Location: Hillingdon circuit, London
Event: 9 February 2013
Report: Snowdon Sports

Victory in the final round of the Imperial Winter Series went to Robert Willcocks (RAF CC), while the overall series win went to Tony Gibb (The Pack Racing).

Willcocks, 31 and based in Aylesbury, mastered the cold and wet conditions at the Hillingdon circuit to take victory ahead of his three breakaway rivals in the E123 race.

Meanwhile, Team V-Sprint Racing rider William Goulbourne won the third cat race for a second consecutive week, and Will Greig (SWRouleurs) stepped up from second in last week’s fourth cat race to win the fi race of the series.

Early snow gave way to freezing rain during the race, and the wet track contributed to the outcome of the race.

A slow start where riders got used to the conditions gave way to a flurry of attacks, and Willcocks was one of the first to break away, ploughing on alone for a while before three attackers managed to bridge across the gap and join him at the front.

“I was feeling quite strong, and we had a good chain gang going,” said Willcocks, who works as ground crew in the Royal Air Force. “We soon caught the tail of the race and lapped the main field.

“Over the last few laps we knew we weren’t going to be caught, but we still carried on pushing, mainly to keep warm!

“We started getting twitchy on the final couple of laps and trying to conserve energy for a sprint. But Conall Yates tried a long range attack which strung us out a bit, but we just managed to hold on.

“He led it out for the rest of us, and I was third wheel. As soon as Pete Wager went for it I followed him and came up off his wheel to take the win.”

Willcocks has finished third and fourth in recent rounds of the Imperial Winter Series.

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