Wordsworth provides a Poetic Finish to a Very Wet Evening

Another rainy, miserable evening around the Etton course on roads covered in grit from the earlier deluges we’d had the week before. The riders, too, looked miserable in the rain, certainly wet through, but those I spoke to told me they’d had a good race.

There were 35 signed on and we were able to have four groups. The first group comprised Dave Millson, John Askew, Chris Goode, Mark Dicconson, Matthew Enticknap, Digby Rusling, Chris Jordan, Alan Gay and Sam Dyason.

Four minutes later we set Steve Macklin, Mark Walker, Matt Barratt, Mark Ollerenshaw, Andrew Johnson, Matt Shipley, Paul Hickman, Martin Cockerill, Peter Fielding-Smith and John Brearley off.

Only half a dozen riders in group three and after another two minutes had elapsed James Wagstaff, Jason Benham, Richard Moore, Matt Fenton, Dave Compston and Vince Cartwright joined in the fray (or should I say spray?)

Only three riders left for the scratch group, Mark Wordsworth, James Sampson and Alastair Kay, so we let them off with only a minute’s handicap.

He didn’t know it until the event but Vince Cartwright had a comfortable lead in the points competition but that disappeared when he punctured. There were bound to be punctures on a night like this and there were a few riders unlucky; Mark Dicconson managed it in both back and front tyres.

The scratch group caught up with group three, who I suspect were waiting to be caught, after three laps. The three back groups came together after four laps but it was only in the last couple of miles that the leading group were overtaken.

Lap times:

Everyone seemed to be working hard, but it was a real storming finish from Mark Wordsworth who easily took Ali Kay and Dave Compston well before the line.

For those who wish to understand how the points work, it’s 15, 12, 10, 8,7,6,5,4,3,2 for the first ten and then 1 each for positions 11th to 20th . In addition there are two bonus points for the first in each group except the winner.

Result