HWCC had 11 riders across two races compete in round 7 of the Imperial Winter Series. It’s worth noting that, including this racing, HWCC has entered more riders into the leagues, 49,  than any other club except London Dynamo who’ve entered 57 racers. These entries have been spread over 17 HWCC members.

There were 6 riders in the 4th Cats – Creighton Varney, Stuart Smith, Andy Colsell, Jeff Roberts, Tim Osborne and Paul Morrissey; 3 – James Walker, Joe Clark and Karla Boddy racing in the 3^rd Cat’s and Adam Brittain and Steve Golla representing the club and Race Team in the E123, with Steve out to defend his lead in the Series.

4^th Cats

A rather large field of 48 4th cat riders took part in the 7th race in the Imperial Hillingdon Winter series. The start was unusually sedate, as normally the race kicks off with a quick break which sorts out anyone unable to stay with the pace. Creighton Varney, Jeff Roberts and Stuart Smith were always well placed at the front of the peloton with Tim Osborne and Andy Colsell tucked in mid pack. Paul Morrissey was biding his time at the back of the bunch. A headwind on the back straight was the brake that stopped any breakaways pulling away in the early stages.

The squad from Kingston Wheelers had a few attempts at breakaways, working well together but nothing came of it. Jeff Roberts had a dig off the front, and tried to split the bunch but a strong headwind and lack of any assistance caused him to drop back into the peloton. Ceighton Varney also made a great effort and managed by pure chance to jump onto the back end of the 3rd cat race (he was instructed to drop back to the main 4th cat bunch as this isn’t allowed, good trick though) notwithstanding this he maintained a strong position supported closely by Stuart Smith.

With about 7 laps to go Tim Osborne had a moment of reflection and decided to sit up and pull out of the race to watch at the sidelines. Andrew Colsell was playing a waiting game being well placed and well protected from the wind sitting in and waiting for a chance to jump. Morrissey unleashed a very punchy attack with 5 laps to go causing a gap which no one seemed to want to support, so with a headwind causing fatigue he dropped back to the main peloton. He then tried the same approach again hoping this time that someone would come to support him, however his efforts where futile and he dropped to the back of the peloton; well and truly broken. With 3 laps to go Varney, Smith and Roberts where well placed for the final sprint holding a good position in the pack.

At the finish, after a particularly nervous sprint, Varney got a well earned 18th place with Smith very close behind in 19th, Colsell in 25th, Roberts in 30th and Morrissey in 44th.

All riders intend to race again next week ,its addictive and we encourage all HWCC riders to come and have a go.

3^rd Cats

With many strong fourth cat riders transitioning to the third’s, and more winter fitness regimes taking effect, the pace was noticeably high from the start. Within the first lap the attacks had started. Karla Boddy was keen to chase the lone break from a Dynamo rider, who was safely bought back in within one lap. Thereafter a series of attacks forced the pace up, and kept it high.

With a strong head wind going round the back bend there were times when the entire peloton was stretched out in single file. Disappointingly the change in pace from head-cross-tail wind, delivered some questionable bike handling skills with many near-misses. Eventually the inevitable happened and one rider made a serious mistake in not holding their line on the bottom bend past the finish line. This ‘took a couple of riders out’ but thankfully all are well.

Boddy in the peloton in 3rd Cat Race

As the race unfolded Clark endeavoured to go in pursuit of glory, but again, the high winds meant that a lone break away was unlikely to stick and his efforts, along with many other breaks, were scuppered very quickly by a strong chasing peloton.

Coming into the last 5 laps Walker and Clark were well positioned and in the final lap they did well to keep themselves at the sharp end of the race and avoided a domino-effect crash on the penultimate bend. In the ensuring melee Walker came 11th, earning his first league points, Joe 21st and Boddy safely home in the bunch.

E123

With Steve Golla leading the series going into Round 7 there was much at stake for the HWCC rider. Early on in the race Adam Brittain got into a 2-man breakaway with InGear Quickvit rider Connal Yates but with fresh legs in the bunch and Jamie Pine (London Dynamo) on a mission to retain the series lead it was bought back after 10-15minutes.

Adam Brittain breakaway

Shortly after Brittain’s break was bought back Jamie Pine, Andy Betts (Felt Colbornes), Jerone Walters (VC St Raphael), Connal Yates and Chris Moores (Norwood Paragon) took charge and made distance between the peloton and themselves. The five-up quickly made a 30 second gap, which they manager to extend to over one minute as the race progressed.

As the race unfolded it was clear that the riders in the main bunch were not going to let Steve Golla or Rory Townsend go even though both riders tried several times to create their own break. Coming into the final laps the main bunch was back together, with the leaders out the front.

Golla leading the charge

In the break, with 5 laps to go, Walters and Pine attacked early with only Betts giving chase. At this point it looked like Yates and Moores would have to settle for 4^th and 5^th. However, the front three played some cat and mouse and it was all back together going into the last 3 laps. Betts, Walters and Pine battled hard in the resulting sprint and Pine asserted his class taking the win, and the series lead from Golla. Pine and Golla have now won 6 of the 7 series races (Pine 4, Golla 2).

Meanwhile, back in the main bunch Brittain decided to inject some pace into the race. With three laps to go he came over the top of the bunch and managed to get a modest lead on the peloton along the finishing straight. No one was prepared to chase, and therefore Brittain, with a mammoth time trial effort, built up a decent lead of 20 seconds over the course of the next two laps. It looked like he would stay away taking 6th. As the chasing peloton entered the final lap the pace lifted and it began to look like Brittain would be swallowed up in the gallop to the line. Fortunately, his efforts prevailed and Brittain took 6^th place, ahead of Pete Wager (winner round 3) who had closed the gap to him to about 3 bike lengths!

Adam Brittain taking 6th place ahead of closing peloton

Top riders overall E123 points table after 7 rounds: