Almost exactly six months ago to the day, Dearham cyclist Jude Davison was in hospital recovering from surgery following serious injuries sustained in a collision with a car.
He thought his race season was over before it had started but the determined 21-year-old has fought back and on Sunday he very clearly announced his return to form by winning the North West Regional Circuit Championships held at Carlisle Cycle Circuit.
It wasn’t an easy start with poor weather conditions impacting on the race but a strong four-man break was formed consisting of Davison, Wolf Cycles rider Ryan Johnston, Spectrum Racing’s Tom Lowe and Matthew Morris of Giant Kendal-Sidas UK.
Davison thought his race was over when he punctured part way through the race but he managed to restart and catch the lead group, ultimately winning the sprint from Johnston and Lowe.
The rain had cleared for the North East championship which followed and a small but good quality field stayed together for most of the race, though there were a number of attacks notably from 360cycling’s Dan Saba who worked hard to animate the race.
But it was Jack Rees, multiple time previous winner at Carlisle, who accelerated hard out of the final bend to take a convincing win.
Saba held on for second place with a fast- finishing Richard Davison rounding out the podium.
Other prizes on the day included awards to Michael Pluckrose and Richard Davison as highest placed riders over 40 and Davison and Jack Rees who rode the fastest laps of the day.
