Location: Hillingdon Cycle Circuit, London
Event: 22 December 2012
Report: Snowdon Sports & Imperial Racing Team
Metaltek-Scott rider Tony Gibb secured his third victory in four rounds of the Imperial Winter Series staged at the Hillingdon circuit in London on Saturday.
The 36-year-old from new High Wycombe powered to victory – once again pipping Vince Halpern (Handsling Racing) to victory.
44-year-old Acton rider Halpern held off Jo Skelton (Look Mum No Hands) for the runner-up spot.
The Neon-Velo Prime went to Redhill CC’s Ryan Visser, while Jerry Collingwood (Portsmouth North End CC) took second and Daniel Tamplin (Aylesbury CC) third.
Cosmo Kendros (Wyndymilla-UK Youth) won the third cat race, the 30-year-old beating Kingston Wheelers’ Greg Wiltshire, while Neil Wasss (TMG Horizon RT) won the third cat prime, sponsored by Neon-Velo.
William McAvock (London Dynamo) was the victor in the fourth cat race, and also won the respective Neon-Velo Prime.
It was touch and go whether the racing could go ahead with the south end of the circuit almost completely flooded. However, with some determined effort as much water as possible was swept away with an area coned off.
This enabled racing to go ahead with a little extra care from the riders and they did well in carefully negotiating the flooded area. The weather also reduced the fields in all three categories considerably.
It was agreed to let the least experienced seven 4th Cat riders start 1 minute ahead of the main group in order that they could get used to the conditions and this seemed to work very well.
They were a group of varying abilities and were caught before the Neon Velo Prime was contested and this was taken by Scott Shepherd (London Dynamo) from team mate Will McAvock and Huw Jones (Coffee#1).
For the remainder of the race the bunch stayed together and the finish was contested by a good sprint, which was very quick and clean, with a fine judged effort by McAvock holding off Spencer Robinson and James Bird.
The random prize is awarded to 23rd place finisher Shane Townsend (Westerley CC) who will ‘go faster’ courtesy of a WyndyMilla cycle fitting at their Manor Farm Cycle Centre.
The 3rd Cat race started behind the Elite group as usual with last week's 4th Cat winner Alex Tinsley (Twickenham CC) riding aggressively and attacking several times, perhaps too many times? However, the Prime was contested by the main group with Neil Wass (TMG Horizon RT) taking it from consistent Ed Rose of Progression Bikelux with Simon Oxenham (VC10) picking up the remaining points.
From this the ride of the afternoon came from Cosmo Kedros of series sponsor WyndyMilla, who broke away on his own, steadily building up a commanding lead (including passing through the E123 race!), finally finishing over a minute clear at the line. Greg Wiltshire (Kingston Wheelers) took second place from consistent finisher Simon Oxenham with Alex Tinsley still placing fourth after his earlier efforts.
The Maxifuel random prize is awarded to 6th place finisher Ed Rose (Progression/Bikelux) who receives a Maxifuel rucksack comprising of Viperactive energy fuel, gels and bottles.
The Elite Race started slowly, but after 10 km Twickenham CC rider Graham Crow took off on his own and managed to stay clear for several laps and being joined by several other riders, but their efforts were short lived and Martin Garratt (London Dynamo) working hard at the front pulled the reluctant group back to the breakaways, only to retire later.
Robin Basford (WyndyMilla) then tried and managed to break away and stay away for a while. The Neon Velo Prime loomed up with Ryan Visser (Redhill CC) judging his effort well to take it from Jerry Collingwood (PNE), who continued his good form from previous weeks and Daniel Tamplin (Aylesbury CC) taking third place.
The pace slowed almost to a crawl and the 3rd Cat race leader caught them back and went past; all this played into the hands of Tony Gibb (Metaltek-Scott) and a group sprint was inevitable and indeed with 100m to go Gibb hit the front and managed to hold off a very fast finishing Vince Halpern (Handsling Racing) with Look Mum No Hands! rider Jo Skelton, taking third place from Tom Smith (Felt-Colbornes RT).
All very fast finishes, with Jake Martin (unattached) 5th, Phil Holloway (Southend Wheelers) sixth and Jerry Collingwood hanging in for 7th.
Results:
E123
1st y 36 Tony Gibb Metaltek - Scott 1
2nd y 23 Vincent Halpern Handsling Racing 1
3rd y 46 Jo Skelton Look mum no hands! 3
Neon-Velo Prime
1st y 58 Ryan Visser Redhill CC 2
2nd y 12 Jerry Collingwood Portsmouth North End CC 2
3rd y 6 Daniel Tamplin Aylesbury CC 2
3rd Cat
1st w 61 Cosmo Kedros WyndyMilla UK Youth 3
2nd w 13 Greg Wiltshire Kingston Wheelers 3
3rd w 27 Simon Oxenham VC10 3V
Neon-Velo Prime
1st w 25 Neil Wass TMG Horizon RT 3
2nd w 44 Ed Rose Progression/Bikelux 3
3rd w 27 Simon Oxenham VC10 3V
4th Cat
1st r 98 William McAvock London Dynamo 4
2nd r107 Spencer Robinson unattached 4
3rd r 75 James Bird unattached 4
Neon-Velo Prime
1st r 98 William McAvock London Dynamo 4
2nd r 68 Scott Shepherd London Dynamo 4
3rd r 22 Huw Jones Coffee#1 4
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