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Report: Herne Hill Track League
Event: 11th May 2011
Promoted by: VCL
Venue: Herne Hill Velodrome, London
Report: Tom Freke, Dulwich Paragon
Above: Image from Herne Hill Velodrome's Flickr
With the sun setting later and later, Wednesday league racing at Herne Hill is in full swing. It was my first league race of the season, and with only a couple of weeks' of training in my legs, I was a bit uncertain of how it would go. After racing in the A Cat bunch last year, this time around I thought I'd utilise Herne Hill's flexible category system, go easy on myself and roll round with the B Cats and see what happened.
A big turnout of youth riders meant competitive racing from off, with handicap sprints a challenge for riders and handicap-setters alike. Fast-starting Hayden Cassidy followed his heat win with a clear victory in the handicap sprint, ahead of Freddy Wright and Charlotte Cole-Hossain?. Meanwhile, in the hare and hounds Freddie, Charlotte and the other Under 12s- the hares - managed to stay away from the large pack of hounds, triggering a fair amount of chat between frustrated riders at the end of the race. Later on, the under 16 handicap saw a close finish between Aidan Woolven and Abi van Twisk - Aidan just edged it.
The senior racing started, as ever, with the warm-up race. The first 10 laps went at an easy pace but as the race proper started with 5 to go, Jake Martin launched the first of many attacks. However, he was quickly pulled back and, when a break failed to stick, the race slowed dramatically. I found myself close to the front but never put myself in the wind. However, as the pace never picked up, I drifted back through the pack, not backing myself in the last lap sprint. Symon Lewis won a fast sprint from John Coolahan and Jake Martin.
The B scratch race followed, a mixed race of small attacks and mini breaks. This was more my style and it was fun linking up with other Dulwich teammates to ensure we were in position at the end. I went over the line in the first group, my teammate third. The win was taken by Tom Bell followed by Rob Thatcher and Ben Jacobs.
A big field of A cat riders saw Jake again at the head of their scratch race, replaced by other riders, including Keir Apperley, making a go of it at the front. However, the attacks fell away and it ended up a bunch sprint led out with some ease by Team Terminator's speedy John Coolahan.
Not surprisingly, in the heat for the handicap sprint the Terminator rider had a lot of ground to make up but with a roar as he got the gear spinning, John caught most of his rivals quickly. He eased over the line alongside Alex Christians to qualify. In the second heat Tom Phillips and Cyril Rothermundt took the qualification spots, while Graham Pierce and Corrine Hall went through from the third heat. In the final, it was Tom Phillips who help them off while John Coolahan couldn't get over the massing bunch in time.
Next up was the win out, the race that usually throws up a surprise or two. The B race saw Andy O'Regan win the race, followed by Will McFarland and Carlos Conceicao and Tom Bell. Win-outs are always chaotic and very difficult to plan. I stayed around the front looking for an opportunity to take a sprint without doing too much work - I pushed for third and sprinted for fourth but just missed it. In the A race, Symon Lewis took an easy win, followed by Jake Martin and Chris Dick in his first track league of the year.
With such a big field, the B devil started at a high pace as racers sought to get ahead of the dreaded back end of the field. While some people love the cut and thrust of the devil, tonight my heart wasn't in it and I exited in the first round, a bit annoyed at myself for not pushing on in the first lap and getting out of the danger zone. The field soon whittled down and Tom Bell, Will McFarland and Carlos Conceicao took the top three spots.
The A devil looked a more organised race, though the size of the group still saw a number of quick riders get called out earlier than they might have expected. As people might have expected, Jake led the field around and in the final sprint it was between him and Symon Lewis for the victory. Lewis took the close-fought sprint, ahead of Jake and Jason Cattermole.
With the sun already setting, riders began to pack up the evening but not before one last race - an unknown distance. Again, Jake set off up the road, followed by a number of other faster riders, not wanting to miss out on any primes or a sudden end to the race. It worked so much as to take a prime. Jason Cattermole took another later one, clearly focussing more on the prime than the final sprint which was won from a long sprint by comeback kid Tony Lock from Symon Lewis and and impressive ride by Tony Allen.
Week 4 Results - 11/05/2011
Race 1 Youth Under 12 Scratch Race League Points
1st Charlotte Cole-Hossain 6
2nd Freddy Wright 5
3rd Rachel Jary 4
4th Isaac Brown 3
5th Hayden Cassidy 2
6th Stanley Sorrell 1
Race 2 Youth Over 12 Scratch Race
1st Andrew Bradshaw 6
2nd Josh Cole-Hossain 5
3rd George Jary 4
4th Aidan Woolven 3
5th Harrison Coombes 2
6th Abi Van Twisk 1
Race 3 Youth Under 12 Devil
1st Freddy Wright 6
2nd Charlotte Cole-Hossain 5
3rd Freddy Wright 4
4th Isaac Brown 3
5th Hayden Cassidy 2
6th Max O'Dowd 1
Race 4 Youth Over 12 Devil
1st Josh Cole-Hossain 6
2nd Harrison Coombes 5
3rd Sam Judd 4
4th George Jary 3
5th Aidan Woolven 2
6th Abi Van Twisk 1
Race 5 Senior A+B Warm-Up Race
1st Symon Lewis 6
2nd John Coolahan 5
3rd Jake Martin 4
4th Euan Cattermole 3
5th Kieran Laurie 2
6th Philip Watkins 1
Race 6 Youth All in Hare and Hounds
1st Freddy Wright 6
2nd Charlotte Cole-Hossain 5
3rd Josh Cole-Hossain 4
4th Harrison Coombes 3
5th Chris McGovern 2
6th Sam Judd 1
Race 7 Senior B Scratch
1st Tom Bell 0.6
2nd Rob Tatcher 0.5
3rd Ben Jacobs 0.4
4th Andy Pollintims 0.3
5th Mark McCullagh 0.2
6th Paul Butler 0.1
Race 8 Senior A Devil
1st John Coolahan 6
2nd Jason Cattermole 5
3rd James Holland-Leader 4
4th Symon Lewis 3
5th Jules Birks 2
6th Tony Allen 1
Race 9 Youth C+D Handicap Sprint Final
1st Hayden Cassidy 6
2nd Freddy Wright 5
3rd Charlotte Cole-Hossain 4
4th Isaac Brown 3
5th Max O'Dowd 2
6th Amelia Coombes 1
Race 10 Youth A+B Handicap Sprint Final
1st Aidan Woolven 6
2nd Abi Van Twisk 5
3rd Sam Judd 4
4th Chris McGovern 3
5th Andrew Bradshaw 2
6th Harrison Coombes 1
Race 11 Senior B Winout
1st Andy O'Regan 0.6
2nd Will McFarland 0.5
3rd Carlos Conceicao 0.4
4th Tom Bell 0.3
5th Alex Cozens 0.2
6th Matthew Pilkington 0.1
Race 12 Senior A Winout
1st Symon Lewis 6
2nd Jake Martin 5
3rd Chris Dick 4
4th James Holland-Leader 3
5th Andrew Snowball 2
6th Chris Cole 1
Race 13 Over 50s & Women Sprint
1st Andy O'Regan 6
2nd Jim Robertson 5
3rd Doug Conroy 4
4th Maria Stefano 3
Race 14 Senior B Devil
1st Tom Bell 0.6
2nd Will McFarland 0.5
3rd Carlos Conceicao 0.4
4th Matthew Pilkington 0.3
5th Graham Pierce 0.2
6th Andy Pollintims 0.1
Race 15 Senior A Devil
1st Symon Lewis 6
2nd Jake Martin 5
3rd Jason Cattermole 4
4th Tony Lock 3
5th Kieran Laurie 2
6th Tony Allen 1
Race 16 Senior A+B Handicap Sprint Final
1st Tom Phillips 6
2nd Cyrill Rothermundt 5
3rd Graham Pierce 4
4th Corrine Hall 3
5th Tom Bell 2
6th Alex Christians 1
Race 17 Senior A+B Unknown Distance
1st Tony Lock
2nd Symon Lewis
3rd Tony Allen
4th Alex Christians
5th James Clark
6th Julian Dale
Prime 1 Jake Martin
Prime 2 Jason Cattermole
