Herne Hill Velodrome

07-07-10 Track League 12

Herne Hill and Bryan Taylor’s photos here.

• Overall League Table (Senior)
• Overall League Table (Youth)

Tour De France fever struck track league this week, with lots of attacking riding resulting in some very fast racing. With Symon Lewis away racing at the Guildford Criterium, Bryan Taylor took full advantage, winning all of the bunch races on the night. This took Bryan’s overall lead to a remarkable 49 points!

Before the adult racing kicked off, it was the youth’s turn. The Under 12’s racing was very competitive in the absence of Freddie Wright, with different race winners. Isaac Brown took the win in the scratch and the devil, but was beaten into second place by Alexander Dmochowski in the handicap sprint. Sutton CC’s Andrew Bradshaw dominated proceedings in the over 12’s racing taking 3 wins and even managed second in the handicap sprint, just behind Eleanor Holden. George Jary and Chris McGovern battled it out for second place on the night. The highlight of the night was the human powered derny race. After a tough 8 laps Bradshaw managed to power past the early leader Josh Cole-Hossain, who held off the chasing pack for 2^nd. In the under 12’s race after some clever tactical riding all girl pacer/rider team Melissa Bury and Georgie Hopkins pulled away from the field to win in style.

After the excitement of the Youth racing the adults were eager to get under way. Keith Coffey attacked from the gun in the opening race, setting the tone for the evening. The sprint for the line was won by Bryan Taylor, leading in Jason Cattermole & Iain Cook in a sprint clocked at 60kmph. Some of the favourites seemed to be caught out by the pace of the race with fast finisher Miles Stovold only managing 5^th despite overtaking many riders in the closing 200 metres and a disgruntled James Solly rolling in 7^th just outside the points.

Next up were the Devils with Graham Piece taking the honours in the B category event ahead of super youth Euan Cattermole. The A event was a fast and furious affair with Chris Goodman setting a thundering pace for the opening laps. Taylor dominated the sprint in the final lap, with Yasuyuki Sakurai, second, and James Solly, third. The devils were followed by points races for both categories. Pierce doubled his money with another good performance and a comfortable win ahead of the other B riders. Week 7 crash victim Daniel Casado marked his return to racing with a third place in the points. The A cats race stayed together for the first few sprints with Stovold proving he could hack the pace of the endurance riders and making the most of his opportunity to take some points. In the closing stages many of the stronger riders really put the hammer down, blowing the field to pieces. Taylor and Solly made the most of this, mopping up the remaining points and claiming first and second respectively.

The Sprint events for the night were the handicap sprint and the over 50’s and women’s match sprint. The calibre of the over 50’s & women’s sprint was the highest it has been in weeks with 2 under 16 riders Zoe Lewis and, all the way from Manchester, Mellissa Bury showing the experienced riders how it was done. Bury, who is the Rollapaluza National Champion and record holder, demonstrated she could convert high leg speed into victory on the track, beating Lewis and over 50 Andy Knight. Phil Watkins took the win in the handicap, moving himself into the top in the league overall.

The much awaited track stand competition gave the riders a break from the intensity of the racing and provided a great spectacle. Riders had to complete 2 minutes track standing normally, then 1 minute one handed, the next minute no handed and then if anyone was still standing no handed one footed for the remainder of the challenge. Five riders were still left after 3 minutes, but once forced to balance no handed Matt Theobalds and Iain Cook quickly fell, leaving Sakurai and brothers Jason and Euan Cattermole to contest the victory. The three made a no handed track stand look easy, even managing to stay balanced for a while with just one foot on the pedals. Sakurai was first to crack taking a respectable 3^rd with Jason outlasting his younger brother to take an epic victory.

After extra recovery time, provided by the track stand, the riders were ready for the finale of the evening, the 20k scratch. Described afterwards as ‘totally mental’ and the ‘hardest one this year’ this was a very tough race. Approaching the first prime Keith Coffey attacked with Cook on his wheel. Cook took the prime and the two kept the move going. They were subsequently joined by Solly, Keir Apperly, Jules Birks and Stuart Hourigan. After a few laps Cook couldn’t hack the intensity of the breakaway and returned to the main bunch. The lead 5 stayed away for a further 15 laps before being reeled in by the chasing bunch. The riders could have been forgiven for easing up and waiting for the sprint, but many still had strength in their legs. After more attacks from different riders it was Bryan Taylor who finally broke the elastic, riding away from the bunch with 2 laps to go. Cook won the bunch sprint ahead of Phil Watkins in third.