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Herne Hill Track League
June 16, Story posted May 23
After a few border-line rainy weeks where riders were put off but the racing still went ahead, Herne Hill Velodrome was treated to a glorious evening; blue skies all round-produced fantastic racing. Back to claim their title of Kings of the (Herne) Hill, Bryan Taylor and Symon Lewis once again battled it out with close super fast racing. At the moment they both seem to leave everyone else for dead.
Tonight saw sprint events added to the programme to the delight of the regular riders who love to embrace all disciplines on the track (see http://www.hernehillvelodrome.com/whats-on/special-sunday-training-track-league-sessions for dates of when special events are planned). Racing kicking off at 6:30pm seeing the youth riders demonstrate to the seniors that they will need to watch out in the next few years.
Max Bergin kicked off the night showing Freddie Wright he won't be having it all his own way with Charlotte Cole-Hossain pulling out all the stops to claim third just ahead of Stanley Sorrel. Racing was very close tonight and has been all year so far. Andrew Bradsaw claims top stop at the half way point of the year with fellow Sutton CC/De Ver rider Chris Mcgovern in second place. In the under 12s, Freddie Wright is running away in the standings with a scorching 160 points over the ever improving Charlotte Cole-Hossain.
Senior racing kicked off Symon Lewis’ campaign against Bryan Taylor scoring an early victory in the first warm up race edging Taylor to the line. Super Youth Euan Cattermole finished 4th showing his is well on the way back to recovery after a long virus stopping play. Zoe Lewis - another of our super youths managed to finish every race against all of the B men.
Sprints dominated the programme tonight and with our local sprinters away in the gym it was left to Simon Schmidt who unfortunately crashed out in the Semi final. Lewis, Taylor and none other than Matthew Theobalds - who must be one of our most improved riders - fought it out in the final. A very close sprint saw Taylor just edge Lewis to the line after a lead out from Theobolds. Minor final was taking easily by Iain Cook over Chris Cole.
Corrine Hall on fine form at the moment not only winning the B points race but destroying all her opposition! By being on the attack for most of the race Corrine really showed gutsy determination, and then went on to win the +50 and women’s dash. Senior B devil looked to be taken by Euan Cattermole but in the final moments Carlos Conceicao put it in 5th gear and pushed hard to the line to take victory form Euan. Tony Allen, with a few good results over the last few weeks is climbing the standings very fast with a 3rd in the B devil.
The A point’s race was the closest race of the year, a great spectacle to watch. Taylor looked to have this race in the bag but a well-timed attack from Lewis saw him gain 6 points easily. Jules Birks went with this break claiming 3 points and it looked like they may stay away, especially once Taylor bridged the gap to join them. However, with this weeks windy conditions the three were brought back quickly. It was down to the final sprint between Lewis and Taylor in the middle of the bunch for last lap placing rather than more points. Taylor well placed again, just edging Lewis to the line.
Right from the gun of the last event - an Unknown distance scratch race - Yasu Sakurai pre-empted Jim Robertson’s traditional move, and attacked! He gained a huge gap before the bunch remembered there two primes up for grabs and started picking up the pace to bring him back. A few efforts did look promising including a break with Warren, Lewis, Taylor, Birks and Sakurai the stronger riders in the field but these efforts came to nothing.
Simon Lewis was very active throughout the race claimed 2nd overall and the two primes. Taylor stormed to victory with Cook claiming 3rd followed by Birks and Cole. Thanks goes to Redmond CC for supplying the generous prize money for the evening.
Click here to view the results
