Mercia Report 28-06-09

David Clarke is going through a purple patch at the moment with wins in the Mersey Road Club Criterium & 1st on stage 4 of the Kalas 2 day & 2nd place in the Preston Arena Criterium. The Kalas 2 day race was organised by Team Tor & held on the Merryfield Airfield at Ilton near Crewkerne in Somerset. The 2 day race consisted of two road race stages, an individual time trial & a team time trial. On stage 1 a circuit road race he was 11th. On stage 2 the individual time trial Clarke was 9th. In the Stage 3 team time trial over 20 kilometres David Clarke's Pendragon/Kalas team finished 2nd. The final stage over 100 kilometres on a 25 kilometre circuit, Clarke was first. He finished 2nd coverall. The winner was local rider William Bjergfelt (Sports Bean Willier).

Clark was well pleased with his 5th place in the Beaumont Trophy Première Road race over 170 kilometres held at Stamfordham in Tyne & Wear. 139 riders started the race with Clarke breaking away on the hilly circuit with Olympic Champion Bradley Wiggins MBE (Garmin Slipstream), who had just returned from the week long Criterium International in France, & three other riders to form the winning break with Clarke leading on the hills. Wiggins showed his superiority by breaking away in the last 10 miles to win by 1 min 41 seconds. Second was Premier Champion Russell Downing (Candi TV Marshall's Pasta RT) out sprinting Clarke who finished 5th. The main field finished 2 min 24 seconds behind.

In the National 50 mile trial held at Holmes Chapel in Cheshire over a 17 mile circuit that had to be covered 3 times on badly surfaced roads, Noel Adams timed 2 07 12 and Anne Staley (Plan B RT) finished in 2 22 08 to win a national age medal. The winner for the 10th time was Michael Hutchinson (In Gear Quickvit RT) in 1 43 18.

The Midland Veterans 25 mile time trial held between Alrewas, Willington & Fradley which was jointly organised with the Mercia HBM had three members riding out of an entry of 94 riders. There were some good times recorded despite the head wind on the return leg to Fradley. Noel Adams was the fastest in 1 01 56, considering he had rode the National 50 mile championship the day before he was pleased with his time. New member Jack Hugill finished with a time of 1 02 19. Veteran Peter Rose finished in 1 18 35. 25 seconds within his age standard. The fastest rider was 65 year old Roger Iddles (Stourbridge Velo Holdens) in 53 32.

Twenty one riders including a tandem competed in the latest evening time trial on the Anslow circuit. David Clarke improved his 10 mile time to 22 18 to finish the fastest. 2nd fastest was Kevin Willers (Cycling Club Sportstest) 24 27. 3rd fastest was Plan B's Daniel Partington in 24 57. In 4th place was the fastest Mercia HBM rider Keith Staley in 25 05, followed by Jack Hugill 25 08, Simon Parker 25 57, Jeff Lea 26 32, Mark Eccleston 27 13, Ben Startin 27 38, Justin Waters 28 06, Phil Jones 28 12, Alec Taylor 28 12, Mick Abbott 29 17, Adrian Waters 29 22, Nick Marriott 29 59, Ivor James 30 08, Keiron Patterson 30 11, Peter Rose 33 05, at 1 lap father & daughter Keith & Katyana Malcolm on a tandem 16 43 and Dave Peters 18 34. First on handicap Peter Rose 21 05, 2nd Jeff Lea 21 35 & 3rd Keith Staley 21 50.