I suppose you could say this was a balmy evening (or barmy, perhaps?) with weather more akin to the Mediterranean rather than East Yorkshire. Of the 58 starters, 51 of them completed the course.

Groups were

Group One: Mark Love, Rob Stones, Glen Harrison, Simon Pickering, Jodie Brumhead and Nicky Moore

Group Two: David Atkin, John Hopper, Craig Medcalf, Steve Cooper, Paul Campbell, Steven Waterall, Chris Holland, Phil Bixby, Neil Dean, Tim Jackson, Gary Knowles, Lee Coulson, Tom Fleming, Nathan Chester, Cameron Brooks, Graham Lonsdale, Adam Yates, Richard Cutsforth, Simon Donoghue, Andrew Carroll, Brad Palmer and Christian Jordan

Group Three: Tony Goundry, Martin Cockerill, Benjamin Bell, Carl Martin, Mark Walker, Paul Waddington, Matthew Enticknap, Lee Watson, Adam Oliver, Rob Brown, Steve Macklin and Paul Hickman

Group Four: David Brearley, Rob Busby, Lewis Jackson, Stephen Swales, John Brearley, Colin Baldwin, Mike Moss, Dean Fulstow and Garry Fulstow

Group Five:  Adam Duggleby, Matthew Fenton, Nathan Wilson, Richard Moore, David Shackleton, Chris Daddy, Peter Fielding-Smith, Chris Clark and Steve Ward.

The girls were set off a couple of minutes before the field and the parcours is so short that they completed the first circuit just as the scratch group were starting and were able to latch on to the back but they didn’t last long. It did take group one two laps to catch them and they were able to stay with them for a while, in fact Jodie did really well hanging on until lap 6.

Remarkable how almost everyone stayed together; it’s not exactly the flattest of courses but it was what is supposedly called a ‘fast’ night. Lap times for each group were fairly consistent.

What looked like a ‘Cancellara’ style protest was enacted at the finish by the scratch group – presumably because the handicap allowances were too much in favour of the early groups. This may be so. The early groups were certainly going around faster than anticipated, but they weren’t losing anybody. Group four started slower than group three; something wrong here and suggests they were waiting for the scratch group to come up and work for them. Handicap racing is about not losing even an inch of any advantage you’re given; look at the way they race in Belgium. Another possibility is that the group was waiting for Adam Duggleby to boost the speed at the back of the field; but why should he when all his main rivals are in the back groups and he already has a good lead? The first three riders in the points overall are from the scratch group, as are six riders out of the top ten. The handicap allowance from front to back was a minute less than the last event and the effectiveness of this depends on the conditions – if it’s hard , ie windy, cold or wet, the elite win, and if it’s easy they lose.

On the whole it was a good race and most enjoyed it; a large group moving fast along narrow roads without accidents apart from the odd puncture says a lot for the way racing has improved. In any case. I only had one complaint. Let’s see what the next event brings, again on the Etton course.

Result Event Six    7 Laps of Etton Circuit,   8th July, 2010

 Points after 6 Events