Ian back to winning ways with Sam and Gareth close behind

Lindsey Roads 10 - 08/07/2005 - Course C10/4

As the the rain turned to sunshine late on Thursday 8th July , Ian found his time trialling legs once again to lead the Cherry Valley team to 3 placings in the top 6 in the for the Lindsey Roads 10.

The course started at the top of the drag near Limber village and proceeded down the A18 in a southerly direction to Laceby roundabout, then encircling the roundabout to return towards Limber finishing at the foot of the drag half a mile before the start.

With the wind blowing from a North Easterly direction, Sam was the first of the Cherry Valley riders to start. Still getting use to his new bike and recovering from the effects of injury and a mid week cold, Sam started strongly and soon got stuck into a course that was unrelenting. With a fast start and the speed over 30mph, the road bent around to the left where the wind turned to a cross wind and it was difficult to to keep the power down and speed high. Sam was well into a good rhythm as he approached the turn and was clearly 20 seconds ahead of the seeded rider who started 1 minute behind him. Gareth was the next Cherry Valley rider to start. With a six minute gap between Sam and Gareth, the pair crossed over on the course near the turn and Gareth was only ahead of Sam by 10-15 seconds. As Gareth reached the same point on the way back from the turn near where he crossed over with Sam, he crossed over with team mate Ian who was the last of the Cherry Valley riders to start. As they crossed over Ian was about 30 seconds ahead of Gareth and obviously rider stronger and enjoying the sunnier conditions.

Once past Riby crossroads on the way back from the turn, the riders faced a northerly wind that made this part of the course the hardest with speeds now dropping below 25mph. Sam didnt fade toward the end of the race and crossed the finish line with a great time of 22.50 on a very tough night. Within minutes, Gareth also crossed the finish line with a time of 22.24. These were both very good times on a hard night and with both Gareth and Sam still recovering from heavy colds and sore throats they were pleased with their rides but would later be slightly disappointed that they had not gone 3 seconds quicker to claim 1 place higher in the race.

With pre-race favourate Julian Ramsbottom (De Rosa RT) starting behind Ian and last in the race, Julian was 15 seconds ahead of Ian with about 3 miles left to race. As Ian entered the toughest part of the course he put in a huge effort that overturned the deficit at the finish line by 20 seconds for Ian to win the race with Julian in second place.

With the win going to Ian and second spot to Ramsbottom, Gareth finished 4th and Sam was 6th. Happy with his result Ian was glad the sun was shining so he got a proper warm up before the race. Meanwhile Sam was pleased with his performance and his new found enthusiasm now he has his new time trial bike.

Gareth was also pleased with his race commenting 'I was just glad to get my first race completed after a heavy cold and sore throat. I've not ridden my bike for 7 days and I don't think I've quite fully recovered. Its also a great performance by the team as we have had some bad luck recently. Aaron has a blood test soon and could resume some light training if the results are good so hopefully we can put our bad luck behind us and have a good end to the season'.