Great win for Ian

Rudy Project National TT series Round 2 - 08/04/2007 - Keswick, Cimbria

Easter in the Lake District proofed to be just the tonic for Cherry Valley rider Ian Dalton who won the second round in the Veterans section of the Rudy Project Time Trial Series

This V.C. Cumbria promoted event back after a year's absence in the stunning scenery around Bassnethwaite Lake. This years event was blessed with good weather, spring sunshine, light winds made a pleasant change to previous events where snow capped mountain tops were the norm.

The main contenders from round one were here plus local riders who could test themselves against riders from further a field, with the veterans category one of the first events of the day the day it was nice to feel some warmth from the sun.

The course started and finished on the A66 in the village of Braithwaite and headed east towards Keswick where a left turn onto the A591 took the riders along the quieter side of the lake, but with its twists, turns and undulations the riders were always busy. Left onto the B5291 took the riders across the bottom of Bassenthwaite Lake with the tight squeeze over the bridge of the river Derwent before rejoining the A66 on the final legs back to Braithwaite.

With light winds circulating around the lake which could make any section of the course feel difficult and then easy going in a short space of time. It was early starter John O’Callaghan of Kirkby CC who set the first benchmark with a time of 37mins 5 sec, with the seeded riders all staring at the back of the field was an upset on the cards? It was over twenty minutes before this time was beaten by Stourbridge CC rider Michael Donnelly who’s 35.27 time would eventually be good enough for third spot, the next few riders well all unable to better this time and so it was down to the last two riders that started Cherry Valley’s Ian Dalton and Wightlink / Offsore RT rider Dave Dent to try and top the tables. With the last six riders starting at two minute intervals rather than the normal one minute and the twisty roads around the back of the course it would be difficult to know how well you were going. .After riding 3 laps of the course the day before Ian felt to be going well in race conditions and as Ian approached the turn for the B5291 he caught the first glimpses of Team Swift Allsports rider Graham Rushworth. After rejoining the A66 the gap had reduced, Ian finally caught and passed Graham with about 2.5 miles to go and manage to maintain his high pace to the finish recording a time of 34.19 the fastest time so far. It was all down to round one winner Dave Dent to try and beat Ian’s time but he crossed the finish line and stopped clock with a time of 34.41 to go second overall leaving Cherry Valley’s Ian Dalton to claim his first win this year’s series.