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Report: John May Memorial RR
Event: 8th May 2011
Promoted by : John Wright/Wakefield Cycling Club
Location: Sharlston Miners' Welfare Club
Report: Andy May
Event Details
The weather forecast of persistent rain was thankfully wrong and the full field of 68 riders who started the 35th annual John May memorial road race did so in blustery wind but clear(ish) skies. Ridden over a circuit which passes through Sharlston, along Normanton bypass then along the A655 through Warmfield the 10 lap race distance covers a total of 110 km/ 68.35 miles and always produces a worthy winner. Today was no exception.
Unusually the field stayed together for the first two laps and indeed the only thing of note that happened were a couple of nasty crashes which unfortunately needed medical attention. The decisive selection came on lap three when Gunner Granlune of Twenty 3C, Chris Daddy of Starbikes RT, Josh Cole of Sportscover, Dillon Byrne of Herbalife/ Wheelbase and last years winner, James Sharp of York Cycleworks broke clear of the field. Working well together they quickly built a 1 minute + lead on the bunch.
On lap five, with the leaders riding away a splinter group of 6 went off the front of the bunch and tried to bridge the gap. They were Jake Tanner of Sportscover, Grahame Sumner of GB Fire Service RT, Jack Cutsforth of Herbalife/ Wheelbase, Carl Sturgeon of Lutterworth CC, David Shackleton of Wilsons Wheels RT and Dieter Droger of Team CF. Although they managed to hold the leaders to 1 minute 20 seconds they never threatened to get across.
The second half of the race remained the same with three distinct groups all staying the same distance apart, no one managing to improve their position. All five riders in the lead group had looked impressive during the race and no one knew who would have the legs in the sprint until Dillon Byrne and James Sharp crested the hill 500 yards from the line clear of the other 3. It was a valiant attempt to defend his title by James but he was out gunned on the day by elite rider Dillon Byrne who crossed the line with enough distance in hand to afford the traditional two handed celebration.
Wakefield CC would like to thank the commissaire, marshalls, all the other helpers and especially the National Escort Group (N.E.G) as without them it would have been extremely difficult to manage the multiple accidents that unfortunately occurred during the race. Finally they would also like to wish a speedy recovery to all those involved in the aforementioned accidents.
RESULT
1 Dillon Byrne Herbalife/ Wheelbase
2 James Sharp York Cycleworks
3 Gunner Granlune Twenty 3C
4 Josh Cole Sportscover
5 Chris Daddy Starbikes RT
6 Jack Cutsforth Herbalife/ Wheelbase
7 David Shackleton Wilsons Wheels RT
8 Jake Tanner Sportscover
9 Dieter Droger Team CF
10 Carl Sturgeon Lutterworth CC
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.
