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Location: Hillingdon Circuit, London
Event: 26 December 2011
Report: Richard Collins/Snowdon Sports
London Dynamo rider Jamie Pine took over the lead in the Imperial Winter Series at Hillingdon when he secured a second consecutive victory in the Boxing Day event on Monday.
The Twickenham-based rider was notching up his third victory in the five rounds so far, and now leads the series by 40 points from High Wycombe CC rival Steve Golla.
An un-seasonally mild 13 degrees met a diminished field of competitors for the Boxing Day races; it did, however, feel a little more relaxed than previous weeks.
All the main contenders lined up for the E123 race and were clearly focused from the start. Rory Townsend (Prestige VC) (with most of his family supporting – no pressure!) and Conall Yates (InGear Quickvit) took off and made 40 seconds quite quickly.
Under pressure, the main group split into three with the chasing group comprising Steve Golla (High Wycombe), Pete Wager (Felt-Colbornes), Henry Furniss (WyndyMilla), Jamie Pine (London Dynamo), Arjan Planting (Dulwich Paragon), Phil Holloway (Southend Wheelers), Max Stedman (Palmer Park) and newcomer Nicholas Beale (Beeline Bikes).
With their lead diminishing the two leaders sat up and the two groups merged. This group surged and then eased up with several riders clearly thinking of the overall and others out for individual glory. The second group looked at times to be closing but eventually detonated under the pressure.
On the last lap Conall Yates leapt away for a long one but on the run in Jamie Pine catapulted himself to an unassailable lead, just too strong for the rest. Conall held on for second followed by a close knit group of Arjan Planting, Pete Wager, Rory Townsend and Steve Golla.
Twenty riders started the 4th cat race which, in the closing stages, was animated by Phil Sowton (WyndyMilla) – he took off solo, made a good gap and looked strong enough to stay away – sadly though he finally ran out of steam on the last lap.
Jono Adams (London Dynamo) took the bunch sprint from Darren Gardner (Cadence) and Neil McCann (VC Elan). Andrew Deans (London Dynamo) wins the random prize of the WyndyMilla bike fit.
The Ladies race saw a slightly disappointing field of 8 riders line up and although it started promisingly it fizzled out until the last lap – perhaps as a result of the size of the group? However, the final run in was exciting with Lydia Boylan (Look Mum No Hands!) winning from Keira McVitty (Kings Cliffe Flyers) and Kimberley English (Welwyn Wheelers).
A slightly bigger entry for the 3rd cats saw 4 riders - Nick Baker (Zappis), Dominic Clegg (Redhill CC), Werner van der Merwe (MarathonMTB) and Vaughan Luff - forged an early lead and with all of them working well they eventually lapped the main group with a few minutes to go. Rune Sanbeck Nilsson (London Dynamo) wins the random prize of the MaxiFuel pack.
Results:
E/1/2/3:
1 Jamie Pine (London Dynamo)
2 Conall Yates (In Gear-Quickvit)
3 Arjan Planting (Dulwich Paragon)
4 Peter Wager (Felt Colbornes)
5 Rory Townsend (Prestige VC)
6 Steve Golla (High Wycombe CC)
7 Phil Holloway (Southend Wheelers)
8 Nicholas Beale (Beeline Bikes)
9 Henry Furniss (WyndyMilla)
10 Andrew Ghagan (WyndyMilla)
3rd Cat:
1 Nicholas Baker (Zappi’s CC)
2 Dominic Clegg (Redhill CC)
3 Werner Van Der Merwe (Marathom MBC.com)
4 Vaughan Luff (Team De Ver)
5 Jake Norman (WyndyMilla)
6 Ajelo Ghristides (unattached)
4th Cat:
1 Jono Adams (London Dynamo)
2 Darren Gardner (Cadence)
3 Neil McCann (VC Elan)
4 Will Humphries (Dulwich Paragon)
5 Michael Vance (Dulwich Paragon)
6 Andrew Macey (Ashford Wheelers)
Women:
1 Lydia Boylan (Look Mum No Hands)
2 Keira McVitty (Kings CLiffe Flyers)
3 Kimberley English (Welwyn Wheelers)
4 Emily Bagnall (WyndyMilla)
5 Jacky Gibbens (London Dynamo)
6 Lydia Rodney (Kingston 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.
