Team News – Velocity WD-40 on the Podium

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Alex Braybrooke second in Tom Simpson Memorial Junior Road Race for Velocity WD-40

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Team News – Velocity WD-40 on the Podium

TEAM RELEASE

Junior Report
On Sunday the 15th June, our junior team travelled to South Yorkshire for the Tommy Simpson Memorial Junior National Road Race.

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The riders faced a challenging course with last minute road works reducing the size of of the circuit leaving a tight 3 mile twisty and flat course.

It wasn’t long before the Velocity WD-40 boys were in the thick of the action with Alex Braybrooke going up the road, taking another rider with him, and gaining a thirty second advantage on the eighty strong peloton. This early move was closed down and for a short time afterwards the bunch seemed content to cruise for a few miles following a crash that required the race to be neutralised.

It wasn’t long before Alex initiated another breakaway this time taking Joey Walker with him from the RST racing team. The break soon grew to 40 seconds before another small group broke away working hard to form an expanded group of seven riders. This group proceeded to hold off the chasing Haribo-Beacon team for half of the race distance with Velocity WD-40 riders Matt Gibson, Jack Escritt and Fabian Brennan riding very maturely to disrupt and close down any attempts to bridge across to the escapees.

So it came down to the final lap with a 50 second gap but a charging peloton. The breakaway kept together and sprinted for the win with Alex taking an exceptional second place on the podium and bettering his third place from the previous round in the National Series.

Meanwhile back in the peloton Jack and Fabian decided to prepare the ground to deliver Matt Gibson for the bunch gallop which Matt duly delivered, taking seventh place overall. Credit to the Alex for his aggressive racing throughout the day and to the rest of the team for putting on a splendid all round team effort!

Youth Report
Also on Sunday, our youth team of Jake Beach, Adam Hartley, Matt Walls, Reece Wood all competed in final northern qualifying round of the National Track Omnium Series. This took the riders back to our familiar venue, the Manchester Velodrome.

Usually the riders compete in five events, mixing both sprint and endurance disciplines to determine the best “all rounder”. Unfortunately the day was somewhat marred by a series of crashes which required some hospital treatment. Hopefully all crash victims are recovering well. This forced a reduction in the race programme to only three races for the U16′s.

The name of the game was to stay out of trouble and qualify for the National Final in Welwyn come mid July. In summary, Matt Walls took three wins from three events with Reece hot on his heels in every race. Adam and Jake also fought hard and performed consistently throughout the day.

So great news for both Matt and Reece, who topped the qualifying table in 1st and 2nd place and will now go forward to the final in July. Adam and Jake finished outside of the five qualifying spots but took away some good experience from the event.

Miscellaneous News
This weekend also saw Jack Escritt travel over to Wolverhampton for the second Junior National Omnium. Jack was lying in second place with only the points race remaining and so he played a very tactical race keeping the leader right in front of him and taking the points to win the omnium overall and the second of the series. A great ride by Jack showing the teams capability in both road and track disciplines.

Earlier in the week, the Hartley brothers both rode in the Kent Valley Road Club evening 10 mile time trial on the Levens course in the South Lakes. Both lads managed to ride PB’s in the event with Lewis recording a fantastic time of 23:38 and Adam finishing 2nd overall (behind James Gullen) with a 20:53. Adam and Lewis are both entering the GHS national championship in September when they both aim to deliver top performances against the best juvenile riders in the country.

 

Other Results on VeloUK (including reports containing results)

Other News on VeloUK

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