Reading Track League 1 August 2011

The Dernies were out again on Monday night for the latest round of the Senior B Motor Paced Championship. A combination of the reduced programme for the Senior A riders and the start of the holiday season saw numbers down in the As, but there was no lack of determination as they set off after the large B field in the opening Hare and Hounds.

Full results & picture gallery

Of late, the catch has come with a lap or two to go but this week the As were on the back of the lead bunch with four laps still to go. Young B riders Max Brown of Didcot Phoenix and Jason Pitt of Palmer Park Velo were still some way off the front, but the As rode around the Bs as Pitt came back to the bunch, leaving Brown out on his own. Nick English of AW Cycles led the cavalry charge for the points, but team mate Matt Gittings came round off the last turn to take the win with Ian Greestreet of Newbury RC and Cam Swarbrick, also of AW Cycles also passing English in the run-in.

The large Senior B field required three Derny heats and the first saw Simon Dawson of Inverse RT set the pace, before being challenged on the last lap by both Paul Cooper of Reading CC and Rikki Pankhurst of AW Cycles. Cooper couldn’t quite hold on as the three riders and their pacers entered the home straight three abreast for the last time and it was Pankhurst and Dawson that qualified for the Final. Heat two saw Glenn Duffy of VC Meudon – winner of the previous round – dominate the race, only coming under pressure towards the end from Brown, who joined him in the Final. The third heat was pretty clear cut, with championship leader Pitt cruising in to the final with Trevor Bradbury of AW Cycles taking the last berth some way back.

The Ladies had a straight final and, although Ellie Gilham of Bournemouth Arrow led early on, Corrine Hall of Team Corridori soon took over at the front and was never challenged for the lead. Jayne Paine of Willesden CC overhauled Gilham, too, and settled in to second, with Sarra Boyd of Clee Cycles KCNC securing third towards the end of the race.

The Senior B final was a thriller with Duffy shadowing Pitt and looking set to come round him in the closing stages. Pitt was having none of it, though, and squeezed on the pace in the last two laps, finally forcing Duffy to lose contact with his pacer on the back straight on the final lap. Bradbury was a comfortable third.

The Senior A Points race was, again, dominated by AW Cycles’ Gittings who racked up 13 points out of a possible 20, comfortably ahead of English on 8. Run away Senior A championship leader Gittings – who leaves shortly to start a cycling-based scholarship at Marian University in Indiana – didn’t even contest the final sprint, allowing our resident Kiwi Peter Jenkins of Lewin CC to take the final sprint and third place overall with 6 points.

A very short unknown distance race saw Gittings take maximum points again, overhauling team mate Swarbrick – who’d broken away from the bunch on the back straight – to take another clean sweep of championship events. Swarbrick hung on for second with Martyn Harris of Banjo Cycles taking 3^rd. Bradbury got some revenge for the Derny final – taking the Senior B win from Pitt and Duffy – while Hall took the win in the Ladies category from Boyd and Gilham.

As ever, the evening ended with the AW Cycles 20k Endurance. Ten riders – containing all the usual suspects including English, Harris, Greenstreet and, of course, Gittings – got away early on and pulled out nearly half a lap over a fragmented field. It looked like the winner would certainly come from that group, but a determined effort by the remainder of the bunch – driven on by, in particular, Hall, Frazier Carr of AW Cycles and Stuart Stow of Hounslow & District Wheelers – gradually reeled them in. With four laps to go, the gap was down to a handful of bike lengths when the lead group finally reacted and started to pull away again. Hall managed to make the jump to them, but for the rest their valiant effort was over.

The sprint, as has become customary, was down to four riders – Gittings, Greenstreet, Swarbrick and Harris and it was the first three of those, by some margin, that took the top three positions. Stow’s reward for his work in pulling back the bunch was the Senior B win with Duffy and Pitt – despite their exertions in the Derny – managing to hold on for 2^nd and 3^rd. Hall took victory in the Ladies race with Boyd and Gilham taking 2^nd and 3^rd.

Senior A & B

Hare & Hounds
1 Matt GITTINGS AW Cycles
2 Ian GREENSTREET Newbury RC
3 Cam SWARBRICK AW Cycles

Senior A

Points Race
1 Matt GITTINGS AW Cycles 13 points
2 Nick ENGLISH AW Cycles 8 points
3 Peter JENKINS Levin CC 6 points

Unknown Distance
1 Matt GITTINGS AW Cycles
2 Cam SWARBRICK AW Cycles
3 Martyn HARRIS Banjo Cycles

AW Cycles 20k Endurance
1 Matt GITTINGS AW Cycles
2 Ian GREENSTREET Newbury RC
3 Cam SWARBRICK AW Cycles

Senior B

Derny Motor Paced Race
1 Jason PITT Palmer Park Velo
2 Glenn Duffy VC Meudon
3 Trevor BRADBURY AW Cycles

Unknown Distance
1 Trevor BRADBURY AW Cycles
2 Jason PITT Palmer Park Velo
3 Glenn DUFFY VC Meudon

AW Cycles 20k Endurance
1 Stuart STOW Hounslow & District Wheelers
2 Glenn DUFFY VC Meudon
3 Jason PITT Palmer Park Velo

Ladies

Derny Motor Paced Race
1 Corrine HALL Team Corridori
2 Jayne PAINE Willesden CC
3 Sarra BOYD Clee Cycles KCNC

Unknown Distance
1 Corrine HALL Team Corridori
2 Sarra BOYD Clee Cycles KCNC
3 Ellie GILHAM Bournemouth Arrow CC

AW Cycles 20k Endurance
1 Corrine HALL Team Corridori
2 Sarra BOYD Clee Cycles KCNC
3 Ellie GILHAM Bournemouth Arrow CC