A hot Ipswich Bicycle Club Men’s Road Race, with a blistering early pace to match, climaxed in a debut win for Charlie Jones, helped by the disciplined teamwork of his DAP teammates, writes Fergus Muir.
It was reportedly 28 mph for the first two laps and the average was still 27.2 after the third time round a new triangular circuit passing through Chillesford.
Riding off the front of the bunch was therefore a tall order, especially with a well organised DAP team sending a member to slip in behind every attacker.
On the final lap Sam Yates (Strada Sport) attacked hard and wide into a corner. Peter Fuller (VC Norwich) was able to come through on a tighter line, but found the inevitable DAP man on his wheel. It was Jones, who later described how he: “Sat on his (Fuller’s) wheel until he began to tire, I then moved to take a turn...”
Jones upped the pace, and Fuller was dropped. The DAP man held his lead through the final three miles and last corner to the line, where Ipswich BC riders William Hughes and Chris Parker took second and third.
The women’s race was even hotter – though the Tunstall Forest trees afforded some cover. The field split near Chillesford on the first lap with eight riders in the lead group.
With Cindy Berry of Pedal Power Ipswich and a Les Filles co-conspirator discouraging any efforts of the bunch to close the gap, this break was never caught.
Annaleen Bosma led out, but it was Sophie Edmondson who won the sprint from Diss race winner Nicola Oh, Sophie Lankford and Gemma Melton of Pedal Power Ipswich.
Meanwhile, Ross Fawcett (Pedal Power Ipswich) outsprinted Elite rider Matt Webster to win the final round of the Suffolk Cycle Race Series in Ipswich. They were 11 seconds clear of Gareth Turner, Charlie Wright and Laurence Kirby.
Rebecca Johnson completed her set of women’s wins, but it was Gemma Melton who took the mid race “prime” sprint. In the race for third and fourth cat men Doug Allen of Velo Schils just beat Jack Parrish over the line.
In the Shaftesbury CC 50 mile time trial on the Newmarket bypass Matthew Smith finished in a remarkable 1:35:47 on his home course. The win, however went to Marcin Bialoblocki in a new national record time of 1:30:31. Matthew Senter (VeloVelocity) was seventh in 1:39:37and Andy Proffitt (Ipswich BC) 11th in 1:41:31.
Other local riders’ times included 1:49:24 from Leon West (Sudbury CC), 1:49:44 from Richard Carrington (West Suffolk Wheelers) and 2:03:12 from Mandy Bunn (CC Sudbury).
In the Diss CC 10 on the Billingford to Needham and back course on the Norfolk/Suffolk border rider Ben Stancombe (VeloVelocity) set a new course record of 20:17. He sped through the parched cornfields to slice 31 seconds off Mark Richards’ 2017 record and led clubmates Stuart Fairweather (20:30) and Daniel Bloy (20:34) to a clean sweep of the top places.
Sue Triplow (Essex Roads CC, 24:34) was fastest woman.
Matthew Smith knocked two seconds off his 15 mile national record in the CC Breckland evening event at Morley.
VeloVelocity set up a new team record with Ben Stancombe (29:35), Daniel Bloy 29:51) and Matthew Senter (29:38) while Matt O’Brien was top Plomesgate CC finisher in 30:37.
Anna Muir (Chelmer CC, 22:37) was women’s winner of the Anglia Velo 10 also at Morley, ahead of Becky Schofield (Tri-Anglia, 23:21) and Julia Freeman (Easterley RC, 23:22). Matt Senter (Velovelocity, 19:05) was top man.
In the wider world, Jason Bouttell of Newmarket took third place in the mountain bike cross-country national championships. “I’m happy with that”, he said. “A good course and top event.”
Finally, it is sad to be reporting the death of Don Forsbrook, a long serving member of the Wolsey Road Club. Don died just a couple of weeks short of his 90th birthday.
The funeral will be Monday 6th August, 2.15pm at Ipswich Crematorium.
RESULTS
DISS CC 10, Billingford: 1 Ben Stancombe (VeloVelocity) 20:17, 2 Stuart Fairweather (VeloVelocity) 20:30, 3 Daniel Bloy (VeloVelocity) 20:34, 4 Joe Spaulding (Ipswich BC) 20:49, 5 Matt O’Brien (Plomesgate CC) 21:03, 6 Nick Partridge (Plomesgate CC) 21:44. Women 1 Sue Triplow (Essex Roads) 24:34, 2 Kay Burgess (King’s Lynn CC) 24:54, 3 Jan Smith (Great Yarmouth CC) 25:13.
ANGLIA VELO 10, Morley: 1 Matthew Senter (Velovelocity) 19:05, 2 Stuart Fairweather (Velovelocity) 19:39, 3 Matt O’Brien (Plomesgate CC) 19:43, 4 Ben Stancombe (Velovelocity) 19:58, 5 Ryan Witchell (Salesengine) 20:23, 6 Steven Neill (Kings Lynn CC) 20:36. Women: Anna Muir (Chelmer CC) 22:37.
CC BRECKLAND 15, Morley: 1 Matthew Smith (DRAG2ZERO) 28:27, 2 Ben Stancombe (Velovelocity) 29:35, 3 Matthew Senter (Velovelocity) 29:38,4 Daniel Bloy (Velovelocity) 29:51,5 Harley Matthews (DAP CC) 30:04, 6 Matt O’Brien (Plomesgate CC) 30:37.t
Women: 1 Katja Rietdorf (Born to Bike) 33:41, 2 Cindy Berry (Pedal Power Ipswich) 33:48. Tandems 1 Gary Pamment & Barry MacDonald (3T Racing) 30:19.
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