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Rachael Lewis Memorial Track Night

Wednesday 4 May 2011
Wolverhampton Wheelers Track League
Report: Dave Brookes

The first event of a new Track League season at Wolverhampton was also a special night to honour Rachel Lewis, a club member who had sadly lost her battle to cancer just a month previously. Since joining the club Rachael had embraced cycling, she was an active cyclist herself, and soon got involved in signing on at Cyclo-Cross meetings and this track league.

She was often generous with encouragement at competitions and not only to her own sons, Adam (15) and Matty (11), but also with other youngsters. Adam has already tasted national success in our sport and Matty is not too far behind. Husband Mark, coach and competitive cyclist, had donated cash prizes for the night's racing.

The night started with the freewheelers events and straight away Matty sprung into action taking first place in the 2 lap block handicap and further wins in the sprint and keirin, with BC coach Craig Ansell acting as the ‘human motorbike' for this latter event.

Senior B's followed with the two women competitors, Wheeler Kate Evans and Julie Cooper (sporting the new Lichfield kit) putting in strong efforts against the male opposition. Youth rider Tim Metcalf (Wheelers) riding up in the A's for the first time continues to gain strength and confidence, but it was last year's winner Jack Hibberd from Halesowen who started to show a strong presence once more in this category.

The excitement level went up several notches when the youth riders took to the track with Jack Escrit (Wheelers) and Charlotte Broughton (Leicestershire) as competitive as ever and also Wheeler Ben Hardwick riding in Youth for his first season taking third place in the 4 lap block handicap. A new season often means new equipment and Jack is now riding a very smart Dolan DF3 in black and yellow. This is a serious piece of kit with a full carbon construction and in the B's Carl Hardwick (father of Ben) rides another this time with a customised colour scheme of ‘Ridley' violet and orange which sounds like it shouldn't work but does.

The freewheelers 2 lap handicap saw riders racing for cash prizes donated by Mark Lewis. All riders showed their usual enthusiasm but this time the girls took most of the honours with Georgia Hilleard taking first, Bethany Coupland second and Josh Horsfield third. Matty sat out on this race to present the prizes.

After sprint heats in each category the evening started to draw to a conclusion with the sprint finals. Luke Selibas (Birmingham CC) took first place in the youth final but it was the Senior A sprint that provided the highlight of the evening with Adam Lewis demolishing all opposition and taking a well deserved first place.

The final event of the evening was an 8 lap handicap with Mark Lewis again putting up prize money. Xavier Disley of Birmingham University took a surprise early lead of more than a quarter of a lap which no one was able to close and won comfortably. Adam Lewis took second with Jack Hibberd in third place. The night was judged as an unqualified success by all concerned and it has been decided that from now on the first night of each season will be the Rachael Lewis Memorial Event.

Results

Freewheelers A, Block Handicap, 2 laps
Position Name Team Cat Points
1 Matthew Lewis Wolverhampton Wheelers CC C 6
2 Bethany Coupland Mid Shropshire Wheelers B 0
3 Sam Jones Wolverhampton Wheelers CC C 4
4 Georgia Hilleard Wolverhampton Wheelers CC C 3
5 Joshua Horsfield Mid Shropshire Wheelers D 2
6 Sebastian Bacon Wolverhampton Wheelers CC C 1

Freewheelers B, Block Handicap, 2 laps
Position Name Team Cat Points
1 Joseph Guy Wolverhampton Wheelers CC C 6
2 Claire Fielding Wolverhampton Wheelers CC C 5
3 Dan Morris Wolverhampton Wheelers CC D 4
4 Kate Britton Wolverhampton Wheelers CC D 3
5 Dominic Horsfield Mid Shropshire Wheelers E 2
6 Harry Lewis Wolverhampton Wheelers CC D 1

Freewheelers A, Sprint handicap, 1 lap
Position Name Team Cat Points
1 Matthew Lewis Wolverhampton Wheelers CC C 6
2 Bethany Coupland Mid Shropshire Wheelers B 0
3 Georgia Hilleard Wolverhampton Wheelers CC C 4
4 Joe Bolton Wolverhampton Wheelers CC C 3
5 Joshua Horsfield Mid Shropshire Wheelers D 2
6 Sebastian Bacon Wolverhampton Wheelers CC C 1

Freewheelers B, Sprint handicap, 1 lap
Position Name Team Cat Points
1 Dominic Horsfield Mid Shropshire Wheelers E 6
2 Kate Britton Wolverhampton Wheelers CC D 5
3 Joseph Guy Wolverhampton Wheelers CC C 4
4 Claire Fielding Wolverhampton Wheelers CC C 3
5 Dan Morris Wolverhampton Wheelers CC D 2
6 Harry Lewis Wolverhampton Wheelers CC D 1

Senior B, Scratch race, 8 laps
Position Name Team Cat Points
1 Jacob Kelly Lichfield City CC A 6
2 Andy Jones Wolverhampton Wheelers CC 3V 5
3 Steve Wilkinson Welland Valley CC 4 4
4 Josh Burke Wolverhampton Wheelers CC 3 3
5 Kate Evans Wolverhampton Wheelers CC 3 2
6 Mark Shore 4 1

Senior A, Scratch race, 8 laps
Position Name Team Cat Points
1 David Morley 3 6
2 Jack Hibberd Halesowen A&CC 3 5
3 Craig Ansell Wolverhampton Wheelers CC 3 4
4 Adam Lewis Wolverhampton Wheelers CC A 3
5 Jess Wieckowski Team Nemesis 2 2
6 George Moore CC Giro 2J 1

Youth, Block Handicap, 4 laps
Position Name Team Cat Points
1 Jack Escritt Wolverhampton Wheelers CC B 6
2 James Ireson Wolverhampton Wheelers CC B 5
3 Ben Hardwick Wolverhampton Wheelers CC C 4
4 Ryan Phillips Wolverhampton Wheelers CC B 3
5 Luke Selibas Birmingham CC A 2
6 Charlotte Broughton Leicestershire RC B 1

Freewheelers A, Keirin
Position Name Team Cat Points
1 Matthew Lewis Wolverhampton Wheelers CC C 6
2 Georgia Hilleard Wolverhampton Wheelers CC C 5
3 Joshua Horsfield Mid Shropshire Wheelers D 4
4 Bethany Coupland Mid Shropshire Wheelers B 0
5 Joe Bolton Wolverhampton Wheelers CC C 2
6 Sam Jones Wolverhampton Wheelers CC C 1

Freewheelers B, Keirin
Position Name Team Cat Points
1 Joseph Guy Wolverhampton Wheelers CC C 6
2 Dominic Horsfield Mid Shropshire Wheelers E 5
3 Claire Fielding Wolverhampton Wheelers CC C 4
4 Kate Britton Wolverhampton Wheelers CC D 3
5 Dan Morris Wolverhampton Wheelers CC D 2
6 Harry Lewis Wolverhampton Wheelers CC D 1

"Rachel Lewis Memorial,
Freewheelers, Block Handicap, 2laps"
Position Name Team Cat Points
1 Georgia Hilleard Wolverhampton Wheelers CC C 6
2 Bethany Coupland Mid Shropshire Wheelers B 0
3 Joshua Horsfield Mid Shropshire Wheelers D 4
4 Sam Jones Wolverhampton Wheelers CC C 3
5 Sebastian Bacon Wolverhampton Wheelers CC C 2
6 Joe Bolton Wolverhampton Wheelers CC C 1

Senior B, Devil
Position Name Team Cat Points
1 Will Rudgard University of Birmingham CC 4 6
2 Jacob Kelly Lichfield City CC A 5
3 Andy Jones Wolverhampton Wheelers CC 3V 4
4 Mark Shore 4 3
5 Phil Pearson 3 2
6 Kate Evans Wolverhampton Wheelers CC 3 1

Senior A, Devil
Position Name Team Cat Points
1 Jack Hibberd Halesowen A&CC 3 6
2 Adam Lewis Wolverhampton Wheelers CC A 5
3 Jess Wieckowski Team Nemesis 2 4
4 George Moore CC Giro 2J 3
5 Craig Ansell Wolverhampton Wheelers CC 3 2
6 John Cooper University of Manchester CC 1

Youth, Devil
Position Name Team Cat Points
1 Jack Escritt Wolverhampton Wheelers CC B 6
2 Luke Selibas Birmingham CC A 5
3 Charlotte Broughton Leicestershire RC B 4
4 James Ireson Wolverhampton Wheelers CC B 3
5 Ryan Phillips Wolverhampton Wheelers CC B 2
6 Jessie Ansell Wolverhampton Wheelers CC B 1

Senior B, Sprint, Final
Position Name Team Cat Points
1 Phil Pearson 3 6
2 Jacob Kelly Lichfield City CC A 5
3 Steve Wilkinson Welland Valley CC 4 4
4 Julie Cooper Lichfield City CC 3 3
5 Carl Hardwick Wolverhampton Wheelers CC 4 2
6 Mark Shore 4 1

Senior A, Sprint, Final
Position Name Team Cat Points
1 Adam Lewis Wolverhampton Wheelers CC A 6
2 Jack Hibberd Halesowen A&CC 3 5
3 George Moore CC Giro 2J 4
4 Jess Wieckowski Team Nemesis 2 3
5 Lee Aris Wednesfield Aces CSC 4 2
6 Gareth Jones Wolverhampton Wheelers CC 4 1

Youth, Sprint, Final
Position Name Team Cat Points
1 Luke Selibas Birmingham CC A 6
2 Jack Escritt Wolverhampton Wheelers CC B 5
3 Ryan Phillips Wolverhampton Wheelers CC B 4
4 James Ireson Wolverhampton Wheelers CC B 3
5 Charlotte Broughton Leicestershire RC B 2
6 Callum Warrilow Wolverhampton Wheelers CC A 1

"Rachel Lewis Memorial
Senior A,B & Selected Youth, Handicap, 8 laps
"
Position Name Team Cat Points
1 Xavier Disley University of Birmingham CC 4 6
2 Adam Lewis Wolverhampton Wheelers CC A 5
3 Jack Hibberd Halesowen A&CC 3 4
4 Richard Walkerdine Wolverhampton Wheelers CC 4 3
5 George Moore CC Giro 2J 2
6 Lee Aris Wednesfield Aces CSC 4 1

British Cycling would like to thank the organising team, officials and everyone else who helped promote this event. Our sport could not exist without the hundreds of people, many of them unpaid volunteers, who put in many hours of hard work running events, activities and clubs.