Location: Wicklewood, Norfolk
Event: 12 May 2013
Report: Snowdon Sports
Andy Hastings (Finchley RT) won the Bob Whitear Memorial Road Race at a canter after putting in a series of devastating attacks throughout the race.
There was a strong wind blowing across the circuit which featured a few hills and some tight bends, making for an open race.
Hastings, 32, made sure he was in the bunch before stepping up the pace on the second lap. Twelve other riders managed to stay with the Ware rider and they went on to open up a gap of 2:40 on the rest of the field.
The leading bunch was repeatedly whittled down by an in-form Hastings and by the time he crossed the line, he was on his own with a gap of over two minutes behind him.
James Fox of Luton CC was second to cross the line and he was also on his own with Ian Knight (Team Corley Cycles) 30 seconds back.
The rest of the top seven all crossed the line on their own before the other entrants filtered through in smaller groups.
Speaking after the race, Andy said: “I felt pretty good, it was a really good win. It was just one of those days. I could see people tiring and decided to try few things. It all seemed to come off.
“I wanted to break and get to end with as few with me as possible. I much prefer a solo win than having to come through a sprint at the end.
“We got the bunch down to 13 with the first attack on lap two on a draggy part into the head wind. Then opened up a gap of 2:40 on the bunch and then I attacked again in exact same spot, getting it down to nine.
“I’m feeling at my best now. In April, I had two weeks training in Majorca and that’s starting to pay off now. I want to try get road results, it’s nice to get results in the time trials too but it’s the road race results I’m after really.”
Results:
1 Andy Hastings (Finchley RT)
2 James Fox (Luton CC)
3 Ian Knight (Team Corley Cycles)
4 Malcolm Smith (St Ives CC)
5 Jonathan Shuster (Team Corley Cycles)
6 Andy Lyons (Twenty3c.co.uk)
7 Chris Guy (Iceni Velo)
8 Chris Bartlett (Metaltek)
9 Felix Barker (St Ives CC)
10 Billy-Joe Whenman (Zannata CT)
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