I was tempted to participate myself in the 2/3/4 but the fact that I was racing on the Sunday kind of made my decision for me. From a weather point of view I couldn’t criticise my choice as the clouds loomed and the rain fell throughout.

Shaun Nicholson at the head of the bunch

Andy was determined to make up for an error he made when he last came to York when he didn’t start right at the front and struggled to see clear air throughout. Unfortunately he got caught out a little bit again, as when the riders lined up to start Andy was warming up at the far end of the course. He sneaked past a few riders to get to around half way in the pack, but Shaun was dead last when the race commenced.

Shaun wasn’t last for long and soon made up places to be positioned around mid bunch, but Andy had unfortunately dropped back to the last quarter and seemed to be struggling a tad.

This was the status quo for the next few laps, until Shaun did something we’ve been screaming at him to do for ages, and overtook a group of riders to be first on the road. He held this position for over half a lap and seemed comfortable with his new found surroundings.

However his time at the front was short-lived, and if I remember rightly, a rider cut him up on one of the corners causing him to move to the rear of the bunch.

Meanwhile Andy was starting to be distanced with a few other riders, but with each lap past he was still doing his utmost to hang on and was never more than a few metres off the rear of the pack.

Things weren’t looking to promising though, as the elastic finally stretched beyond its limit and Andy was off the back. With a shake of the head to us watching we knew all was not as it should be. He’s a real fighter though is Andy, and whilst some riders would just give up, he never let his head drop and kept battling away.

Onto the last lap, and Shaun wasn’t in a particularly great position either. He was also giving us shakes of the head, perhaps knowing that today was not to be his day. He was in the second half of a split when they crossed the line for the bell lap. His group did just about merge with the main pack but he was too far behind to compete for points unfortunately.

He eventually came in around 20th position behind a bunch sprint. But there were encouraging signs for Shaun. With a course such as York’s, where positioning is key, it was good to see him hit the front in places. He just needs to work on staying there and then he can start to think about the points. From an ability point of view, he perhaps needs a bit more top end speed but he’s not far away at all. He seemed to enjoy it, despite the weather, so that was the main.

Andy came in around 30 seconds in arrears with an Albarosa rider for company. Again, positioning was perhaps his downfall. I’d guess that if he was just a few places ahead of where he was for the majority of the race he’d have had no problems with keeping up. But when you’re right at the back, the concertina effect out of each corner just cripples your legs and inevitably you encounter problems. He gave it as good as he’s got though, which is all you can ask and should be happy with his efforts. Although, if he doesn’t improve he’ll be out of the team (joke of course).

So overall another learning experience for the Thursday boys, but they’ll keep knocking on the door and they’ll soon master this closed circuit racing business.

See photos of the event courtesy of Mark Walker

Mark Walker – HTRC RR Secretary