With a number of regular riders resting in preparation for major events at the weekend entries were down at Carlisle Cycling Association’s midweek racing last night.
However, the racing was far from disappointing with good attacking riding in both events of the evening.
The first race was for veterans – riders aged over 40 – and the older riders put in some excellent performances.
There was a three man breakaway, consisting of over-40s Dan Kendall of Wolf Cycles and Mark Studholme of Velo Club Cumbria, plus the only over 60 in the race, Border City Wheelers’ Bryan Pool.
The three riders worked together well, pulling out a substantial lead over the rest of the group, but ultimately Kendall made a long distance solo attack and took a convincing win, with Studholme beating Pool in the sprint for the remaining podium place.
The rest of the riders came to the line in a bunch with Alan Wilson of the Lakes Road Club duelling with Beacon Wheelers’ Neil Withington to be best of the rest. Withington had the edge in the end, with Wilson fifth overall but first of the over-50s riders.
The evening finished with a small but high-quality field of Category 1,2 and 3 riders taking to the Circuit under darkening skies.
Fortunately the rain stayed away and the race exploded into action with Wolf Cycles’ Ed Hindmarsh attacking more or less from the whistle.
That set the tone for the rest of the race with multiple attacks being made by different riders and the race becoming fragmented at times.
Nobody managed to stay away for long though until Sam Barbour riding for Cycling Sheffield made the decisive move.
It was something of a risky strategy as he was alone in windy conditions for several laps with a small group of quality riders in hot pursuit.
With a couple of laps to go, Muckle CC’s Jake Dobson made an audacious move from within the chasing group and came close to catching Barbour, riding the fastest lap of the night in the process.
However the young Scot dug deep and held off the Muckle rider to take a well-deserved first place. Moonglu’s Jack Rees took the final spot on the podium, edging out the younger Barbour brother Zach in a closely fought sprint.
