Preston Park Track League (April 30)
Report by Gavin Smith,
Pictures by Daniel Dunbar & Sally Page
Miracles do happen. Travelling west towards Brighton through heavy rain, dark clouds appeared to be overhanging the coast and it looked as if this would be a wasted journey. On arrival at Preston Park, however, the track was more or less dry and preparations were underway for another classic meet. Against all the odds, racing took place with 59 riders taking part despite the decidedly cold conditions. And as the final race began two hours later, the rain started to fall, giving just enough time to complete the meet safely.
Last week’s dominator Felix English was absent, as was fastman John Scripps. So the action focused on superfast youths Adam Gent, Lewis Earthrowl-Gould and Jake Butler, ever-present strongman Lee Povey, world junior sprint champ Pete Mitchell and the Yates brothers - the legendary Sean and the in-form Christian, winner of the recent East Sussex open 10-mile TT.
SENIORS
Sean Yates wasted no time igniting proceedings in the 8-lap opener, bursting away from the rest just after the off. He was initially pursued by Phil Smith, with the peloton being headed by Bruce English, winner of a stage of the Junior Tour of Ireland some years back. One lap later Smith had dropped back, while Lewis Earthrowl-Gould and Adam Gent had taken up the chase with a full-on effort. At mid-race, young Lewis was still in hot pursuit of the ex-Tour de France star, with Nigel Foskett and Charlie Heffernan much in evidence at the front of the bunch. The announcement of a prime gave impetus to Lewis’s legs and one lap later he had caught Sean and was £5 richer.
However, at this point there was danger for any rider not called “Yates”, as Sean’s brother Christian was speeding up from behind and had joined the leading duo with two to go, the bunch at this stage being headed by Lee Povey, Adam Gent and Andy Parle. This was turning into a brilliant battle, and although some riders had been jettisoned, there were still about a dozen in with a shout. At the bell, Sean was slightly ahead of Christian and Lewis, but by the finish Christian led home ahead of Sean and Lewis, with Pete Mitchell, Nigel Foskett and Martyn Potter gaining the minor placings.
Track boss Vern McClelland had devised a cunning programme which enabled as many races to take place as usual, despite the shorter evening. This included 1-lap “dash” heats and finals for Bs and As. Neil McClelland used his sprinting ability to beat Rob Dean, Phil Smith and Andy Parle in the B final, then it was the turn of former British masters sprint champ Lee Povey from Team Terminator to outsprint clubmate and world junior team sprint champ Pete Mitchell, Adam Gent and Mark Burgess in the A final.
The points race saw a master-class from the Yates brothers. Christian powered away alone from the off, gaining the first maximum while Adam Gent, Lee Povey and Jake Butler each opened their account. Young Jake, who has recently raced in Belgium, put up a fine effort to help bridge the gap to Christian and take the next 5 points ahead of Sean Yates, Pete Mitchell and Charlie Heffernan.
Two laps later, though, it was unusually a case of “the lions to the slaughter” as Christian devoured the pack, rocketing away never to be seen again with a superb display of stylish riding. Sean Yates took second place at each of the remaining pay-outs to ensure runner-up spot overall, while Jake Butler scored at every opportunity to guarantee third place. Nigel Foskett, enjoying a successful evening, took fourth, in front of Adam Gent and Pete Mitchell.
In the B seniors 3-lap dash event, Charlie Heffernan won the £5 prime after the first lap. At the end of a closely-fought sprint, he came home first in front of Andy Parle, Rob Dean, Nigel Foskett, Phil Smith and Lee Smith.
Pete Mitchell took the fiver on offer after one lap of the parallel A-riders race, then went on to win the final sprint ahead of team-mate Lee Povey and Mark Burgess, with Adam Gent, Jake Butler and Lewis Earthrowl-Gould next across the line.
To conclude proceedings, organiser McClelland offered an unknown distance race to all seniors who were up for the challenge. Sean Yates went away just after the start and gave a great demonstration of speed. Notable early efforts were made by Charlie Heffernan, Ben Miller, Jake Butler and Rob Dean to limit Sean’s lead, but these were all in vain as the In-Gear Quickvit rider chugged away like a cycling version of a TGV.
As Sean’s advantage approached 100 metres, Charlie and Jake were yoyo-ing ahead of the bunch, in which Christian Yates and Adam Gent looked the likeliest to pounce. By the finish, Sean Yates came home alone for a brilliant win, and behind him the youngsters dominated, Adam Gent taking second, Jake Butler third and Lewis Earthrowl-Gould fourth. Christian Yates was fifth while Charlie, paying for his valiant earlier efforts, had fallen back to sixth.
After two weeks of fascinating racing, junior ace Adam Gent leads the overall A-cat standings, in front of Lee Povey, Felix English, Christian Yates, Sean Yates and Pete Mitchell. Andy Parle is out front in the B ranks, leading Charlie Heffernan, Rob Dean and Nigel Foskett, with Neil McClelland, Anthony Rogers and Phil Smith all tying for fifth. For full results and points scores, visit www.scrl.co.uk.
YOUTH
Despite the uncertain weather conditions, no fewer than 35 youths took part in the racing tonight. Handicap races featured for the first time this season, and these resulted in some close finishes. For the second time in a row, the £10 voucher for the most meritorious youth went to an U16 rider (see below).
After tonight’s tussles, Milo Burdeau and Cory Anderson have strengthened their positions at the top of the U14 and U8 rankings respectively. However, league U12 leader Gabriel Parle is only marginally ahead of Jake Marley, while U10 boss Douglas McCauley is fractionally in front of Joe Hill. The U16 category is even tighter and is developing into the battle of the season with Louis Brasington and Nick Smith tying at the top with Tom Goldsmith just two points behind.
Under 16/Under 14
Tom Jamieson came through at the head of affairs after one circuit of the 4-lap opener, with younger riders Sara Gent and Kim English well to the fore. Both Sara and Kim have elected to “ride up” from their official age-group in order to ride fixed-wheel and they are performing very well against their older rivals. At mid-race, it was still Tom in control, but his U16 opponents Nick Smith, Louis Brasington, Tom Goldsmith and James McCarron looked dangerous.
At the bell it was Louis in front, no doubt confident after his hat-trick of wins last week. However, at the end it was Nick who triumphed after a fantastic sprint, pipping Louis to the line, with Tom Goldsmith, Tom Jamieson, James McCarron and U14 Milo Burdeau filling the other top-6 places. Ashley Dennis and Nathan Moore were the next two U14s.
The U14s stayed more or less together in their 2-lap dash race, with the usual suspects Milo, Ashley and Nathan first to third, followed by Amy Jacobs, Sara Gent and Kim English. James McCarron broke away on the initial lap in the equivalent U16 event, opening up a useful gap and keeping it all the way to the finish to also earn himself the AD Cycles £10 voucher for the night. The quartet comprising Tom Goldsmith, Louis Brasington, Nick Smith and Tom Jamieson finished after James in that order, with Ben Gerrey in sixth.
The all-up U16/U14 block handicap was dominated by the U16s, with five of them in the first six. Tom Goldsmith won, Nick Smith was runner-up, and they were trailed home by Milo Burdeau, James McCarron, Tom Jamieson and Ben Gerrey.
Under 12
Harris Redgrove, Spencer Thomas and Katie Thomas were the first to show in the 2-lap curtain-raiser, but by the finish it was Gabriel Parle who outsprinted Jake Marley in an enthralling elbow-to-elbow tussle. Jack Barnett, Amy Barnes, Spencer Thomas and Megan Lewis followed this duo home.
It was “all change” for the top two places in the 1-lap handicap, with Jake getting his revenge on Gabriel. Megan, Jack, Spencer and Amy filled the other top spots.
By the end of the 3-lap scratch race, Gabriel and Jake came home in that order ahead of the rest, with the trio of Spencer Thomas, Jack Barnett and Amy Barnes next, while Harris Redgrove took sixth.
Under 10/U8
In the 2-lap U10/U8 event, which involved a certain amount of handicapping, Harry Stacey, Ferne Leonard and Joe Hill came through at the front as the bell rang. By the end, Joe led home Douglas McCauley, Ben O’Brien, Ted O’Brien and Matthew Duffin – all U10s. The first U8s, Harry Stacey and Cory Anderson, were next to finish.
Ben made good use of his allowance to win the handicap race, though Douglas was not far adrift by the end. Tom Martin, Joe Hill, Stanley Earthrowl-Gould and Ted O’Brien were the other points-scorers.
U8s Cory Anderson and Harry Stacey came first and second respectively in the block handicap, with Joe Hill in third position as first U10. Douglas, Ben and Ted took fourth to sixth respectively.
