kershaw. Group 2 and the Ladies were combined giving Harry Yates and Janice Hyde the win. In Group 4 Jacob Kelly and Emily Capewell romped home a clear 2 seconds ahead of Luke Selibas and Sophie Capewell.
A slight change to the normal running order brought the Handicap race into the penultimate position. Abby Kershaw took advantage of her time bonus and won the race in Group 1, with Matt Sisley doing the same in Group 2. Sue Clarke won in the ladies event closely followed by Kelly and Janice Hyde. Rosie Cox won in Group 4 with Jacob Kelly being the first of the boys to finish.
A new event made its entry to finish the evenings races, the Italian Pursuit is a team event run over 2000metres. Riders are paced by a team mate who drops out of the race after 500m, the next rider continues the pacing for a further 500m and so it continues until just 1 rider remains to complete the final 500m alone. It is clearly a tactical event, with riders risking disqualification if they go ahead of their pace riders. The pressure was on for Jacob Kelly and Luke Selibas as the organisers required them to ride twice to ensure that teams all had the same number of riders. The fastest time of the night was Janice Hyde, Charlie Cox, Will Hyde and, in his second ride of the event, Jacob Kelly in 2.51.86 for the 2000metres. In second place Corrine Sisley, Emily Capewell and also in his second ride, Luke Selibas recording a 3.00.31
Jacob Kelly remains top of the league table overall with Karen Kelly sharing 2nd place with Harry Yates. Isabelle Clarke is 3rd and Dan Cooper now occupies 4th place.
The league takes place every Tuesday evening at Friary grange Leisure Centre contact Phil Kelly on 01543 308842 for details.
