- First dry day in weeks so made a last minute decision to try the Tuesday night 4th cat race at Tameside.
- Arrived in time to watch the Cat2,3,4, race and have a snickers whilst chatting to a couple of Saddleworth Clarion members. Also spotted representatives from North Cheshire, Stockport, Bury and the National Clarion.
- Signed on and made my way to the circuit for some practice laps. The race was to be 20 laps.
- The circuit is pretty new and very smooth. There’s one hairpin with a nice camber to help you round and probably about 7 corners on the track in total. A much nicer riding experience than Barkston.
- After about 5 warm up laps the locals started gathering on the start line. I made the mistake of carrying on for another lap which meant I rejoined right at the back of the field.
- The start was quick and the high number of corners meant a lot of sprinting back up to speed to stay with the pack.
- I spent the whole race at the back of the main front group but making up places as the group was steadily shedding riders.
- After around 12 laps there was a crash which took down 2 riders in front of me and held up a few more. I managed to make it back to the front group with a couple of others and hung on for the sprint. It was difficult to tell if there were any riders off the front of the group at this point but I suspected there may have been 3 making good progress.
- Started the last lap still at the back of the front group but this meant I could pick my line in to the corners and I picked up quite a few places as the lap progressed, I sprinted out of the last bend picking up a couple more places without being passed and finished quite pleased to be around the top 15 or so.
- Results came out today and I was 10th which was pretty chuffed with. Seems there probably weren’t any riders off the front after all so glad I made the effort in the sprint. Unfortunately I don’t get any points as i was too tight to pay out for the full race licence!
- Next race. Saturday at Tockwith with Mr Price joining me again.
| Position | Name | Club name | Points | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Simon Warner | Pedalsport Cycling Club | 10 | |||
| 2 | Craig Morgan | VC St Raphael | 8 | |||
| 3 | Andrew Webster | High Peak Cycles RT | 7 | |||
| 4 | Phil Guest | 6 | ||||
| 5 | Dan Holford | Team Wheelguru | 5 | |||
| 6 | Mark McPhillips | Stockport Clarion CC | 4 | |||
| 7 | David Kent | St Helens CRC/D.Sparrow Plumbing | 3 | |||
| 8 | Geoff Burgess | Stockport Clarion CC | 2 | |||
| 9 | Mick Style | Manchester Whlrs Club | 1 | |||
| 10 | Jonny Croston | Calder Clarion CC | 0 |