National Trophy round 3 - Mallory Park, Leicestershire - 17th November '02

Last weekend I went to Coed-y-Brenin for a guided weekend, this weekend it was back to racing.  Mallory Park was the venue, the motor racing circuit in Leicestershire.  We have had a couple of Trophies here before some of them very muddy.  With all the rain we had had in the week I expected a very muddy race. As it turned out it was not too bad. It was muddy but if you went fast enough you could get through most of it.  There were a couple of short run-ups and a 500m road finishing straight.

After catching up on the cycling gossip I rode 3 practice laps of the course, looking for the best lines and deciding were to dismount and run.  There were two pit areas, I chose the pit at the start of the road section. Nearly everyone else when for the pit on the hill, in other years this has always been the pit to change in. I went for the other one though as I thought you would loose less time when you changed bikes - this proved crucial!

After the long start straight we did the u-turn on to the muddy grass. I was on the grass in 4th place. A Belgium lead the charge with Stuart Wearmouth, George Richardson, Paul Oldham  all there, Roger Hammond and Nick Craig were a little further back. After a quarter of the first lap a group formed at the front with Stuart Wearmouth, Roger Hammond, Nick Craig, myself and briefly George Richardson. As the race progressed it became a race between the four of us, it was not until Roger punctured that much happened. As Roger loss time riding a flat tyre to the pit area we all pushed the pace. We opened a gap of 20 seconds over Roger, but he did not just give up. He fought his way back up to us after a couple of laps. We were all changing bikes every couple of laps. The other three at the top pit, all together, and myself in the other pit at the start of the road section.  Everytime I changed bikes I had to chase to get back on to the group along the road section, this made it look as if I was always struggling along the road section. I was beginning to think that I had made a mistake with picking this pit.

With two laps to go Nick pushed the pace, this proved too much for Roger after his chase to catch us - and he dropped off the pace.  Nick opened a gap on both Stuart and I, but as he went into the pit to change bikes I caught him back. This gapped us over Stuart, I now realised that my choice of "the other pit" could prove crucial. I changed bike at the beginning of the road, easily got back to Nick but still had a gap over Stuart. The conditions meant that now you could only manage one lap on your bike (before having to change it). So, with the bell ringing I was already on a clean bike and Nick would probably have to change his. He duly went into the pit to change bike.    Did I wait for him to come back out with a clean bike?  Would he?   No, chance......!   With half a lap to go I put my head down and managed to stay up right and crossed the line with my hands in the air to win my first National Trophy of the year.

Senior Results

1st Barrie Clarke         (Helly Hansen/Giant)         56 min 42 secs
2nd Nick Craig            (Pertex/Planet X)              at 4 secs
3rd Stuart Wearmouth (Science In Sport.com)      at 34 secs
4th Roger Hammond    (Collstrop/Palmans)          at 53 secs
5th Steve Knight         (MI Racing)                      at 1 min 20 secs
6th Dave Collins          (Science In Sport.com)     at 1 min 58 secs

My Photo Album - Mallory Park pictures

BCF website www.bcf.uk.com

Good Race Pictures www.veloriders.co.uk

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(written 18/11/02)