Race Report: James King wins Wansbeck CC Australian Pursuit

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James King of Haribo Beacon, in his second race of 2014, is in winning form at the Wansbeck CC Australian Pursuit in the North East

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Here is a report from James King – see more on his website 

My second race of the season was the Wansbeck CC Australian Pursuit (March 16), up in Northumberland. The race covered 6 laps of a 12km circuit on grippy roads with a strong wind blowing. The race was a handicapped race with the first group setting off 8 minutes before me in the scratch group.

For the first 3 laps, the scratch group was working well to close the gap to the first and second groups, clawing 1 minute back after lap 1, and a further 3 minutes after lap 2. By the end of the third lap, it was all back together and didn’t take long for the first attack to take place.

The conditions were tough with the wind being exceptionally strong the break of 2 were brought back with just less than a lap to go. Some hard riding by James Moss, James Alder, Matt Kipling, Tom Timothy, and myself saw the gap to the break come down quickly and a natural selection occur whittling the race down to around 15 riders in the front group.

On the last lap, there were lots of attacks and the last 10km were very tough. The screw was really being turned! James Moss and myself got a reasonable gap with 6km to go and a couple of riders bridged across but got caught. The last 2km saw some last attempts to get away by some riders. Going into the last kilometre, everyone knew it was going to come down to a sprint… slightly uphill… into a block headwind…

I knew if I positioned myself right I would have a good chance of grabbing the win. I tried to leave it late but found myself getting squeezed up against the grass so as soon as I found a gap, I kicked for the line.

(Here is a video of the finish http://instagram.com/p/lmxlfFIgwr/ )

33 riders finished the race from a field of 80, which quantifies just how tough it was out there today.

I’m really happy to have won, a big thanks to the organisers for putting on a great race. My next race is the Coalville RR on April 6th, then the Tour of the Reservoir on April 12th-13th. As the team head to Majorca for a training camp next week, I’ll find myself in the Lake District on a Geology Field Trip mapping an area close to Ambleside and looking at rocks.

(Managed to get my heart rate as high as 210 in the sprint. So 220 minus your age would make me 10.)

1 James King HARIBO Beacon Cycling Team
2 Matthew Kipling Velo29 Events
3 James Moss Velosure – Giordana RT
4 Alex Luhrs PH-MAS Cycling
5 Ben Hetherington Achieve-Skinnergate Racing
6 Christopher Mark NRG/Godleys RT
7 Jordan Matthews Adept Precision RT/NE Healthca…
8 Charlie Tanfield Adept Precision RT/NE Healthca…
9 William Brown Achieve-Skinnergate Racing
10 Scott Auld PH-MAS Cycling
11 Thomas Timothy Achieve-Skinnergate Racing
12 Ralf Hodgson Marton Race Team
13 James Alder Cycleways Sports & Leisure
14 Neil Wallbank Sunderland Clarion CC
15 David Johnson Blumilk.com
16 Ian Lee Royal Air Force CC
17 James Edmond Ferryhill Wheelers CC
18 Chris Ranson Houghton Cycling Club
19 Ben Rowe Zappi’s Cycling Club
20 John Davidson Cestria Cycles RT
21 Bradley Tooze Derwentside CC
22 Charles Vincent Walkers Cycling Club
23 Neil Pendrich Gala Cycling Club
24 Joshua Ferguson Kuota – Spinergy – GSG
25 John Cann Blumilk.com
26 Chris Stewart Classic Racing Team
27 Adam Robertson Blumilk.com
28 Ethan Delaney Achieve-Skinnergate Racing
29 Steven Fullerton Darlington CC
30 Ben Honeysett NRG/Godleys RT
31 Colin Ash Cestria Cycles RT
32 Peter Boyes TS Racing Team-Vankru
33 Matty Cooper Achieve-Skinnergate Racing
34 Jonathan Bayley Gosforth RC
35 Stephen Walton Gosforth RC
36 Patrick Clark Tyneside Vagabonds CC

 

 

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