After the previous week’s nightmare at Ilkley, the Team Swift road race at nearby Walkington on Sunday 11th May offered the chance for redemption for the Hull Thursday Racing Team and in particular myself (Mark Walker).

It wasn’t going to be an easy task, however, with myself and Danny Posnett opting for the 60 miles 2/3/4 category race in the afternoon with Will Thomas and Matt Johnson making the wise decision to race in the 3/4 cat race in the morning. The weather wasn’t great either with heavy showers forecast.

Mistimed sprint

I arrived just in time to see the finish of the 3/4 race with Will right at the head of the bunch as they came to the line. Unfortunately he’d just mistimed his sprint finish and faded to around 20th place and was clearly annoyed at himself for doing so. Matt unfortunately had been dropped much earlier in the race, struggling to cope with the descent on junior gears.

Next up it was our turn. The rain had stayed away for a while but as we grouped together for the roll out at the HQ in Bishop Burton around 12.30pm, the heavens opened. So far the weather has been relatively kind to us this year with most of the races having been run in the dry, but our luck had run out this time. The roll out to the course consisted of us and the participants in the women’s race. Just a few years ago you’d struggle to see 2 or 3 women racing round here, so it was great to see a bunch of about 30/40 riders. We had to be split eventually though so as not to confuse things before the start. Our race headed off first with the women starting about a minute behind us so as to avoid a situation where the two races merged together.

Comfortable

By the time we started the rain had eased but the spray from the riders caused a few visibility problems. Lacking confidence in my strength after the previous week, I was pleasantly surprised to see how comfortable I felt but in truth this was partly due to a headwind up the long drag to High Hunsley making the pace at the front that bit slower.

By lap 2 we gained an extra competitor. Out of one of the junctions came Pete Fielding-Smith (Wilson Wheels) who had managed to miss the roll out and then get a bit lost. My understanding was he could now no longer get a result from the race, due to his late arrival, but was allowed to join in with us.

For the first few laps the racing was rather dull with very few attacks. I’d learned my lesson from the previous week by getting to the front as much as I could but I wasn’t willing to chance my arm by attacking so far from the finish. Other than an attack from Steve Guymer (Clay Cross RT) on lap 2, and another heavy rain shower, not a lot really happened.

Squadra attacking

However that changed on lap 4 with the mighty Squadra RT attacking in unison. I along with a few others pulled the first attack back but by the time the second wave of attacks came on the next lap, it was pretty much game over. One by one riders attacked but my legs weren’t up to the task unfortunately. We tried to pull things back but a group of 12 had now established up front and they were clearly much more powerful. First we heard the gap was 30 seconds and then it soon increased to a minute.

The Wilsons Wheels combination of Miles Flather and Pete Fielding Smith tried to orchestrate a chase but I was having none of it. I was starting to suffer up the drag by this point. Not so much because of the gradient but more due to the wind, which had now become a head to cross. Danny on the other hand seemed to be relishing the weather and was consistently taking turns. With hindsight he perhaps did a bit too much but you can’t fault him for trying.

Hanging on

With just 2 laps to go, the gap was a minute and a half to the group of 12 up front. Our group had also deteriorated with just 20 or so riders left going. I was once again hanging on for dear life up the drag to High Hunsley but I knew if I could survive this particular section I’d be OK. However, we all had to avoid a rather large branch which had come on to the course. Unfortunately, not all of us managed to avoid it with Tony Goundry (Active Copiers RT) apparently getting caught behind a rider who’d got the branch stuck in his wheel causing them to both get dropped.

Onto the last lap and I was starting to get inspired by the cheers on the sidelines from the crowd and the fact there was only about 12 miles left to go. My motivation to chase improved somewhat further when we caught another rider from the group up front meaning there was a few more points up for grabs (first 15 get points in 2/3/4 races).

Lead out

I’d done a few turns and survived the wind around High Hunsley, leaving just the descent and the final kick up to the finish. I’d positioned myself well and was hoping to lead out Danny. However once we hit the drag to the line my legs just buckled beneath me. I had to apologise to Danny as he whizzed passed me. Unfortunately for Danny he missed out on the points by one place coming in 16th. I was about 20 seconds in arrears finishing in 24th place. In fact there wasn’t many more that had finished with only about 30 left at the finish which made me content with my ride all things considered.

With the weather and the competition it had been a classic of a race to ride in. Alex Dalton (Squadra) was the winner on the day by winning the sprint to the line. Not only had he managed to beat some tough competition but he’d done so on junior gears! Think it’s safe to say he’s not a bad rider all said and told.

Luck and experience

Overall a pleasing ride, personally, and had we had a bit more luck and perhaps a bit more experience here and there we might have come away with some points as our guys rode really strongly.

The next event for the team is the Batley Road Race on 25th May. I’ve personally got a race to be fit for that one after my tumble midweek, otherwise we’ll only have a one man team consisting of Will Thomas.

Result – Mens’ 2/3/4 Cat Race

1 ALEX DALTON (SQUADRA RT)
2 CHRIS BARNES (ZEPNAT)
3 STEVEN GUYMER (CLAY CROSS RT)
4 JACOB TROTTER (SQUADRA RT)
5 NICHOLAS BARNES (ZEPNAT)
6 JAMES ALLEN (LANGSETT CYCLES)
7 RICHARD MOORE (SQUADRA RT)
8 DANIEL KEENA (SQUADRA RT)
9 THOMAS ANDREWS (ILKLEY CC)
10 JAMES FAIRBANK (FEATHER CR)
11 PETER BOYES (TS RACING)
12 KIERAN SAVAGE (JACKPOT)
13 DAVID MORRIS (HARROGATE NOVA)
14 LUKE BESWICK (BUXTON CC)
15 DAVID BREARLEY (SCUNTHORPE POLY CC)

 

Have a look at Craig Zad’s superb photos of the Team Swift events

 

Mark Walker
HTRC Road Race Secretary