7th July 2004

The Lancaster CC Club Circuit Race Championship was held on the Salt Ayre Circuit on Wednesday 7th July and despite a poor turn out on a dry but windy evening the race turned out to be hard fought and produced a worthy winner. With such a small field the racing could have been very negative with no one willing to commit to attacking but this was not the case with a series of attacks throughout the race that lasted 45 minutes plus 5 laps. This gave a race distance of close to 25 miles in a total time of around 57 minutes showing the good pace throughout. Brian Kennedy was the first victim of the speed, retiring before half distance and then after a series of attacks, mainly by Jim Andrews, Mick Roy lost contact with the group. Jim continued trying to get away, alternating attacks with Gary Bowker and Gary Lee, but Nev Pearson was quick to close down all the moves in the hope of a sprint finish. The pace eventually wore down Gary Lee and he lost contact in the closing laps as the attempts to break up the group continued. Gary Bowker saved his best attack until the last lap and going from half-a-lap out held on by less than a bike length from Jim Andrews with Nev Pearson, worn down by chasing repeatedly and unable to produce the expected sprint, in third.

The event was organised for Lancaster Cycling Club by the Pearson family as, whilst Nev had done the pre-event organising, Julian provided lap scoring & judging whist Jan took charge of the first aid kit and provided vocal encouragement and sympathy for the retirees.

Copyright © 2004 - Bob Muir (01/04/2004)