A crash in the Final of the Senior B Keirin brought this week’s meeting to a premature end, with neither of Senior categories’ Derny Finals or the AW Cycles 20k Endurance race taking place. Fortunately, neither of the riders involved – Sam Grant of Beyond Mountain Bikes or Simon Ansell of Pedal On – was seriously hurt.
The evening opened with the combined A &B VIA International 10 Lap Scratch race was unusually uneventful, with riders taking it in turn to maintain the pace, before the inevitable final lap gallop. AW Cycles’ Stephen Bradbury and William Macke took the first two places with Ian Greenstreet of Newbury RC preventing an AW 1-2-3, taking third ahead of Cam Swarbrick.
Trevor Bradbury made it a family affair, giving AW Cycles top spot in the B race, too – leading home Max Brown of Didcot Phoenix and Jason Pitt of Palmer Park Velo.
The Final of the Men’s Individual Pursuit was a tough one to call. In qualifying on the 9th of May, defending champion Nick English had booked his berth in the final with a 5:15 – over 4 seconds ahead of second placed AW Cycles team mate Matt Gittings. With Gittings improving every time he takes to the track on a pursuit bike, it looked as though we were in for a treat. In the event, English went off like a train and never looked in any danger, easing out to what was, give or take a hundredth, an eleven second lead by the finish.
In the first heat of the Junior Individual Pursuit Harry Strudley of AW Cycles set the benchmark – coming from behind to overhaul team mate Macke on the last lap of a tight race – clocking 3:40.45. Macke’s time of 3:41.30 put him a very close second, with Jason Pitt of Palmer Park Velo in third at 3:52.42.
The second heat saw three AW Cycles riders – Swarbrick, Bradbury and Frazier Carr – line up with Max Brown. Swarbrick and Carr were just a second apart in last month’s Senior Pursuit heats, finishing 4th and 5th and another close race looked on the cards. Both riders went hard from the start with Carr ahead for the first lap and a half. Neither could keep up the pace of their opening kilometre, but it was Carr that started to feel the early effort first and Swarbrick slowly eased out a lead – finishing just over 3 seconds up at 3:34.55 to Carr’s 3:37.70. Swarbrick took the title, with Carr 2nd and Strudley 3rd.
The only other event completed on the night was the Unknown Distance – taken by guest rider John McClelland of Agiskovoner on what was almost certainly his only Reading Track League appearance of the season – ahead of Harris, Greenstreet and Bradbury Junior. Bradbury Senior took second in the Bs, just behind James Pilgrim-Morris of GS Henley with the unfortunate Simon Ansell of Pedal On third.
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Senior Men’s 4k Individual Pursuit Final (9 laps)
1 Nick ENGLISH AW Cycles 5:09.39
2 Matt GITTINGS AW Cycles 5:20.38
Junior Men’s 3k Individual Pursuit Final (6 laps)
1 Cam SWARBRICK AW Cycles 3:34.55
2 Frazier CARR AW Cycles 3:37.70
3 Harry STRUDLEY AW Cycles 3:40.45
4 William MACKE AW Cycles 3:41.30
5 Stephen BRADBURY AW Cycles 3:43.37
6 Jason PITT Palmer Park Velo 3:52.42
7 Max BROWN Didcot Phoenix 4:00.86
Senior A
VIA International 10 Lap Scratch
1 Stephen BRADBURY AW Cycles
2 William MACKE AW Cycles
3 Ian GREENSTREET Newbury RC
Unknown Distance
1 John McCLELLAND Agiscoviner.com
2 Ian GREENSTREET Newbury RC
3 Martyn HARRIS Banjo Cycles
4 Stephen BRADBURY AW Cycles
Senior B
VIA International 10 Lap Scratch
1 Trevor BRADBURY AW Cycles
2 Max BROWN Didcot Phoenix
3 Jason PITT Palmer Park Velo
Unknown Distance
1 James PILGRIM-MORRIS GS Henley
2 Trevor BRADBURY AW Cycles
3 Simon ANSELL Pedal On
