Report – Sotonia Park & Ride Crit 2015

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Mike Smith, Annabel Fisher and  Sam Baker winners at the Sotonia Park and Ride Crits at Winchester on Sunday

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Report – Sotonia Park & Ride Crit 2015
by Graham Robins | Sunday 9th August

After initialising a gap for himself Mike Smith (cycleworks.co.uk) then continued to finish the job of by sprinting away from three riders on the last lap to solo to a six second win at the Sotonia crit race held at the South Winchester Park &Ride.

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The race for the E/1/2 was 60mins plus 5 laps of the one kilometre track. The first ten minutes of racing saw the bunch pretty much together but with the team of Cycleworks taking turns on the front to force the pace. On the twenty minute mark Smith along with team mate Ben Marks finally broke away and started to build a lead which went out to 15secs. The other riders from Cycleworks tried to cover the front of the bunch as the two started to stretch away.

With a gap now formed Smith dropped Marks and set about putting time into the bunch, his lead went out to over 20secs and he maintained this lead until the 40mins mark when three riders took up the charge. Andy Shackel (Team Wiggle) and Lewis Atkins (Pedal Heaven) close the gap and they pulled across Ben Marks as an Allie for Smith. It took these three a further five minutes to make the catch.

With time running out the four leaders built up a lead of 34secs over two chasers James Champken (VC St Raphael) and Calum Gillespie (Cycleworks.co.uk) and forty seconds over the remainder of the bunch. At 53mins Shackel punctures a rear wheel and takes a lap out the change it, then rejoins.

The lead remained static until the bell when Smith attacked down the back straight to distance the others and with Marks not repaired to help it was all over as Smith soloed to the line to get his hands in the air with a full six seconds to spare. Lewis Atkins won the sprint with Shackel for second and third with Ben Marks taking fourth. Simon Holt (Pedal Heaven) took the sprint for fifth in the depleted bunch rolled to the line.

Earlier in the day Annabel Fisher (Bonito Squadra) ran out winner after a three rider sprint on the line as she piped Helen Baillie-Strong) and Rebecca Carter (Team WNT) after the three had lead for most of the 35min race. Tracey Corbett (Les Fillies) had managed to get back across having been dropped earlier but all the effort saw her drop back again in the dying stages of the race.

The third cat race was won by Sam Baker (Wightlink LSM Systems), his second in a row at the venue, but this time he didn’t leave it so late this time and sprinted clear with 100 meters to go.

Provisional Results

E/1/2
1st Mike Smith Cycleworks.co.uk
2nd Lewis Atkins Pedal Heaven @6secs
3rd Andy Shackel Team Wiggle @st
4th Mike Smith Cycleworks.co.uk
5th Simon Holt Pedal Heaven
6th Rob Sharland Team Wiggle
7th James Champken VC St Raphael
8th Calum Gillespie Cycleworks.co.uk
9th George Stainton-Ellis ASL Projects
10th Kieran Blay Cycleworks.co.uk

Women
1st Annabel Fisher Bonito Squadra
2nd Helen Ballie-Strong Liv New Zealand
3rd Rebecca Carter Team WNT
4th Tracy Corbett Les Fillies
5th Anna Morris SURC
6th Jaz Jones Cardiff Uni
7th Ruth Martin 700cc
8th Joe Holton 700cc

3rd Cat
1st Sam Baker Wightlink LCM Systems
2nd Alex Hart Sarum Velo
3rd Scott Chappell Behind The Bikeshed
4th Ben Scott-Munden Sotonia
5th Nicholas O’Hara 3C cyclexperience
6th Joe Hickerton Eden Veranda Racing

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