Event 8 - Chippenham & Dist. Whls. 25th July

With only three riders within range of the CCRL series victory and a six point cuchion, George Unsworth of Gloucester City CC-Town Cars needed only 4 points to gaurantee victory. Starting in the 3rd group on the road, with 2 minutes seperating himself from the scratch group containing elite rider Ian Alexander, the main aim was to stay ahead of this group. With four team-mates in the group working hard and George himself never missing a turn, the two groups ahead were caught by lap three of five. The scratch group was working well but with such a small group (5 riders) and Grant Bayton suffering with fatigue, the chase looked futile. On the last lap the gap had closed to less than 20 seconds, an impressive feat from Steve Howells, Ian Alexander and the rest, but then the attacks started from the main group and the group never caught up. In the last kilometre a Swindon RC rider was brought down in a nasty looking crash. Luckily the impressive somersault landed him on his back, not his head, so his injuries were not serious. The finishing sprint consists of an interesting downhill with a kick up at the end, all on narrow roads. Nick Burridge took first place, as he had done in the earlier primes, and the rest of the places proved difficult to judge as the bunch arrived en-masse. Particularily controversial was the placing of Paul Barnard, which team-mates claimed was mistaken identity and made him buy the first round with the prize money.
Many thanks to John Else and the Chippenham Wheelers for another successful event.

Event Results: