jez

Behind The Bikeshed Summer Series 5 - Thruxton, 24 June

It was yet another sunny evening at Thruxton for the fifth round of the Behind The Bikeshed Summer Series. This week saw a diminished number of Sotonia riders in the 3/4 cat race, just Will Weynberg in fact, but still a healthy field of 65 riders lining up for the nine lap race.

The race got off to a furious first three laps with attack after attack trying to slip away from the field. Will tried his hand to get away in an early break but the wind and the large field size made this near on impossible especially when everyone had fresh legs.

Throughout the race there were attacks from ones and twos but with limited success. Nobody gained any great margin and it looked increasingly likely that the race was going to end in a sprint finish.

In the final lap Will moved himself up into the top 15 riders and advanced even further up the field up the final hill and coming out of the final chicane was in a perfect position to launch a strong sprint. He came past the five riders ahead of him and surged for the line to take the victory by over a bike length.

That's two race wins and three top fives for Will this year already who is flying right now! Hopefully we will get some similar results at the Winchester Park & Ride on Sunday, and a few more in the team for Thruxton next week.

by jez

Thruxton Circuit Road Race, 3 June 2014

Sotonia score more points

Sotonia turned up this week with a re-enforced team of four in the 3/4 race at Thruxton, consisting of Jonathan Wren, Ed Wu, Ed Rowe and Will Weynberg. Ed Rowe making his full circuit racing debut.

The conditions were perfect for racing, and it was a toughly fought race, with many breaks trying to get away within the first few laps. Jon did an excellent job of monitoring the front of the peloton and doing his best not only to shut moves down, but also try to latch onto one. Eventually a two man break did manage to get a gap and go up the road. Sotonia as a team did their best to try and close it down but no one else  riding seemed to want to play ball, and all that would happen is after a turn on the front no one else would come through and work with the team.

It eventually came to the last lap, and all four Sotonia racers were still well in contention of getting in amongst the points all be it from places 3-10. As per every race at thruxton the last ascent up the hill was manic and positioning was the key, Will managed to lodge himself well inside the first ten riders heading into the chicane with Ed Wu and Jon Wren just behind for the final sprint. Will grabbed 5th place and the 5 points to go with it. Unfortunately Ed came 11th and just missed out on the points by one place and Jon came inside the top twenty to round off a really good showing for the team. Also a strong ride by Ed Rowe to finish in the bunch in his first race not something that everyone will get near to achieving around that circuit.

Hopefully next week the team will have even more fire power with a few more additions to the team.

3/4 Full race results: here

by jez