Location: Redbridge circuit, Ilford, Essex
Event: 18 January 2014
Gunther Zechmann (London Phoenix) secured victory in the 2/3 cat race for a second consecutive week at the East London Velo Series at the Redbridge Circuit in Essex.
After a damp morning the strong breeze started to dry the circuit out a bit by midday, it also helped push the riders up and over the Hoggenberg, though they had to contend with crosswinds at the bottom S bends. Though conditions obviously weren’t too challenging as there were some fast lap times recorded in both races.
2/3 Category Race
43 riders lined up for the higher category race including last week’s winner Zechmann. It was good also to see David Mclean making a low key return to racing after a long period off the bike.
The pace of the race looked fast from the off but the tailwind up the Hoggenberg seemed to be helping keep things together and despite some big digs by Jack Finch and ELV’s own Jason Jeffers it took a few laps until Edmond Bradbury managed to put some daylight between himself and the compact bunch.
Bradbury was soon joined by Zechmann, who clearly wasn’t going to let anything go, and a lively looking Finch. Kieran Brady was driving the bunch at 20 seconds.
By the halfway point it was Zechmann and Bradbury who’d gone clear and with the other riders seeming to lose interest behind they quickly grew the gap to over a minute. Finch, Will Hayter and Jonnie Blackman then seemed to lift the pace behind and the bunch started to line out and break up with eight riders going out the back immediately. It wasn’t enough to make inroads on the two leaders though who continued to ride away.
With less than 20 minutes racing left Zechmann and Bradbury had two minutes’ advantage over a group comprising Blackman, Hayter, Brady, Finch and the North Road pairing of Frank Rawlins and Colin Bailey who had measured their effort well. This group had 30 seconds on the bunch.
With two laps to go Zechmann powered away from Bradbury and eventually caught and lapped the bunch, taking his second win courtesy of a 2:54 lap on a windy day and on a very soft rear tyre.
Bradbury took an excellent second with Hayter getting the better of his breakaway companions for third. Patrick Martin was first to finish from what was left of the bunch.
4th Category Race
51 riders lined up for the fourth category race over one hour. There was an early crash involving half a dozen riders but fortunately there were no serious injuries and all but one rider (who suffered a mechanical) continued.
Most of the action seemed to be at the back of the race with the bunch reduced to around 30 riders after less than 20 minutes of racing. As it turned out the stronger riders were biding their time. Terry Lynch and Callum Hasler were pushing the pace at the halfway mark but neither they nor anybody else could make a move stick.
With five laps to go James Batten was prominent at the front along with Alex Blomeley and Hasler again stirring things up. With two laps to go Blomeley had established a 10-second advantage chased by Hasler and Mike Smith.
At the bell he had stretched out his advantage very slightly with Smith and Hasler being joined by Batten in pursuit with the bunch of around 15 riders a few seconds back. On the line Blomeley had a clear advantage and could take the time to enjoy his win.
Results:
2/3 Cat:
1 Gunther Zechmann London Phoenix CC
2 Edmond Bradury Cambridge Uni CC
3 Will Hayter London Dynamo
4 Jonnie Blackman Beckenham Rugby Club
5 Colin Bailey North Road CC
6 Kieran Brady Citycyclecentre.com
7 Frank Rawlins North Road CC
8 Jack Finch PMR@Toachim House
9 Patrick Martin WyndyMilla
10 Will Sloper CVCC
11 David Barnes Sports Traider RT
12 Simon Bromley London Dynamo
13 Andrew Carter Portsmouth North End CC
14 Leo Lerner VO2 Development Team
15 James Local London Dynamo
16 Alex McKerrell V02 Development
17 Paul Saunders Glendene CC
18 Philip Aubert WebSport
19 Marcus Burnett Sports Traider RT
20 Jason Jeffers East London Velo
21 Daniel Maynard Welwyn Whls CC
22 Paul Drake Maison du Velo
23 Joshua Maynard Welwyn Whls CC
24 Richard Giles PB Cycling
4th Cat:
1 Alex Blomeley Private Member
2 Mike Smith Private Member
3 James Batten De Laune CC
4 Christopher Thomas East London Velo
5 Tom Black -
6 Greg Niziskiot London Dynamo
7 Pete Dyson Private Member
8 Andy Dyson Zappis
9 Callum Hasler CV Cycling Club
10 Andrew Ten-Broeke PB Cycling Coaching
11 Lee Russell VC Elan
12 Terry Lynch DCVC
13 Andrew Holmes VC Revolution
14 Arnav Kapur Dulwich Paragon CC
15 Tom Haines East London Velo
16 Francis Fox London Dynamo
17 Kevin Looker Colchester Rovers
18 Martin Ryan Ford Cycling Club
19 Jason Fitchew Ford Cycling Club
20 Oliver Reeves Dulwich Paragon CC
21 Laurence Kirby Welwyn Whls CC
22 Nicholas Anell Dulwich Paragon CC
23 James Dixon Private Member
24 David Ross Team Fig
25 Tony Collins Athlon Sport
26 Barry Townsend Essex Roads CC
27 Mitchell Blain London Dynamo
28 William Walls Pretorius
29 Chris Snow CC Hackney
30 Joel Brassington Dulwich Paragon CC
31 Christopher Gore Beckenham Rugby Cyclists
32 Lee Cullender Private Member
33 Matthew Hamilton Lee Valley Youth CC
34 Debbie Coyle Grenwich Tri
35 Steve Hanks London Phoenix
Please credit www.britishcycling.org.uk and link back if you use any of our race results.
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.
