Rider Report: Alex Paton’s Winning Ways

Alex Paton is back to winning ways after victory in the fifth round of the SERRL Summer Series on April 7 at Bethersden, Nr Ashford, Kent

By Alex Paton (Team Gwb-ACTiV)

Having not originally planned to do this race, I managed to get an entry in due to people cancelling their pre entry. With the awful weather being the main topic of conversation lately, it was a major surprise to see the sun out and almost some mild temperatures.

Today’s race was 100km, on a 20km loop and with no major hills, it was looking to be a fast/bunched up race. Team GWB – ACTiV had a good showing for the race, Phill Lenney, Ross Bryan, Shaun Duffield, Aaron Dewhurst and myself.

The race had a very leisurely pace for the first part, with very few moves and people mostly trying to avoid the minefield of pot holes on the course. Ross was the first guy to make a real showing at the front, chasing a rider just up the road and having a few digs at the front. This finally got the race started proper and people gradually became more active and willing to race.

There were many attacks, however only a small handful that had any real success. Shaun covered a few and reeled some people back in. I had tried a couple of times to get away, with no real success, only staying a few seconds up the road in a small group for a short time. Nothing really stayed away.

At the mid way point, Phil Lenny became a bit more active. We tried a couple of times to get away but still nothing while Aaron was in the mix at the head of the bunch, always near the action. Although in the closing stages of the race suffered with cramp and this ended his race.

Doubting myself on the laps remaining, I thought if it was the last lap, I best get a move on, get stuck in and make something of the race. Two riders were up the road by about 30 seconds. Up a small rise, I attacked and Phill and I chased hard eventually catching the two leaders. As we caught them, the bunch caught us. With my legs hurting, but relying on thinking so were everyone else’s, I kept attacking until I got away alone.

This would have been ideal but as I headed to the finish line alone, just before the line, I was told by a motorbike Marshall it was one lap to go! Uh oh, and I thought should I cut the move or I should just man up and stick it out for the last lap (20km). With some brutal efforts, and a bit of race controlling by the team, I pulled out just over 1 minute lead, which I held to the finish.

Â Shaun Duffield Team Gwb-ACTiV

1st place – not had one of those for a while so I was pretty pleased. Other members of the team came in with the bunch sprint, Phill was up the front with the others slightly back. A good day had by all and good team presence.

Looking forward to a somewhat tougher toachim GP next week! Team Blog is here: http://www.teamgwb.co.uk/blog/

Result
1st Alex Paton Team Gwb-ACTiV
2nd Jonathan Harris GS Avanti
3rd Craig Barton 4t+Velo CC
4th Mark Smith Crawley Wheelers
5th Phil Lenney Team Gwb
6th fraser wildman PMR@Toachim House
7th Kevin Newland 4T+ Velo Club
8th Craig Joy PMR@Team Toachim
9th Nigel Langridge Crawley Wheelers
10th Stuart Adair Redhill
11th Steven Warnett 4T+ Velo Club
12th Phillip Jemmison Redhill CC
13th Os Assem Finchley RT
14th Jason Oram Thanet rc
15th Shaun Duffield Team Gwb-ACTiV
16th Phil Hoffman San Fairy Ann CC
17th Stephen Cavey Catford Cycling Club
18th Moritz Jobke Private
19th Stephen Sorba Dulwich Paragon
20th Simon Fox CC Luton
21st Keith Watson
22nd Ben Weeks Norwood Paragon
23rd Ross Bryan Team Gwb-ACTiV
24th Sam Bradford PMR@ToachimHouse
25th David Kennett Norwood Paragon C.C.
26th Keith Walker Wigmore CC
27th stuart baldwin 4T+ Velo
28th Alex McKerrell
29th Marco Coppola Gemini BC
30th Scott Gilchrist 4T+ Velo Club
31st Joe Hyatt Brighton Mitre CC
32nd Richard Jones Abellio â€“ SFA Racing
33rd Valentino Fontana Gemini BC
34th Alex Cohen Finsbury Park CC
35th Colin Roshier Team Quest