National Trophy round 3 - Ipswich, Suffolk College - 3rd November '02

Round 3 of the National Series was held in the town centre in Ipswich. The college was the site, with some closed roads and a small adjoining park providing the off-road.  The circuit was very similar to ones that I have raced on in Belgium and to make it even more like Belgium the organiser had invited a coach load of Belgium's!

The course had dried out a bit from the morning events but this had probably made it a bit tougher as the mud had now become sticky. The riders were called up on UCI rankings, much to our amazement the Belgium's were not all on the front row. The dark horse I thought would be Ronny Poelvoorde, he was a great mountain biker in the "old days", he is the same age as Nick Craig but had a whole 5 years off his bike. He had an ankle injury which forced him to stop riding but this year he has made a comeback. He finished on the podium in the Belgium National mtb race this year - some comeback!

Roger Hammond was a no-show.  After the road start a group formed at the front with Matt Ellis, Ronny  Poelvoorde, Geert Vandaele, Stuart Wearmouth, Nick Craig and I.  The racing seemed a bit like it was "in slow motion".  No one wanted to commit too early plus the conditions slowed you down too.  Matt tried a few attacks but was brought back,  Belgium Vandaele kept making himself twice as wide to stop you passing him and the rest of us just tried to stay in our position.  On the third lap Matt broke the elastic, Vandaele tried to close the gap, then I had a go, Poelvoorde tried too but we all failed. This let the gap grow as it was now a race for second place. Vandaele seemed to be trying too hard in the wrong places and came off a couple of times. At one point Poelvoorde and I had a small gap but with 2 laps to go we were all together behind Matt.  Both of the Belgium's tried there luck, Nick yo-yoed at the back of the group, them Stuart Wearmouth made his big effort which stretched us out. He managed to stay up around the last few corners to cross the line in 2nd place, I came in 3rd.  But we had prevented the two Belgium's from standing on the podium. Which is very rare in British Internationals when foreigners are invited.

The weight of the leader's yellow jersey was too much for George Richardson who was lapped by Matt Ellis, I understand he had a cold.  Stuart has now taken over lead in the series and I have moved up to second overall.  There are still two rounds to go.

Senior Results

1. Matt Ellis Ace RT                                 57 min 23 s
2 Stuart Wearmouth Science In Sport.com  at 46 secs
3 Barrie Clarke Helly Hansen/Giant            at 49 secs
4 Ronny Poelvoorde Belgium                     at 53 secs
5 Gert Vandaele Belgium                           at 58 secs.
6 Nick Craig Pertex/Planet X                     at 1 min 39 secs.

Click to read report in Daily Telegraph

Official Race Photography www.digitography.co.uk

BCF website www.bcf.uk.com

Good Cycling Pictures www.veloriders.co.uk

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(written 04/11/02)