Solihull CC Junior Road Race

 

Part of British Cycling's National Junior RR Series (10th of Sept.)
Preview

 

Final event of this year's National Junior Road Series attracts 

stunning international field

Guy Elliott, organiser, with one of his international teams last year.

Following on from the nail-biting finish of the Junior Tour of Wales, the season-long National Junior Road Race Series draws to a close on Sunday 10th September with the Solihull Cycling Club Junior Road Race, which has once again attracted a strong international field along with all the main contenders for the Peter Buckley Trophy.

This year there will be strong teams from Denmark (last year's winners), The Netherlands, Norway and Belgium - all of whom are bringing strong riders - as they are only too aware of the quality and depth of British junior racing at the moment. Likely fireworks are bound to come from the Dutch team - who are back after one year's absence - and who have a strong reputation for attacking from the gun - in fact in 2003 and 2004 they attacked right out of the neutralised zone at the start and remained on the front all day until finally being nailed in hectic finishes by Mark Cavendish and Ian Stannard respectively.

 

Cavendish of course won a superb sprint from a small leading group in 2003 with Stannard attacking on his own with just a few miles to go in 2004 from a small leading group and hanging on for a four second lone victory which had the crowd going mad as he came into the long finishing straight. This year Bart Sinnige appears to be the strongest Dutch rider though they have depth in strength. De Kuyper Cherry Brandy, which is a household name in The Netherlands, has sponsored the team's participation and the Dutch Team Manager, Henk Wintermans, assures us he aims to be toasting a win with the sponsors' product!

Jan Fredrik Mohn from Norway, who has raced professionally on the continent, brings a strong team from across the North Sea. Sondre Sortveit featured strongly at the recent Junior World Championships in Spa Belgium and will need to be watched along with fellow national squad riders Anders Lund and Ken Vaasdal. The Norwegians - whose participation is sponsored by Nisa - Today's Supermarkets - have declared they are coming for an aggressive race, having been slightly frustrated last year when Denmark were able to close them down for the superb Danish sprinter and race winner Philip Nielsen. Nielsen was dominant last year and rode a fantastic race with great team support but bearing in mind the Danes are bringing a younger team this year it seems likely that the highly popular Norwegians will be trying to break the race up with the Dutch in the early stages. .

Belgium (sponsored by 24-7 Recruitment Services) and Denmark (sponsored by Somerfield Supermarkets) are keen to get up in the prizes and both are led by highly experienced team managers - Fredrik Jakobsen from Denmark who rode at a high level on the track - and will know how the British track squad will be racing - and Jef Peeters from Belgium - brother of the famous Mapei rider Wilfried Peeters. Danish junior racing is at an all time high with many of their riders featuring at the very highest levels in junior UCI ranked races so even their younger squad should not be under-estimated The Belgians are expected to ride a clever race, keeping out of trouble until the traditional finale over the last three 8 mile laps, when the strong riders have tended to come to the front. Jef Beyens looks to be their strongest rider with all of the team having participated regularly in international events at a high level.

But British riders have nothing to fear with a superb quality entry, many of whom have international experience. All of the top twenty overall riders in the Buckley Series have entered - with the exception of Tour of Wales Winner Tom Diggle - with only eleven points dividing Series Leader Andrew Griffiths of the powerful Glendene CC/Bike Trax team and second placed Mark McNally from Le Coq Sportif-Dolan - SIS. With 100 points for the win and 85 points for second place the series is wide open. Expect to see the powerful Glendene and Le Coq Sportif teams riding in support of their overall team leaders but still trying to win on the day.

 

But we have other superb riders as well who will be out to steal some thunder - National Junior Road Race Champion Russell Hampton will be out for the win and all of the crowd will be itching to see World Scratch Race Champion Peter Kennaugh off the front of the bunch and showing the undoubted class that he has. The Merlin Development Squad have Simon Holt currently placed sixth overall in the series, and having ridden strongly in the Junior Tour of Wales, and Rhys Lloyd lying eleventh overall - Team Manager Eddie White will not be sending his riders to the race "just to make up the numbers" so look out for them. There are numerous primes on offer and we expect to see all of these British riders using their speed to mop up some of the ?2,000 prize money and not see it disappear across the water!

The race is held in beautiful countryside close to Stratford upon Avon and is a great circuit for clubs wishing to visit the area and "ride the course" to watch the race. Solihull CC have a great track record in terms of the events they lay on and there will be numerous marshals, along with British Cycling's motorcycle National Escort Group, neutral race service and police and medical back up. Race HQ is at Bearley Village Hall, just off the A3400 between Stratford upon Avon and Wooten Wawen and the 8-mile circuit is easy to find on the map being based on Bearley - Snitterfield - Wolverton - Langley and Bearley. Most importantly there are some good pubs where you can relax and in complete comfort watch the race go by! The race starts at 10.00 am prompt on Sunday 10th September finishing approximately two and a half hours later.

So you have read about British success at the recent World Junior Track Championships and we have some of the best riders from the continent racing - so why not come along and support the event and cheer the British juniors in their attempt to beat the continentals on British turf - they need your support and it would be very welcome!

 

Finish of last years event with a European winner.

Finally the Solihull Cycling Club would like to thank all of the race sponsors for their superb generosity:

Somerfield Supermarkets
JD Wetherspoon
First Drinks Brands - importers of De Kuyper Cherry Brandy
Nisa-Today's Supermarkets
24-7 Recruitment Services
DHL Exel Supply Chain
Greenstone Automation
Hunter Maclean
www.shore-design.com - manufacturers of sports trophies

START SHEET
1. Jesper Morkov Denmark
2. Dennis Jonsson Denmark
3. Rasmus Quaade** Denmark
4. Gijs Veerling The Netherlands
5. Andreas Ponten* The Netherlands
6. Pim Ligtart The Netherlands
7. Bart Sinnige The Netherlands
8. Fredrik Fisk* Norway
9. Anders Lund Norway
10. Sondre Sortveit Norway
11. Ken Vassdal Norway
12. Niels Van Gansen Belgium
13. Jochen VanKerckhoven Belgium
14. Fredrique Robert* Belgium
15. Jef Beyens Belgium
16. Steven Burke Le Cog Sportif-Dolan-SIS
17. Mark McNally * Le Coq Sportif-Dolan-SIS
18. Adam Bonser Le Coq Sportif-Doilan-SIS
19. Ben Stockdale* Evesham Wheelers
20. Edward Griffin* Somer Valley CC
21. Tom Price* VC St Raphael
22. Peter Banham Wyre Forest CRC
23. Steven Guymer Team Swift-Allsports
24. Luke Rowe** Glendene CC "B"
25. Peter Kennaugh* Glendene CC "A"
26. Matthew Rowe Glendene CC "B"
27. Russell Hampton Glendene CC "B"
28. Andrew Griffiths* Glendene CC "A"
29. Alex Dowsett Glendene CC "A"
30. Jonny Bellis Glendene CC "A"
31. Ben Carty* Stratford CC
32. Thomas Mendham** Witham Wheelers
33. Simon Holt Merlin Development Squad
34. Tom Last Evans Cycles
35. Andrew Fenn** Le Coq Sportif-Dolan-SIS
36. Tom Copeland* Ingear Quickvit RT
37. Matthew Jones* Merlin Development Squad
38. Huw Herrity* Private member
39. Adam Tranter** Merlin Development Squad
40. Billy-Joe Whenman* Marin UK
41. David Williams* CC Giro
42. Jack Kirk** Halesowen C&AC
43. Alex Wise www.agiskoviner.com
44. Richard Cleaver www.agiskoviner.com
45. Stephen Adams Sherwood CC
46. Warren Flynn Obri Coaching RT
47. Jason Crombie * Merlin Development Squad
48. David Fletcher * Sherwood Pines
49. Oliver Grafham* Wyre Forest CRT
50. Darren Tiffin Private Member
51. Dane Percival** Cardiff Ajax CC
52. Lewis Cowley Plan B CRT
53. Harry Penn Interbike RT
54. Scott Thwaites ** Merlin Development Squad
55. Matthew Ullmer Evesham & District Wheelers
56. Matt Green Crawley Cycling Club
57. Gareth James** Abergavenny RC
58. Josh Yetman* Somerset RC
59. Dominic Jelfs** Bromsgrove Olympique RC
60. Luke Marlow* Team Lutterworth Cycle Centre
61. Tim Morris* Newcastle RC 2001
62. Adam Blythe* Pinarello RT
63. Rhys Lloyd* Merlin Development Squad
64. Alex Aldham-Breary** PCA Ciclos Uno
65. Kieran Frend* CC Giro
66. Alastair Carr Wolverhampton Wheelers
67. Douglas Dewey* Team Tor 2000
68. George Bate* Bromsgrove Olympique
69. James Lord Glendene CC "B"
70. Mike Rudling* SP Systems-Wightlink
71. Matthew Greaves* Bronte Wheelers
72. Sam Freeman** Plan B Racing RT
73. Tom Finnemore www.cyclelogic.co.uk