High-res Slideshow: of the photos from all the races at the London Circuit Race Championships.

A scintillating ride by Daniel Santoni saw the Pearsons rider win the London Circuit race championship event at the demanding Redbridge Cycling Centre circuit in North East London. In windy but warm and sunny conditions, the final race of the day was at times brutal as riders used the hill every two kilometres to make it hard for their rivals. The race started with an attack by the two BMC UK riders and then Lee Smith tried his luck for a few laps. These attacks came to nothing but looking good was a four up move including Matt Seaton, Austin Cameron, Phil Hersey and Tom Kirk.

Daniel Santoni celebrates an excellent ride. : Click here for a high-res slideshow

They gained a good gap and chases came and went including one from British Cyclo-Cross champion Jody Crawforth. The end of the break’s luck came when Alex Atkins and another rider joined it and very quickly after that, the break came back to the bunch and the attacks started all over again. The pace of the race at the front was having a big effect at the back of the bunch too as riders parked up on the climb as the pace became too much for them and one-by-one, riders were shelled from the race.

Then a key moment when two riders joined at the front of the race, Flavio Zappi and Daniel Santoni and they started to open up a big gap and no matter what was tried behind, the two leaders could not be caught. At one time, there were two chasers including Matt Seaton, then another two, then three including Steven Griffiths and then the peloton split into two groups. The chase after the two leaders was hard, very hard and Matt Seaton could be heard yelling at his co-chaser to slow down on the hill to try and keep the chase together but alas Seaton was shelled.

The final race of the day also had the most riders. : Click here for a high-res slideshow

Eventually, the chase came to nothing and the peloton reformed but at the front, Santoni was proving to strong for Zappi and the former Italian professional had to go back to the bunch which would chase and then when that failed, the riders would sit up as no organised chase was able to be organised.

Meanwhile, Santoni carried on with his break and at the finish, he had over a minute which in the windy conditions and tough circuit was an excellent ride. In the battle for second, Ian Taylor attacked two laps out and stayed clear to cross the line ahead of the bunch gallop spread out right across the width of the circuit where Jason White just got his front wheel across the line ahead of the rest to claim third.

Overall it had been a good day's racing if a little thin on the ground with riders. Being such an excellent circuit, one which will be used for the Youth Championships in 2010, the organiser deserved better support from riders especially as the weather was also very nice indeed. Having had rain, rain, rain for the last three weeks in Manchester, it was a surprise to see the ground in London cracked with dryness. If only we had the same in Manchester!

I will upload many more pictures from the day soon as well as results when I get them. You see the rest of the pictures in this report below the results.

One of the most promising breaks early in the race

Report from the organiser Michael Humphries
A fine day of late summer racing with good conditions and a good turnout of pre-entered riders from London eligible to compete for the title. In the seniors, the final breakaway to succeed went with over 8 laps to go as Daniele Santoni (Pearson) and Flavio Zappi (GTF & former Milan San Remo / Giro rider) went avanti piu forza with Zappi deciding the break was not for him.

This left Santoni on his own but riding strongly and with the pack totally unable to organise his lead grew steadily to over a minute at the end. Only Ian Taylor of NFM RT was able to break free of the disorganised chase. Perhaps his workout will favour his chances in the next days’ National Time-Trial Champs, for which he’d travelled from Sunderland. Primes were won by Cameron Austin and Flavio Zappi.

The womens’ race brought a two-up effort from 2nd cat Ciclos Uno rider Nikki Juniper who led out the sprint from CycleFit’s elite Charlotte Blackman. All the youth races were close affairs, with packs circulating in each right to the last. Jack Finch won the u16s by taking it to the others who were content to play a long waiting-game.  Two sets of brothers took the younger races.

Ben Tulett won u8s in a pack swarming behind the great battle for the u10 win which Dan Tulett just took from Anthony Anderson. The u12 riders were let loose on the full swoop of Hog Hill for four laps and gave us a great race with a large bunch circulating right to the end until Tom Franklin showed the way home in style. Big brother Harry Franklin eventually got the best of the six leading u14s after a bit of sitting-in while others attacked. U14 national womens’ champion Emily Barnes circulated comfortably until the pace rose over the last three laps.
Great racing by all.

Thank you for coming and thank you to all who helped on the day. We look forward to hosting next year’s National Youth Championships with excitement. - More announcements soon! Michael Humphreys (Organiser for LVYCC)

RESULTS

Youth E Under 8
1 Ben Tulett Herne Hill YCC
2 Rowan Fuss VC Deal
3 Felix Mackie            LVYCC– under 8 London Circuit Champion
4 Matthew Farrow      Eagle RC
5 Maya Teufel-Tarlton            LVYCC – under 8 Girls’ London Circuit Champion
6 Stanley Heath-Stephens       LVYCC

Youth D under 10
1 Dan Tulett    Herne Hill YCC
2 Anthony Anderson  Kingston Wheelers – under 10 London Circuit Champion
3 George Finch           Herne Hill YCC
4 Toby Martin Team Darenth
5 Rachel Jary VCL – under 10 Girls’ London Circuit Champion
6 George Jenson – Herne Hill YCC
7 Evan Rex     Chelmer CC
8 Alexander Tarlton    LVYCC
9 Oscar Heath-Stephens         LVYCC


Youth C under 12
1 Tom Franklin Herne Hill YCC – under 8 London Circuit Champion
2 Henry Dawson         Hillingdon Slipstreamers
3 Archie Wishart         Welwyn Wheelers
4 David Barnes           Palmer Park Velo
5 Kelsey Fuss  VC Deal
6 Anthony Anderson Kingston Wheelers
7 Thomas Finch           VCL
8 Jack Plumley            Welwyn Wheelers
9 George Jary  VCL
10 Jobe Davies            East London Velo
11 Callum Mackie       LVYCC
12 Patrick Tripp          LVYCC

Youth B under 14
1 Harry Franklin          VCL – under 14 London Circuit Champion
2 Calvin Fuss  VC Deal
3 Oli Plumley  Welwyn Wheelers
4 Rory Townsend       Hillingdon Slipstreamers
5 Emily Barnes            Palmer Park Velo
6 James Kidd  East London Velo
7 Matthew Madgwick            LVYCC
8 James Madgwick     LVYCC
9 Armanni Antoine-Chagar    East London Velo
10 George Smee          Fenland Clarion
11 Jake Bishop            East London Velo
12 Noah Smith            LVYCC
13 Tom Colvin            Essex Roads
14 Francesca Morgans-Slater  LVYCC – under 16 Girls’ London Circuit Champion
15 Cheyenne Antoine-Chagar            East London Velo

Youth A under 16
1 Jack Finch    VC Deal
2 Dante Carpenter       Fit-For
3 Josh Green   Glendene CC – under 16 London Circuit Champion
4 David Swan Fit-For
5 Adam Edwards        East London Velo
6 Ian Baldwin East London Velo
 
Women
1 Nikki Juniper            Ciclos Uno
2 Chalotte Blackman  CycleFit – Womens’ London Circuit Champion
3 Maryka Sennema     Kingston Wheelers
4 Anna Grundy           East London Velo
5 Leona Kadir Kingston Wheelers
6 Rachel Przybylski    Charlotteville CC
7 Susan Wood Maldon & District CC
8 Stacey Cooley          East London Velo
 
Seniors
1 Daniele Santoni        Pearson RT
2 Ian Taylor     NFM RT
3 Jason White  CyclingBargains
4 Steven Griffiths       BMC UK RT – London Circuit Champion
5 Lee Smith     Felt Racing
6 Lewis Atkins            AgiskoViner.co.uk
7 Andy Hastings         Finchley RT
8 Jason Hoy    Felt Racing
9 Robert Jackson         Team Toachim
10 David Barnes         East London Velo
11 Jody Crawforth      Arctic Premier RT
12 Mike Auger            VC Norwich
13 Tony Mitchell         OCRC
14 Chris McNamara    Team Corley Cycles
15 Tom Kirk    Team Corley Cycles
16 Anthony Moye       CC Luton
17 Flavio Zappi           GTF
18 Richard Hoult        London Dynamo
19 Taylor Johnstone    DeVer
20 Cameron Austin     London Dynamo
21 Matt Seaton           Rapha Condor - Veterans’ London Circuit Champion
22 Luke Ryan Team Toachim
23 Phil Hersey Eagle RT

MORE PHOTOS : Click here for a high-res slideshow

Sprint for third -- winner of that challenge Jason White is out of shot on the right, oops!

Second to Ian Taylor

Bell lap and its follow the leader in the peloton...

Two chasers including British Cyclo-Cross champion Jody Crawforth whose season starts soon with the National Trophy

The early break about to be caught

Two leaders, Santoni and Zappi giving each other lots of room on the climb -- Zappi slipped back to the bunch soon after this was taken.

Jason White

Santoni at speed on the descent

Nicola Juniper wins the women's race.

The leading group in the women's race early on lead by eventual winner Nicola Juniper.

The women had a tight hairpin bend to get round, something taken out of the men's circuit...

The start of the women's race.

Charlotte Blackman at speed on her way to second place.

Youth Racing