Location: Cyclopark, Gravesend, Kent
Event: 15 January 2012
Report: Snowdon Sports
Conall Yates (In Gear-Quickvit RT) secured victory in round six of the South East Road Race League’s Winter Series at the Cyclopark in Gravesend on Sunday.
The 31-year-old from East Sussex was riding the Series for the first time. He only really begun road racing last season having been concentrating on time trialling for much of his career, and he only attended the Cyclopark to take nephew Liam Yates to try his hand at road racing.
But his time trialling pedigree put him at a distinct advantage, as he attacked virtually from the start, and after being pulled back a couple of times he finally forced the elastic to snap and flew off the front to take victory by an eventual margin of more than two minutes.
David Murrell (London Phoenix CC) took second spot after attacking off the front of the bunch in search of Yates, but he crossed the line in no man’s land, a couple of minutes behind Yates but a minute ahead of third-placed Jason Edwards (GB MS Tina).
Both races were run off on a cold and damp circuit, although early fog had mostly lifted by the time the racing started.
In the 3/4 cat race, Matt Barlow (Essex Roads CC) secured victory at the sixth time of asking, after crossing the line second in each of the previous five rounds.
The 25-year-old Leigh on Sea rider is clearly in good form at the moment, having won the third round of the East London Velo Series at Redbridge 24 hours earlier.
He held off VC Elan youngster Sam Bradford for the win, while the 18-year-old Ramsgate rider took second ahead of 16-year-old Sebastian Dickson (Thanet RC).
What they said:
“I only really went there to take my nephew Liam for the 3/4 cat race because he’s not done road racing before and wanted to have a go, so I thought I would have a go as well,” said Conall Yates.
“I’ve been doing the Imperial Winter Series at Hillingdon, but I wanted to see what the Cyclopark track is like. It’s quite technical! Some of the bends are quite sharp and with the fog and damp circuit it could be quite difficult.
“I had a few digs early on from the bottom of the hill but it didn’t work out because of the long drag to the finish line, and by the time you get to the top people are still on you, so I sat at the back until just under the bridge and I eventually got a gap that time.
“I’m enjoying road racing at the moment. I’m going to mix it up a bit this season with some time trials and some road races. I’ve entered the Perfs Pedal Race, but I’m not really too sure what I’ll do after that.”
Results:
E/1/2:
1 Conall Yates (In Gear-Quickvit) 1:38:00
2 David Murrell (London Phoenix) @ 2:00
3 Jason Edwards (GB MS Tina) @ 3:00
4 Stoyk Bussarov (WyndyMilla)
5 Ashley Holding (GB MS Tina)
6 Malcolm Davies (Aprire RT)
7 Chris Dick (London Phoenix)
8 Keith Walker (Wigmore CC)
9 Marco Coppola (Gemini BC)
10 Cosmo Kedros (WyndyMilla)
3/4:
1 Matt Barlow (Essex Roads CC) 1:37:00
2 Sam Bradford (VC Elan)
3 Sebastian Dickson (Thanet RC)
4 Mark McCullagh (Dulwich Paragon)
5 Nick White (East London Velo)
6 Ryan Visser (Redhill CC)
7 Patrick Hawkins (Dulwich Paragon)
8 Jez McCann (VC Elan)
9 Michael Williams (Dulwich Paragon)
10 Jack Finch (PM Racing)
Youth: Sebastian Dickson.
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.
