Report: Richard Kell Memorial Series Rd 1

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Michael Ford, Michelle Lee & Daniel Kell winners at the Richard Kell Memorial Series Rd 1 (Abingdon Airfield)

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Report: Richard Kell Memorial Series Rd 1

Abingdon Airfield | Saturday 3rd September | By Graham Robins

On a windy morning in Oxfordshire a hardy group of riders of all categories descended onto the Abingdon Airfield at Dalton Barracks for a morning on late season racing. The wide open 2.5km course lent itself to some fast racing as the riders negotiated the sweeping bends.

Michael Ford

The first race in the four round series welcomed 131 entries of all categories across the three races which were promoted by the Outdoor Traders Racing Team. First to take to the course was the 4th cats and the women with just a two minute gap between each race; the race duration was 45mins plus 3laps for each group.

Despite riders trying to clip off the front in the 4th cat race finally came down to a large bunch sprint which was won by Daniel Kell from the Gloucester City Team.

In the women’s race the difference in standard soon started to show when a strong group of ten riders forged ahead and got a clear gap as the remainder of the field began to split up. At the mid race point Michelle Lee (Team Milton Keynes) eased off the front and soon started to build herself a gap, but after being left to ‘fry’ she finally succumbed and dropped back but Lee was always the strongest rider and her time was soon to come again.

Michaelle Lee

With nearly 40mins of racing done Michelle Lee decided to make her move and she quickly put time into chasing group which was now down to eight. The gap went out to 20secs and this proved to be the decisive race winning move. At the bell Lee’s gap was now 40secs with the chasers content to fight it out for the remainder of the point. With win in the bag it was down to a sprint for second which was won by Private Member Harriette Machine just ahead of Catherine Coley (Ludlow Brewery RT).

The final race of the day for 2/3/4 riders was 50mins +3laps and apart from a couple of early attempts to escape the race stayed together for 15mins where upon Michael Ford (VC St Raphael), Michael Mevaney (Beeline RT) and Ross Horn (Cowley Road Condors) eased away from the bunch by 13secs. … continued after advert

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The three leading riders were holding their lead but Horn was finding it difficult and slipped away leaving Ford and Mevaney to push on with the bunch now some 30secs back. A few minutes later Mevaney succumbed to a rear wheel puncture leaving Ford on his own.

Behind our leader a group of four had joined up despite being 20secs down their lead over the bunch was over 40secs.The chasers were James Bevan, Jack Webb and Steven Williams all of the Army Cycling Union and Alex Fanshawe (Uni of Exeter). As the race time ticked away Michael Ford maintained his lead to around 40secs with the bunch now nearly a minute down. At the same time Williams slipped away leaving just three chasers.

With a win for Ford now assured it was left to Bevan to win the sprint for second followed by Fanshawe.

Provisional Results
2/3/4 Race
1st Michael Ford VC St Raphael 50mins +3laps
2nd James Bevan Army Cycling Union @40secs
3rd Alex Fanshawe Uni of Exeter @st
4th Jack Webb Army Cycling Union
5th Simon Jodrell HR Owen Maserati RT @50secs

Women
1st Michelle Lee Team MK
2nd Harriette Machine PM @48secs
3rd Catherine Coley Ludlow Brewery RT
4th Stephanie Foster Mickey Cranks CC
5th Gemma Stuart Mickey Cranks

4th Cats
1st Daniel Kell Gloucester City
2nd Elliott Maynard Team Bottrill
3rd Andrew Ruane Cowley Road Condors
4th Nicholas Sanderson Cowley Road
5th Luke Woolfson GS Henley

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