A victory for Steve Golla at the second round of the 2011/12 Winter Series at the Hillingdon Cycle Circuit
Imperial Winters Series – Race 2Â | Saturday 10th December 2011
Lucy Collins writes … A cold bright afternoon with a full field for the 3rd and 4th cat races and a weaker wind than last week. However, the standard of riding in some cases was very poor resulting in a number of crashes which was very disappointing after last week’s excellent start.
A core group of 30 riders forced the pace over the early laps leaving small groups of riders chasing on their own. The main group stayed together, despite the hiccup with catching back the 3rds race (as noted below), and it was won in a sprint finish by Rob Sharland (Kingston Wheelers) from his team mate Jason Gardiner (Kingston Wheelers) and Dan Mitchell (Redhill CC). Sharland will be very pleased with his effort which moves him up a category. The WyndyMilla 4th cat random prize is awarded to 11th place finisher Marc Townsend (Neon-Digital.co.uk) so he can look forward to a WyndyMilla ‘go faster’ cycle fitting at their Manor Farm Cycle Centre in Seale.
The 3rd cat race was rather more aggressive and there were several attacks but unfortunately half way through the pace let up allowing the 4th cats to claw back their advantage, however, the BC commissaire neutralised the group in order for the 4th cat race to have a clear sprint for the finish. Iain Palmer (Twickenham CC) proved to be the strongest in the run into the line and after the messy middle part of the race, it finished on a very worthy note. Palmer has been showing great form lately and looks to be heading to becoming a 1st cat rider, and coming from a rowing background this is very credible. The Maxifuel random prize is awarded to 7th place finisher Mark Northover (CC Giro); he receives a Maxifuel rucksack comprising of Viperactive energy fuel, gels and bottles.
The E/1/2/3 race was entirely different with an entry of 46 riders and as would be expected it was very fast and aggressive from the start with plenty of attacks with riders going clear in 2’s and 3’s notably Tom Bell (Twickenham CC), Cam Swarbrick (AW Cycles) and Stephen Bradbury (AW Cycles), however, they were pulled back by a very focused main group.
Another break formed almost immediately with Bradbury again and Harry Strudley (AW Cycles) but again they too were pulled back by hard riding by the main group lead by James Norris (High Wycombe CC) who then himself formed a duo with Strudley but they were reeled in by the main group. With 12km to go the decisive move came from in form Conall Yates (InGear Quickvit RT) and previous stalwart Chris Moores (Norwood Paragon) and junior rider Rory Townsend (Prestige VC). Henry Furniss (WyndyMilla) made a massive effort to bridge the gap and almost made it and then blew up big time, unfortunately the flying trio in spite of all their hard work were caught with 8km to go.
In the run in Steve Golla (High Wycombe CC) with a prodigious effort in the last 400m opened a gap to win comfortably from a brilliant Townsend, who had the strength and courage to hang on for 2nd place – an outstanding effort – certainly the man of the race. Bradbury managed to hold off Jerzy Kuzminski (London Phoenix) for 3rd place with the main bunch being lead in by Ed Rose (progression/bikelux), Pete Wager (Felt-Colbornes RT), Henry Latimer (Zappi’s CC) and Vince Halpern (Handsling Racing).
Steve Golla now leads the overall series on 350 points. Jamie Pine and Rory Townsend both on 230.
Race 3  - Sat 17th December -  3rd & 4th Cat 13:00 - E123 14:15
Race 4 – Christmas Eve – 4th Cat 11:00 - 3rd & Women only 12:00 – E123 13:15
Race 5 – Boxing Day – 4th Cat 11:00 - 3rd & Women only 12:00 – E123 13:15
Race 6 – New Years Eve – 4th Cat 11:00 - 3rd & Women only 12:00 – E123 13:15
Photos from Guy Swarbrick: The full set is at http://www.flickr.com/photos/swarbrick/sets/72157628360121763/
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More pictures from Dave Hayward: Elites & Category 3 and 4
Race 2 | Report from Week One
1st Steve Golla High Wycombe
2nd Rory Townsend Prestige VC
3rd Stephen Bradbury awcycles.co.uk
4th Jerzy Kuzminski London Phoenix
5th Ed Rose progression/bikelux
6th Pete Wager Felt-Colbornes RT
7th Henry Latimer Zappi’s CC
8th Vincent Halpern Handsling Racing
9th Arjan Planting Dulwhich Paragon
10th Phil Holloway Southend Wheelers
11th Peter Cole Handslingracing
12th Paul Drake London Dynamo
13th Jamie Pine London Dynamo
14th Steve Legg Police Sport UK
15th Matthew Carden Team Quest
16th Ralph De Kanter Norwood Paragon CC
17th Andrew Brown VC Peloton
18th Harry Strudley AWCycles.co.uk
19th Krisztian Borbely Cyclelab
20th Rudie Marais La Fuga/Sigma Sport
21st Samuel Gilzean Welwyn Wheelers
22nd James Norris High Wycombe CC
23rd Tom Bell Twickenham CC
24th Nicholas Baker Zappis
25th Nick Spiers Vivelo-Bikes/Inverse Cycaim RT
26th Andy Mckay Zappi
27th Ben Smith Welwyn Wheelers
28th Bill Butterworth Twickenham CC
29th Christian Yates East Grinstead CC
30th James Leach Twickenham CC
31st Ben Moores Norwood Paragon
32nd Tom Bowering WyndyMilla
33rd Martin Garratt London Dynamo
34th Geoff Powell High Wycombe CC
35th Iain Gillam Imperial College cc
36th Mark Smith Welwyn Wheelers
37th Robin Basford WyndyMilla
38th Nat Spurling Finsbury Park
39th Conall Yates InGear Quickvit RT
40th Henry Furniss WyndyMilla/MaxiFuel
3rd Category Race
1st Iain Palmer Twickenham CC
2nd Dominic Clegg Redhill CC
3rd Peter Giddings unattached
4th Phil Adams Cycle Club Ashwell
5th Tim Benham Wyndy Milla
6th Stuart Jackson Bath Road Club
7th Mark Northover CC Giro
8th Alex Burrage Loughborough Students CC
9th Alex Toghill Twickenham CC
10th Peter Hudson Durham University – AURA Cycles
11th Neil Heffernan Inverse Racing/Cyclaim
12th Ryan Visser Redhill cc
13th Carsten Duke London Dynamo
14th Richard Jerome Willesden CC
15th Ajelo Ghristides
16th Jonny Noton unattached
17th Edmond Irwin london fire brigade CC
18th Aaron Tayler Swindon RC
19th Alex Tollo unattached
20th James Walker High Wycombe CC
21st Joe Holloway VC10
22nd Callum Oliver Rapha Condor CC
23rd Mark Lawn Inverse Racing/Cyclaim
24th Taimur Tanwir London Dynamo/Prologue
25th Brian Stokes ViVelo-bikes/Inverse CyClaim RT
26th Richard Rose Bikelux Progression
27th Peter Hitt Mountain Trax RT
28th Tom Smith CC Hackney
29th Jacek Reder unattached
30th Steven Cottington Cadence RT
31st Lubomir Belak Team Welwyn
32nd Charles Sanders Cadence RT
33rd Alex Jump Dulwich Paragon
34th Ian Mckeown London Dynamo
35th Richard Stanton Arbis LLP – Roy Pink Cycles RT
36th Iain Cade Cadence RT
37th Andrew Harvey Kingston Wheelers
38th Adam Elderfield Team Quest
39th Nigel Burns St Ives CC
40th Robert Lemaster London Dynamo
41st Seb Greenwood Vivelo Bikes – Inverse RT / Cyclaim
42nd Andy Lack Kingston Wheelers
43rd Darren Waters Team De ver
44th Simon Hawkesworth unattached
45th Martin Porter Thames Velo
46th Myles Willis Dulwich Paragon
47th Rune Sanbeck Nilsson London Dynamo
Category 4
1st Rob Sharland Kingston Wheelers
2nd Jason Gardiner Kingston Wheelers
3rd Dan Mitchell Redhill CC
4th Daniel Stevens Neon-Digital.co.uk
5th Duncan Schwier Twickenham CC
6th Mark Longstaff Colchester Rovers
7th James Local London Dynamo
8th Stephen Morrell Aylesbury CC
9th Will Vousden unattached
10th John-Paul Brophy Neon-Digital.co.uk
11th Marc Townsend Neon-Digital.co.uk
12th Dave Spragg Kingston Wheelers
13th Michael Vance Dulwich Paragon
14th Alex Stephenson-Brown Wersters
15th Adam Capes London Dynamo
16th Glen Peterson London Dynamo
17th Alan Nixon Amersham RCC
18th Mike Holborow Swindon RC
19th Ed Everett Private member
20th Andrew Macey Ashford Wheelers
21st Phil Sowton Wyndymilla
22nd Stephen Ralston London Dynamo/Prologue
23rd Peter Blencowe Imperial College CC
24th Jasmijn Muller Kingston Wheelers CC
25th Hamish Wilson Redhill CC
26th Paul O’donnell Kingston Wheelers
27th Daniel Justin Dulwich Paragon CC
28th Jorge Alberzoni London Dynamo
29th Michael Tocknell London Dynamos
30th Andrew Deans london dynamo
31st Steven Green Thames Velo
32nd Andrew Rollason Private Member
33rd Emma Towers Twickenham CC
34th Tim Osborne High Wycombe CC
35th Matthew Crisp Private member
36th Mary Hannah Evans High Wycombe CC
37th Stuart Smith High Wycombe
38th Paul Morrissey High Wycombe CC
39th Richard Carrington London Dynamo
40th David Hitt
41st Jon Train Private Member
42nd Michael Clancy Dulwich Paragon
43rd Dewet Diener Finsbury Park CC
Overall
1. Steve Golla High Wycombe 3
2. Jamie Pine, London Dynamo 14
3. Peter Cole 16
3rd Cat
1st Iain Palmer Twickenham CC
2nd Dominic Clegg Redhill CC
3rd Peter Giddings Unattached
4th Cat
1st Rob Sharland Kingston Wheelers
2nd Jason Gardiner Kingston Wheelers
3rd Jorge Alberzoni London Dynamo
