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www.barrieclarke.net |
Race report |
 | National Trophy CX
#4- Cattow's Farm
was the venue of the 4th round of the 'cross series:
With all the big names in
attendance including the National Champion Roger Hammond, Matt Ellis along
with a team from Belgium we were in for a tough race. |
| Cattow's Farm as the name leads you
believe is a farm, there is a concrete road of about 500m and many flat fields
around it. So it produces a race that would be quite at home in Belgium. It
had rained a bit in the week so it was a bit soft but not too muddy. I had the dubious privilege of wearing series leaders jersey for this race (a yellow stretchy lycra number). The course was longer than previous years with an extra loop around the edge of a field. The race was gridded on UCI ranking points, I just made the front row. It was the normal charge from the line, across the field then down the road section to cross where the finishline was before heading off around the fields. Just to add some extra spice to the race the hedges had been cut, with the thorns hiding in the grass. Phil Dixon lead the charge this week with one of the Belgium's in close attendance. After about three-quarters of a lap ....1..... pushed the pace, it was only Roger Hammond that was able to follow him. I was in a group with Matt Ellis and ....2... from Belgium. We were open up a gap on Phil Dixon and Stuart Wearmouth behind. This is how it stayed for the first three laps, Roger and ...1...with Matt, ..2... and I chasing. We were going hard! I went through the pit area before hitting the road. Then noticed that I had a flat tyre, it was now almost three-quaters of a lap to the second pit. As I use tyres and it was a rear puncture would my tyre stay on the rim for this length of time? I was soon dropped from the Ellis ...2.. tandem, and rode out of the saddle in pursuit of a new bike. Riding carefully around the corners and with a bit of luck my tyre stayed on. I reached the pit just as I was caught by Dixon and Wearmouth. I spent the rest of the race with them. I tried to get away but this proved difficult after my early race efforts. The three of us were heading for the finish. Wearmouth went into the pit before the road section (he had a puncture) so I attacked. Dixon was still on my wheel as we raced down the concrete road, as I launched my final charge for the line I pulled my foot out of the pedal. This effectively gave 5th place to Phil. Roger won the race from ...1.. with Matt Ellis 3rd. My 6th place somehow still gives me the most point in the overall series. With the final round at Eastway on the 30th December I had better not eat too much Christmas pudding! |
| NTL4 full results - full results can be found by
following this link.
|
