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ESL LVRC Race – Thurs 20/07/06 |
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With the sun baking hot and the wind in its customary direction down the finishing straight, 35 riders lined up for the A,B,C and D’s race which set off for 45mins and 5 laps of racing round the Eastway circuit.
A
couple of attempts were tried by riders including Vincent Davison and
Steve May, both in good form in the hot and windy conditions but most
of these attacks came to nothing. It was only when Dominic Gabellini
(Rapha Condor) and Konrad Manning (Finsbury CC) attacked just before
halfway that the elastic broke and these two continued to pull time out
of the bunch.
Vinnie and Steve were in various breaks to try and pull
back the leading pair, but the bunch was keeping a close eye on them
both. With 15 laps remaining, Quentin Tring (Brixton Cycles) powered
off the front of the bunch into the headwind going through the
finishing straight and pulled out a healthy 30 second lead in 2 laps
which eventually grew to 47 seconds. With 5 laps to go the front two
were still working together with Gabellini doing the majority of the
work whilst Tring, currently riding in ‘ no mans land ‘ was being
slowly reeled in by the fast approaching bunch. Vinnie attacked just
over the rise of Oxo Hill with 3 laps to go but the danger had been
spotted by Mark Harris (Harlow CC) who quickly jumped onto Vinnies
wheel.
Through the bell it was Gabellini and Manning well clear of
Tring whose gap was dwindling with the fast approaching Vinnie and
Harris. Manning didn’t compete the sprint as Gabellini was the driving
force of the winning break punching the air as he crossed the line.
Tring just got swallowed up at the end by Vinnie who claimed 3rd place for Victoria. Steve clipped off the front of the bunch to take 6th place as Terry Devine (Orbea) and Chris Broadway (Braintree) sprinted with each other for 7th.
1st D. Gabellini (Rapha Condor)
2nd K.Manning (Finsbury CC)
3rd V.Davison (Victoria CC)
6th S. May (Victoria CC)
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