Location: Lyme Valley Velodrome, Newcastle
Event: 17 May 2012
Report: Chris Pyatt

Round 3 of the Brooks Cycles Track League at the Lyme Valley Velodrome, Newcastle, Staffs took place under bright skies.

With the weekend seeing a Round of the Northern Youth Omnium taking place at the track there was a good turnout of youth riders looking to sharpen up their skills and speed for Sunday.

After being unwell last week league leader Sallie Birchall, Lyme RC was back to her best as she won the devil and the 6 lap scratch along with being in the winning team sprint team.

The A Class endurance events saw a good group of riders compete. The highlight of the night was the final 10 mile scratch were a blistering pace was set throughout with the final 5 miles being run off in 10 minutes 20 seconds. With 10 laps to go Andy Leigh, Velocity RT attacked and gained a lead of about 100m. The chasing bunch did not ease their pace however despite their best efforts Andy held on to win by two bike lengths from his team mate Christian Braybrooke.

The other A Class events saw Ryan Whatmough, Shepherds Cycles win the opening 8 lap scratch and the 12 lap points. Hi father Paul won the other A class event in the devil which was enough for him to retain the overall league lead.

The sprint events were keenly contested with a very tight finish in the sprint final where Sean Mayer, Swinnerton Cycles win by a tyre length from his teammate Barney Swinnerton. The popular Neil Potter Sponsored 500m handicap saw league coach Phil Houlton, Brooks Cycles take a great victory. The team sprint saw the team of Phil Houlton, Lauren Quenby, Newcastle RC 2001 and Sean Mayer take the win.

The B Class events saw a large field of riders compete with first time rider Matthew Walls, velocity RT taking wins in the devil, James Risk, SportCity Velo winning the 8 lap scratch and points race. Steve Hall, Lyme RC won the B groups race in the final 10 mile. Steve is in his first full season of racing and is improving each week.

The Freewheelers league continues to grow with 39 riders already registered to compete this year. There were some close finishes in all groups with the top point’s scorers in each group were as follows;

Group 1: Alex Coates (Lyme RC) 7 points
Group 2: Natasha Sandbach (unattached) 6 points
Group 3: Cameron O’Neil (Lyme RC) 5 points

Freewheelers Results:

Group 1
Race 1
1st James Brayford Lyme RC
2nd Brandon McMillan Lyme RC
3rd Bradley Hill Lyme RC

Race 2
1st Alex Coates Lyme RC
2nd Louis Perry Lyme RC
3rd Sam Hall Lyme RC

Race 3
1st Alex Coates Lyme RC
2nd Sam Hall
3rd James Brayford

Group 2
Race 1
1st Harry Brayford Lyme RC
2nd Rebecca Newman Lyme RC
3rd Luca Annese Lyme RC

Race 2
1st Austin Scott Lyme RC
2nd Natasha Sandbach
3rd Edwards Mulroy Congleton CC

Race 3
1st Natasha Sandbach
2nd Edwards Mulroy
3rd Sebastian Booth Lyme RC

Group 3
Race 1
1st Evie Davis Lyme RC
2nd Enrico Annese Lyme RC
3rd Izaak Curtis Lyme RC

Race 2
1st Fraser Scott- Bartram Lyme RC
2nd Christain Scott Bartram Lyme RC
3rd Cameron O’Neil Lyme RC

Race 3
1st Cameron O’Neil
2nd Enrico Annese
3rd Christain Scott-Bartram Lyme RC

MAIN LEAGUE

Youth 200m TT
1st Matthew Walls Velocity RT
2nd Sallie Birchall Lyme RC
3rd Joe Swinnerton Lyme RC

A Class Endurance 8 Lap Scratch
1st Ryan Whatmough Shepherds Cycles
2nd Paul Whatmough Shepherds Cycles
3rd Will Thomas Velocity RT

Neil Potter 500m Handicap League
1st Phil Houlton Brooks Cycles
2nd Lauren Quenby Newcastle RC 2001
3rd Sean Mayer Swinnerton Cycles

B Class 8 laps scratch
1st James Risk Weaver Valley
2nd Matthew Walls Velocity RT
3rd Alex Webb Lyme RC

Youth Devil
1st Sallie Birchall
2nd Ashleigh Williams Lyme RC
3rd James Brayford Lyme RC

A Class Endurance 12 Lap Points
1st Ryan Whatmough
2nd Alex Simmons Swinnerton Cycles
3rd James Notley Planet X

A Class Sprinters Team sprint
1st Sean Mayer
2nd Lauren Quenby
3rd Phil Houlton

B Class Devil
1st Matthew Walls
2nd Alex Webb
3rd Steve Hall Lyme RC

Youth Team Sprint
1st Sam Hall Lyme RC
James Duncalf Lyme RC
Sallie Birchall
Megan Williams Lyme RC
Joe Swinnerton Lyme RC

A Class Endurance Devil
1st Paul Whatmough
2nd Ryan Whatmough
3rd Will Thomas

A Class Sprint Final
1st Sean Mayer
2nd Barney Swinnerton
3rd Steve Cronshaw Brooks Cycles

B Class points race
1st James Risk
2nd Matthew Walls
3rd Sam Birchall Velocity RT

Youth 6 Lap Scratch
1st Sallie Birchall
2nd Ashleigh Williams
3rd Joe Swinnerton

10 Mile Scratch
1st Andy Leigh Velocity RT
2nd Christian Braybrooke Velocity RT
3rd Paul Whatmough

B Class
1st Steve Hall
2nd Matthew Walls
3rd Paige Millward

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.