VS Cycles road racing team tops the regional championships

After a long and sometimes gruelling road race season finally drew to a close last weekend, local racing team VS Cycles based at the popular shop in Brighouse scooped joint first place alongside Clifton CC of York. The two teams tided on 115 points each with Wakefield CC Exponential in third with 90 points and Doncaster Wheelers CC in fourth with 89 points. Huddersfield RC finished in eleventh spot on 48 points, Halifax Imperial Wheelers were 17^th equal on 35 points and Batley CC 21^st with 29 points.

The riders contributing to the points tally were

These results have set the club up very nicely in view of the recent announcement to stage a premiere league criterium road race in the Town centre next June in conjunction with Calderdale council to promote the town and sport in general. The event based on the very successful format of the Otley town centre races was featured in the Brighouse Echo.

Meanwhile the riders completed their hectic season with the following results which although they did not score for the regional championships, they did gather some points towards the national results. The club lies in a very respectable 61^st place from well over 450 clubs and teams throughout the country. Many if not all the teams them in the national rankings are professional squads so this shows the level of quality of this small team of riders.

Amongst the major points scorers was 2006 Yorkshire Regional Champion Paul Dixon.

Dixon finished his season on 24^th September by riding in the National C Elite, 1,2,3,4 road race championships in the 40 – 44 year old category. The 68 mile race held near Oakley in Buckinghamshire was won by Gary Dodd (Sigma Sport) with Paul coming in 11^th place. Ex continental star Malcolm Elliot (Plowman Craven Racing Team) won the 45 – 49 age category event held at the same time over the same course.

Dominic Turner and Michael Lever both tried hard to secure more points in the last of the regional events, firstly at Thurcroft on 17^th September. This fast paced race around an undulating course was too much for many riders and the bunch was quickly split into many fractions. The eventual winner Ian Cooper of Thurcroft CC riding everybody off his wheel to win by a comfortable margin of almost 2 minutes. Turner hung in well with the remaining bunch that was contesting the points and sprinted hard to finish in 15^th place unfortunately missing out on any points.

The following week was make or break for the VS club, as this was the final race of the 06 season that would count towards the regional championships. Both Lever and Turner had pre-entered the Doncaster Wheelers race held on the Harworth circuit close to Bawtry. With VS Cycles trailing Clifton CC by 4 points it was vital the club had a high scoring result and Michael Collins was on hand to race his first event of this season for the Brighouse club.

The 7 lap race over 73 km was fast from the start with many attacks launched to try make a break for victory. The 3 VS riders had marked out all the moves, as had all the rest of the field until a group of 7 riders escaped after the end of the 5^th lap. As the bunch closed on the escapees an unexpected crash in the break saw 4 of the riders fall.  The bunch closing quickly in the stricken riders and bikes had to take evasive action to avoid further collisions and the momentum of the chase was lost. This gave the 3 remaining escapees their chance to build a winning lead.

Collins made a strong attempt to cross the gap, however he quickly realised this was too much and drifted back to the shelter of the bunch.

This meant that the best possible place now would be 4^th and a mass bunch finish was on the cards. As the 3 riders up the road took the top honours the remaining 45 in the bunch rounded the final corner at the bottom of the hill to finish line. Position here was vital and Collins’s experience from past racing abroad put him in good order. He comfortably won the sprint to take 4^th place and 8 points, with Turner finishing 15^th and Lever 26^th. All that remained was to check the results of the Clifton CC team. Paul Musgrove of Clifton CC was 7th he had scored 4 points enough for Clifton CC to tie the regional championships on 115 points each.

Sunday the 1^st October saw the classic road race around the villages near Eagle in Lincolnshire which was organised by Lincoln Wheelers CC. Michael Lever made the journey down to compete in the 3/4/W/J event over 78 km. The event was full of attacks but the fast circuit meant that all were brought back bar one. A lone attack on the bell lap by Tony Workman (Lancashire RC) saw him ride away from the bunch on the final prime lap. No immediate reaction gave him chance to settle into a great sole effort win the race. Meanwhile the bunch continued to roll round with everyone now vying for position for the final sprint. With the bunch spread the width of the road around the last two corners it made for a dramatic finish as the riders dashed for the line. A respectable 11^th place, unfortunately just missing the points, was Levers reward for the day in this mass finish on a beautiful morning of glorious sunshine.

The final road race of the year was held by Weaver Valley CC around the villages of Great Budworth and Antrobus just north of Northwich on Sunday the 8^th October. The 80 km race over 7 laps was again a fast moving and eventful race with attack after attack trying make that vital break. Both Lever and Turner made successful breaks along with up to 6 or 7 other riders, normally enough to sustain a break. However the bunch was not for letting anyone go as every time the escapees were reeled back in. So again after almost 80 km of racing it was down to a mass bunch finish. Maximum entertainment for those spectating, maximum adrenalin for the riders and maximum difficulty for the organisers trying sort out the finishing positions as 60 bikes hurtle towards the line at almost 40 miles an hour!

In the final analysis, video camera assisted, the winner was Tony Workman (Lancashire RC) just half bike length ahead of Marc Hepworth (Batley CC) with Lever finishing a creditable 16^th. Unfortunately Turner was disqualified along with 3 other riders for infringement of the race rules whilst trying to bridge a gap to an earlier breakaway group, so was not placed in this event.

VS Cycles owner Chris Vokes said, “I’m delighted with my riders efforts this season, especially proud for the team in winning the Yorkshire regional league and for Paul winning the individual regional championships way back in May. It’s great to have such a motivated team of riders racing in the club colours promoting the sport and the name of Brighouse all around the country. These lads have raced alongside some of the best in the sport and won. Hopefully we can now pay them back with a Premier league event in their home town next June and really put the name of Brighouse back on the map for all the business and people of this great but sometimes forgotten town.”

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