Crawley Town Centre Circuit Races
British Cycling Elite Circuit Series Event
Wednesday, 7th of June, 2006, Crawley (Sussex)
PHOTO GALLERIES:
We have pictures from all three races now. The buttons at the top of the page represent the following events:
Gallery 1: Elite event -- Paul J Wright
Gallery 2: Elite Event -- Larry Hickmott
Gallery 3: Youth Circuit Race -- Larry Hickmott
Gallery 4: 2-3-4 Circuit Race -- Larry Hickmott
Gallery 5: 2-3-4 Circuit Race -- Paul J Wright
Note: Full results now in from organiser Alan Denman who did a great job of putting on an exciting event and thanks to the officials and marshalls for their help on the night . We will have lots of pictures from Paul J Wright later.
A delighted Rob Hayles with Tony Gibb and Warwick Spence and the two young ladies.
Tony Gibb and Rob Hayles go elbow to elbow in the closing metres before the line as a good crowd watch to see who comes out on top.
.. and it was Rob Hayles who got to the line first ahead of Tony Gibb. Photo Paul J Wright.
The third round of the Elite Circuit Series in Crawley Town Centre was certainly an action packed event with attack after attack, crashes, and to then to top it off, a pulsating bunch sprint to decided the race the near dark conditions. Winner was Rob Hayles who afterwards said he was feeling a lot better after two days rest since coming second at Brentwood on Sunday and certainly a happy man with his first win in the Series.
It was a large group of riders who lined up in Crawley in the high street in near perfect conditions with many of the riders racing who had contested rounds 1 and 2. The course was tight but fast with a lot of down hill past the finish and then a long drag up the back part of the course. As is normal with these races, the attacks came straight away and there were riders struggling at the back from the word go as the series leaders started their battle for supremacy.
As the bunch started to split and riders crashed on the fast tight left-handers, two riders escaped early on as Warwick Spence and Wesley Cole opened up a gap. The ensuing chase, and a crash in the middle of the group, soon saw the lead group down to a dozen or so riders. After Spence and Gibb were caught, there wasn't much of a lull in the attacks before Gibb attacked again, solo this time.
He stayed away on his own for many a lap before the chase saw the front group brutally split to pieces and soon there were four away including Hayles, Malcolm Elliot, Freddy Johannson and Ross Muir. Then after that was nullified by the chasers, Hayles and Gibb got away and started to open a big gap. But with still almost half the race to go, they decided to knock it on the head and go back to what was left of the front group.
That was the way it stayed as more attacks followed but no-one was breaking the elastic until Malcolm Elliot got away with five laps to go. He slowly opened up a gap but it was never more than 15 seconds and then with a lap to go, only six seconds and almost a kilometre between him and another victory. With the crowd, including Sean Yates down at the bottom corner, cheering him on, the PCA rider continued to race around the tight circuit as those of us at the finish waited for news of his escape.
Alas for Malcolm it didn't happen as the bunch caught him after the top of the long drag as they turned for the finish and he was swamped by the leaders with Hayles getting the better of Gibb in the fast down hill finish.
PCA ready for the off in Crawley.
REACTIONS
With Elliot away, Rob Hayles gets to the front marked by Tony Gibb and brings the gap down to where he wants it to be for the finish.
Afterwards a very pleased Rob Hayles "I knew there was no stopping me tonight. Right from the warm-up I knew they couldn't touch me." Was he worried about Elliott's late attack? "No, it was perfect. Just leave him dangling to screw him for the sprint and he's my leadout man. I caught him just a little bit early but it still worked perfectly."
During the race Rob, who had wife Vicki and daughter Maddie watching from behind the barriers, got away with Tony Gibb, opened up a useful gap and then sat up. Asked about it, he explained "I think it could have worked and I asked him if he could hang on for another half hour and he said no, so I said lets go back to the bunch." Rob was also full of praise for the circuit saying "you can race on this and I had better legs which helped." He now looks forward to the Criterium Championships in two weeks.
Tony Gibb says goodbye to the bunch and goes off the front for several laps of freedom.
Second was Tony Gibb of PCA. As at Brentwood, the men in blue were in everything and again had a rider clear in the closing stages but still missed the win. Tony was however philosophical saying "we'll get it right soon. It went okay tonight and it was very hard. Evans had a lot of guys, Rob and Warrick were working well together. It's always going to be difficult for us and everyone expects us to take the race up and we did. So we're chipping away in the series and doing alright."
On the sprint, he said "I expected a rough ride and another 20 metres and I would have had him!"
Finally we spoke to the rider who almost stole the race from under his rivals noses for the second time in five days, Malcolm Elliott (above). "That (his final attack) wasn't in the script but at the time, it just seemed we needed to keep the attacks coming. There was no use us sitting in the group when you have a fast finisher like Rob with you so it was down to us but I didn't expect to get a gap like that."
"It made them have to work a bit".
Asked about how he felt the five days have gone with a win at Hillingdon and two top 10s in the others, he replied "I rode my bike the Tuesday before we left for the States (holiday without bike) , didn't touch my bike until I rode at Hillingdon and then rode Sunday as well and today is my first time on the bike since Sunday. So I am still getting back into the swing of things. I am surprised to be playing a part in these races like I am given the amount of time off the bike I have had."
"I now looking forward to getting back into my usual rhythm and shifting up a gear or two. I am now going to start doing some big rides in the next few weeks and I might be heavy legged at the National Criterium Championships as I get in some road miles for the Road Race Championships. I feel like I have slipped back a bit, being away on holiday and having put a bit of weight on so I need to get back where I was."
Tight fast bends saw lots of typical crit racing. Here Tony Gibb leads the front group round one of the many right angle bends.
Race passes one of the pubs on the course.
Crashes -- there were a few in all the races as riders slipped off at speed on the tight corners.
Alex Aldham-Breary wins again ahead of Dominic Schils and Erick Rowsell.
Sprint finish for the senior support race. David Sinclair has time to raise his arms as he beats Simon Holt and Scott Budgen. In 4th was winner of the Youth Race Alex Aldham-Breary who after 30 minutes racing, got straight into the next race and held his own to the finish.
RESULT
E/1/2 Result
1. Rob Hayles, Team KLR ? Parker international
2. Tony Gibb, Plowman Craven RT
3. Warrick Spence , London Dynamo
4. James Taylor, Plowman Craven RT
5. Ross Muir, Evans cycles RT
6. Fred Johannsen, Plowman Craven RT
7. Wesley Cole, Plowman Craven RT
8. Tom Smith, AW Cycles
9. Diego Garavto, Columbia
10. Malcolm Elliott, Plowman Craven RT
11. Chris Doel, Pacific RT
12. Tom Smith, Plowman Craven RT
13. Chris Macnamara, Widside RT
14. Ian Holt, Evans cycles RT
15. Jody Crawforth, Evans cycles RT
16. Jason Edwards, Widside RT
17. Jamie Newall, Evans cycles RT
18. Tom Hemmant, London Dynamo
19. Henry Furniss, Ride Beyond
20. Simon Macnamara, Widside RT
21. Craig Butland, Plowman Craven RT
22. Simon Gaywood, CC Luton
23. Christian Tune, Evans cycles RT
24. Ben Eedy, South Pennine RT
25. Marcus Brurton, Norwood Paragon CC
26. Dan Duguid, Sigma Sport
Special Prime results
No.1
1. Warrick Spence
2. Wesley Cole
3. James Taylor
No.2
1. Malcolm Elliott
2. Warrick Spence
3. Rob Hayles
2/3/J Result
1. David Sinclair, i-Team.co.uk
2. Simon Holt, Merlin Development squad
3. Scott Budgen, Pearson Cycles
4. Alex Aldham-Breary, PCA Ciclos Uno
5. Gavin Ryan, London Dynamo
6. Craig Stevens, PCA Ciclos Uno
7. Brian Curtis, Team Corridori
8. Philip Lajoie, Army CU
9. Lee Smith, www.agiskoviner.com
10. Mike Bell, London Fire Brigade
11. Shannon Durrant, Pearson Cycles
12. Stuart McGhee, Evans Cycles RT
13. David Struelle, London Dynamo
14. Matt Green, Crawley CC ? ROK/Evanscycles.com
15. Chris Moores , Norwood Paragon
16. Christian Yates, In Gear RT/Quickvit
17. Tom Copeland, In Gear RT/Quickvit
18. Craig Gash, Selby CC
19. Ben Spurrier, Evans Cycles RT
20. Matt Spurgin, Evans Cycles RT
21. Daniel Crawley, Crest CC
22. Kevin Davey, Norwood Paragon
23. Adam Dawson, Crest CC
24. Gianluca Cappello, Pearson Cycles
25. Ben Eedy, South Pennine
26. John Glaysher, www.agiskoviner.com
27. Steve Charles, Arctic Shorter RT
28. Ben Heinrich, i-Team.co.uk
29. Martin McCrossan, Trackcycling.co.uk
30. Mike Hawkins, Norwood Paragon
Under 16 Result
1. Alex Ardham-Breary, PCA Ciclos Uno
2. Dominic Schils, Interbike RT
3. Erik Rowsell, Team Corridori
4. Ben Atkinson, VC Londres
5. Lewis Earthrowl-Gould, Crawley CC ? ROK/Evanscycles.com
6. Sophie Terry, VC Londres
Girls
1. Sophie Terry, VC Londres
2. Rebbecca Thompson, Evans Cycles RT
3. Charlotte Schillinger, Crawley CC ? ROK/Evanscycles.com
Under 14 Result
1. Dante Carpenter, Norwood Paragon
2. Henry James, Crawley CC ? ROK/Evanscycles.com
3. Sam Cheeseman, Crawley CC ? ROK/Evanscycles.com
PEVIOUS ROUNDS
2. Brentwood Town Centre Criteriums
