Cherry Valley pair on the attack

1st Darley Moor Circuit Race - 04/03/2006 - nr Ashbourne

Cherry Valley duo Andy Hayton and Gareth Williams got off to a flying start in the 1st Darley Moor circuit race of the 2006 season on Saturday 4th March as one of the duo made it into the winning move in a field full of high quality riders.

Going on the attack from the start, Andy Hayton (Cherry Valley RT) pulled clear and held a small gap with continental based pro Dave Clarke (Nippo KFS). Lasting a lap, the bunch brought them back as Gareth Williams (Cherry Valley RT) executed a text book attack after his team mate had been brought back, went clear with elite rider Alistair Kaye (York Cycle Works). The pair were quickly joined by 5 other riders including elites Matt Charity (VC Nottingham), Mark Wordsworth (JE James), Erik van Lakerveld (LWV Swift), Phil Valentine (GS Surosa) and Andy Stuart (Ashfield RC). A slight lull in the main bunch allowed the 7 strong break to quickly assemble a 15 second lead by the end of lap 3 which grew over the next 5 laps to 40 seconds. With Charity active off the front of the break all afternoon, the other breakaway partners shared the work load and gained a three quarter lap lead on the main bunch.

Meanwhile, Andy Hayton had been policing most moves in the bunch with the help of the JE James team. With just three laps to go, Scott Gamble (Ashfield RC) and Dave Clarke, who had worked tirelessly for the last 10 laps off the front of the chasing pack, bridged the gap to the 7 strong breakaway.

At that point Wordsworth and Charity attacked going clear with Stuart and Lakerveld. Ali Kay and Gareth got themselves back into a rhythm sharing the chase and slowly bringing Wordsworth and Charity back towards them. With only 1 and a half laps to go and Wordsworth and Charity within touching distance and the bunch still 3 quarters of a lap down, Gareths front tyre punctured on the only hairpin bend of the Darley Moor motor racing circuit and down went Gareth sliding across the tarmac and with him any chance of the win.

With Andy definding his team mates lead for most of the race, the breakaway had enough of a lead by the midway point and that lead was not under any threat so Andy once again became active at the front of the bunch forcing several splits which all came back together on the final lap.

As Andy Stuart took the final victory from Matt Charity from the original breakaway, Andy Hayton sprinted home at the head of the main bunch in 5th place to take 13th overall from a high quality field that had assembled for this 1st Darely Moor circuit race of the 2006 season.

Despite suffering from a throat infection and nursing a sore knee most of the week, Gareth wasn’t too disappointed with his ride as the game plan was achieved by ensuring one of the Cherry Valley duo made the decisive move. Andy was also please to get through his first race of the season in good shape and now looking forward to the next weekend.

Images of the race can be seen at www.veloriders.co.uk or click here to view Roger Martins images or click here to view Steven Palmers images.