Location: Sheriffhales, Nr Shifnal, Shropshire
Event: 21 July 2013
Report: Ben Goddard/Snowdon Sports
Photographs: Richard Preece (RDP-Photography.co.uk)
Richard Wilkinson (4 Star Racing) stormed to his first victory of the season in the Alan Goddard Memorial Road Race in Shropshire after controlling the race.
An overcast and windy morning greeted the 51 riders who set out to complete five laps of an 11 mile rolling circuit to make up the 55 mile distance.
Attacks went straight from the gun with Tony Kiss (Dynamic Bicycles UK) launching the first attack and he was soon joined by Matthew Bonehill (Stafford RC/Henry Burton Cycles) and Justin Harcourt (Urban Cyclery RT).
The three leaders had built up a gap of 30 seconds by the end of the first lap and their gap continued to grow up to 45 seconds on the second lap until Wilkinson and Gareth Jones (Wolverhampton Whls) jumped across the gap.
The five riders worked well together and built up a lead of 1 minute 26 seconds by the end of the third lap and looked as though they might not be caught as the bunch was braking up behind in the wind.
With one lap to go the race looked set to come together as the five man break had only a 20 second gap on a seven man chasing group and a minute on the bunch.
At the finish Wilkinson, aged 33, from Whitchurch road away from the rest of the field which was breaking up behind and had time to put his hand aloft and celebrate the win.
Coming home in second was 20-year-old Alex Royle from Stockport and in third was local rider Jordan Bason from Shifnal.
Results:
1 Richard Wilkinson (4 Star Racing)
2 Alex Royle (Banjo Cycles)
3 Jordan Bason (MG –Maxifuel Pro Cycling)
4 Dave Griffiths (Paramount CRT)
5 Tony Kiss (Dynamic Bicycles UK)
6 Gareth Jones (Wolverhampton Whls)
7 Matthew Bonehill (Stafford RC/Henry Burton Cycles)
8 William Corden (Lyme RC)
9 Justin Harcourt (Urban Cyclery RT)
10 Sean Mungovan (Beacon Roads CC)
11 Mark Corbett (Worcester St Johns)
12 Daniel Watts (Royal Air Force CC)
13 Steven Fidler (Dave Hinde RT)
14 Peter Banham (Fred Williams Cycles)
15 Philip Mason (Climb on Bikes)
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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.
