The weather was great for this evenings crit races at Belmont with five grades and 42 eager riders entered with the lovely addition of the colours caps to assist the referee during the course of the night. There were points available for the first three in the mid race sprint and to the top five at the finish to accumulate over the 6 race series, with the best four results to count at the end.
A and B grade had 40 minutes plus two lap, C and D grade 35 minutes plus 2 and E & F grade 30 minutes plus 2.
As usual the pace in A grade was tough with 9 riders, a few attacks and a few watching from the rear. The mid race sprints were taken out by the fast boys, David Newett, Tim Bennett and Paul Beretta, maybe these guys were watching each other too much as the three hard working amigos Rob, Andrew and Tony got away near the end to hold off the chasing pack with Rob Southern taking a well deserved win, Andrew Baker second and Tony French Third.
In B grade one man controlled this race with an absolute full on effort for the whole race. Joe Daly broke away early with only Marco Brammucci able to catch him and leaving the rest of the 11 man bunch in his wake. Joe powered along for three quarters of the race holding a very consistent but fast pace. Marco was in for the ride just hanging on. Joe, Marco and a distant Ashley Goldstraw took the first three placing’s in the sprints and the race finish. A good load of points for Joe.
C grade had 11 even riders, this was going to be a tough bunch to break away from, which was the case for the whole race, the mid race sprint was a tight affair with David Spence taking first, David Lambourne and Vincent Haveaux not far behind. The final sprint was extremely tight and maybe a bit unsteady by a couple of riders with Norm Douglas just winning over Jeff Miller and Carl Judd.
D grade was down a few riders today with only Paul Bird and Andrew Booth present sharing the points on the day and mainly riding around with the C grade riders, well done guys.
E grade in their bright green helmet covers stood out all around the course, the 6 riders evenly swapped turns trying there best to tire each other out. Tina Stenos showed some great power at the mid race sprint just fining in front of the closing Dave Phillips and then John Bell, as the finish Keith Dorling showed his racing prowess to take a great win over Tina Stenos and Dave Phillips. Also well done to Rod Lambeth who rode a very consistent race in F grade and to the trial riders Seaton Daw and Jason Marsh who both enjoyed their night.
Thanks again to Richard Buckwell and Dave Robinson for running the racing tonight.