Rudy TT win number 3 for Ian

Rudy Project National TT series - Round 5 - 6/05/2007 - Gringley-on-the-Hill

Sunday morning saw the 4th round in the 2007 Rudy Project Time Trail Series; the event was promoted by Doncaster Wheelers on a course based around Beckingham on Nottinghamshire roads.

Although the course was on the same roads as previous events this year the start and finish was moved to the village of Beckingham for better headquarter facilities. Starting on the A631 the riders headed westwards to Gringley on the Hill, during the previous week the easterly winds would have given the rider an easier start up to Gringley but on race day the wind had swung around to a southerly so this first section was now a difficult cross wind. A left turn at Gringley and a decent down to Clayworth, the riders now faced a head wind but the decent made it easier going, in Clayworth it was overt the Chesterfield Canal and on towards Hayton and Clarborough. This was the hardest part of the course with a direct headwind on the flat open roads, then back over the canal before entering Hayton and a smoother new road surface. In Clarborough a left turn onto the A620 and a short sharp climb from the top it was downhill with a helping wind to North Wheatly where here to the finish the little undulations in the road stopped the riders getting too comfortable.

As in this series the faster riders start at the back of the field it was the promoting clubs rider Ian Cooper – Doncaster Wheelers that was setting the early pace Ian’s time of 29.45 was the first of the day to get inside 30 minutes for the 12.95 miles lap. It was some 20 minutes later before this time was bettered, Jim Boyle – Boston Wheelers going 10 seconds faster. This was Jim’s second race in the series and the first time he’d ridden this course and had lowered his gearing to cope the climb out of Clarborough, but this also affected his top end speed and with the correct gear ratios on could have been looking at a podium placing. Next rider on the road was ‘super vet’ John Woodburn – Maidenhead & District CC whose time of 31.36 was good enough for 14th fastest and 1st in the target time section. By now there were only 4 more riders Graham Rushworth – Team Swift (Allsports), Ian Dalton – Cherry Valley RT, Nigel White – Sherwood CC and 2006 series winner Dave Dent – Wightlink Offshore RT on the course all starting with 2 minute time gaps.

As Cherry Valley’s Ian Dalton started he knew he’d need to try and catch Graham Rushworth if he was going to beat Nigel White and Dave Dent, on the long drag up to Gringley on the Hill Ian could see Graham in the far distance but it was too early to know if he was going better. The first indication was at Clayworth and with the thumbs up sign from Ian’s dad, Ian knew he was the fastest rider to this point on the course but with Nigel and Dave starting behind Ian it would be difficult to receive split times on them. Fortunately as the riders went up to Clarborough another road went directly to North Wheatly so Ian could get the earlier splits there. But the time gaps at Clayworth were close Ian was only 5 sec and 15 sec faster than Nigel and Dave

On the flat straight section before Hayton Ian could see Graham in the distance and know that he was catching him, on the climb out of Clarborough the gap looked a lot smaller but with Graham at the top of the climb and Ian the bottom it was bigger than first thought. Over the top of the climb it was mainly down hill to North Wheatly and Ian was starting to close in on Graham quicker now, Ian eventually caught Graham with less than a mile to the finish and crossed the line to record a time of 28.22, the fastest so far, to Grahams 30.27 it was now all down to the final two riders, next to finish was Nigel White who had lost his early advantage over Dave Dent and finished with a time of 29.11 and as Dave Dent stopped the clock his time was a 28.59 good enough for second place and giving Ian another victory in the series.

Ian now has a slender 2 point advantage of Dave Dent and will be hoping his early season form hasn’t deserted him with the series recommences in August with round 5 of the 8 events.

1 Ian Dalton Cherry Valley RT – Impsport 28:22 2 Dave Dent Wightlink Offshore RT 28:59 3 Nigel White Sherwood CC 29:11 4 Jim Boyle Boston Wheelers CC 29:35 5 Ian Cooper Doncaster Wheelers 29:45 6 Peter Gage Manx Road Club 29:54 7 Graham Rushworth Team Swift - Allsports 30:27 8 Alan Newark CC Breckland 30:52 9 Chris Myhill API Metrow 31:01 10 John Maughan Doncaster Wheelers 31:04