Venue: Ostlers Plantation, 13 November 2011
Report: John Cotton
Rapha Condor Sharp road pro Graham Briggs sprinted to victory ahead of Mark Cotton (Bycka Sport Racing) in the Boston Wheelers Lincolnshire Cyclo Cross event held at the Ostlers Plantation course near Woodhall Spa.
Cotton made a fast start leading into the first corner followed by Jon Wells (VC Lincoln), Rick Lister (Gabby day Cyclesport RT) and Gareth Whittall (Clay Cross RT) with Briggs making a slow start back in 10th.
Cotton pushed hard at the front moving clear of his rivals while Briggs was moving through the field and had caught up to 3rd with Whittall by the end of the opening lap. Cotton continued with an attacking performance at the front and gained a 10 to 15 second lead while Briggs moved clear into 2nd with Lister and Wells catching passing Whittall who had pitted for a change of wheel.
After 4 laps of chasing hard Briggs eventually reeled in Cotton on the start/finish straight where his strength and flat line speed was too much for Cotton to defend. The duo settled into another battle for the victory as they did on this course in 2009.
With Cotton being in front solo for over half the race and Briggs chasing hard to bridge the gap both riders seemed ready to settle in and wait until the final stages of the race to strike for victory. Behind, the race for third was as enthralling as the one for victory with Wells and Lister exchanging blows.
Wells seemed to gain an advantage on a number of occasions but could not quite stretch out a sufficient lead with Lister fighting back each time refusing to surrender and showing superior skill in the technical sections to close any gap down.
Over the final lap the lead changed several times at the front with both Cotton and Briggs jockeying for the all important lead through the technically challenging course for the finish straight. It was the experienced road sprinter Briggs who made the final decisive move getting into one of the final corners ahead of Cotton as they battled hard for the inside line shoulder to shoulder.
Briggs then had the important lead with just a few hundred meters left and no space for passing in the woods until the finish straight. Briggs got to the final corner first and kicked hard to the line while Cotton acknowledged the renowned road sprinter had defeated him rolling over the line a couple of seconds later.
For Lincolnshire Champion Cotton it was the 5th time he had been runner up at this venue in the Senior race. "This is the 2nd time Graham has edged me out in a close finish on this course but we enjoyed a good hard fought race on a fantastic course, it was a great race to be in."
Just under 2 minutes later the battle for third came down to sprint finish with a similar fight for the front. The experience of Lister showed as the former County Champion (and three time victor on this course) came out of the last corner first and held off Wells all the way to the line.
Adam Ellis (Spalding CC) turned in an excellent performance to take victory in the vets category and 7th overall while Pete Harris (Pearce Cycles) was the first Over 50 and Jordan Gell (VC Lincoln) was the top Junior.
Results
Seniors:
1 Graham Briggs Raph Condor Sharp 7 laps in 55:09
2 Mark Cotton Bycka Sport Racing at 0:02
3 Rick Lister Gabby Day Cyclesport RT at 1:46
4 Jon Wells VC Lincoln at 1:46
5 Neil Richardson RAF CC at 2:33
6 Gareth Whittall Caly Cross RT at 3:20
7 Adam Ellis Spalding CC 1st Vet at 3 :21
8 Mark Preston VC Lincoln at 3:32
9 Leigh Andrews Zepnat RT at 3:32
10 Charlie Porter Boston Wheelers at 3:33
11 Pete Harris Pearce Cycles 1st 50+ at 3:35
12 Darryl Hewson Alford Wheelers at 4:20
13 Anthony White Cannondale Mount Zoom 2nd Vet at 4:27
14 Jordan Gell VC Lincoln 1st Junior at 5:06
15 Martin Kennedy VC Lincoln at 5:06
16 Asa Elkington Hawkins Conservation at 6:06
17 Aaron Tuplin Cherry Valley RT at 6:09
18 Martin Pearson RAF CC at 6:30
19 Richard Hamblin Sleaford Whelers at 6:47
20 Martin MacGregor VC Lincoln at 6:55
21 Martyn Gammidge 3rd Vet at 6:57
22 Mark Robinson Shefrec CC 2nd 50+ at 6:58
23 Martin White Boston Wheelers 4th Vet at 7:57
24 Craig Thursby Hawkins Conservation at 7:59
25 Darren Smith Boston Wheelers at 8:44
26 Paul Bonnett Skegness Wheelers at 8:52
27 Phil Heyes Skegness Wheelers 3rd 50+ at 8:56
28 Premek Jasnikowski Spalding CC at 9:10
29 Graham Illingworth 5th Vet at 10:03
30 Shane Norton Spalding CC at 1 lap
31 Clayton Maltby VC Lincoln
32 Jimmy Armstrong VC Lincoln 6th Vet
33 Sam Mullenger VC Lincoln
34 Eddy Loftus Lincsquad 7th Vet
35 Bary Gray VC Lincoln
36 George Hackney Lincoln Wheelers
37 Henry Heyes Skegness Wheelers
38 D Chamberlain Spalding CC 4th 50+
39 Sean East Witham Wheelers 8th Vet
40 Jody Bett VC Lincoln
41 Adrew Fraser VC Lincoln 9th Vet
42 Karl Fraser Sleaford Wheelers 10th Vet
43 Jack Wilson
44 Doug Malcolm RAF CC 11th Vet
45 Adam De Smit VC Lincoln 2nd Junior
46 Gavin Skyes VC Lincoln 12th Vet
47 Simon Santry Spalding CC 13th Vet
48 Tim Kingswood Yello Velo 14th Vet
49 Steve Potter Lindsey Roads 15th Vet
50 Paul Dann Lincoln Wheelers 16th Vet
51 Chris Crawford Witham Wheelers 17th Vet
52 E Taylor Yello Velo
53 Andy Stewart -
54 Tom Webster Spalding CC 18th Vet
55 Paul Andrews VC Lincoln 5th 50+
56 Andy Pack Spalding CC 19th Vet
57 Dan Carr Yello Velo
58 Stephen Collins Bourne Wheelers 20th Vet
59 Terry Biesty Scunthorpe Poly 1st 60+
60 John Bateman Vegatarian C and A 6th 50+
61 Simon Cocker Witham Wheelers 7th 50+
62 Graham McAndrew Spalding CC 21st Vet
63 Harry Bellars Spalding CC 3rd Junior
64 Gary Bentley Spalding CC 8th 50+
65 Simon Tyson 22nd Vet
66 Charlie Thomas at 2 laps
67 Stewart Elderkin Spalding CC 23rd Vet
68 Kenton Jones 4th Junior
69 John Armstrong 9th 50+ at 3 laps
70 James Miles 5th Junior
71 Paul Kendall Spalding CC 24th Vet
72 Karen Crawford Witham Wheelers 1st Lady
Youth:
1 Henry Thompson Sleaford Wheelers 4 laps in 25:51
2 Sam Bentley Spalding CC at 0:35
3 Campbell Pollock Bourne Wheelers at 0:58
4 Jake Peel Spalding CC at 1:04
5 Josh Snodin Melton Olympic at 1:08
6 Sian Botteley Bourne Wheelers 1st Girl at 1:11
7 Jennifer McAndrew Spalding CC 2nd Girl at 1:31
8 Max Williamson Lincsquad 1st U14 at 1:47
9 Tilly Wilks VC Lincoln 3rd Gril
10 James Armstrong VC Lincoln 2nd U14
11 Reece Moradakhan Spalding CC 3rd U14
12 Daniel Burton Bourne Wheelers 4th U14
13 Robbie Sturdy Lincsquad 5th U14
14 Harriet Moore Spalding CC 4th Girl, 6th U14
15 Aaron Bateman Bourne Wheelers 7th U14
16 Thomas Webster Spalding CC 8th U14
17 Joseph Collins Bourne Wheelers 9th U14
18 Louise Beedham Lincsquad 5th Girl, 10th U14
19 Maddie Gammons Bourne Wheelers 6th Girl, 11th U14
20 Elearnor Crawford Witham Wheelers 7th Girl, 12th U14
21 Jack Bunn VC Lincoln 13th U14
22 Riley Payne Bourne Wheelers 14th U14
23 Adam Botteley Bourne Wheelers 15th U14
24 Luke Fraser VC Lincoln 16th U14
25 Isabel Dann VC Lincoln 8th Girl, 17th U14
Under-12s:
1 Jake Norton Spalding CC 17 min 15
2 Matthew Ellis Spalding CC at S.T.
3 Robert McAndrew Spalding CC
4 Kerrigan Robb Witham Wheelers
5 Bradley Sprogis VC lincoln
6 Jacob Santry Spalding CC
7 Warren Eve Spalding CC
8 Cameron Neilson Bourne Wheelers
9 Christopher Hilbert VC lincoln
10 James Broughton VC lincoln
11 Abgail Armstrong VC lincoln 1st Girl
12 Alexander Armstrong VC lincoln
13 Alex Galpin Bourne Wheelers
14 Megan Kendall Spalding CC 2nd Girl
15 Daniel Turner VC lincoln
16 Alex Gammons Bourne Wheelers
17 Dan Galpin Bourne Wheelers
18 Ben Norton Spalding CC
19 Jake Hewson Alford Wheelers
20 Jake Kennedy VC lincoln
21 Flynn Thursby Boston Wheelers
22 Thomas Smith Boston Wheelers
23 Adam Smith Spalding CC
24 Oliver Carr Yello Velo
25 Oliver Lindsey Boston Wheelers
British Cycling would like to thank the organising team, officials and everyone else who helped promote this event. Our sport could not exist without the hundreds of people, many of them unpaid volunteers, who put in many hours of hard work running events, activities and clubs.
