Joe Staunton kicked off his road racing season with back to back 8th places at the Tour of the Marshes Road Race in Ashford on Saturday 31st March and Thruxton Motorsport Circuit on Sunday 1st April.
Tricky weather conditions of heavy rain, standing water and mud made for exciting racing in Kent as Staunton fought at the front of the 60km race.
Each time up the main hill on the 3-lap circuit Staunton and a handful of others would push the pace and break, leaving a small breakaway group. Unwillingness to work together on behalf of a couple of the group led to the breakaway being caught by the pursuing bunch each time. The high pace and conditions decimated the field with only 28 riders out of the 61 starters crossing the finishing line. Staunton led out the remaining riders into the final sprint and managed to hold out for an 8th place sprint finish in his first race of the season.
Joe was joined by fellow Wightlink Wight Mountain Cycle Race Team rider Matt Allsopp at Thurxton on Sunday.
First up was Joe Staunton in the 3rd Category Race. The race was neutralised for over an hour due to a serious crash which required 3 ambulances and an air ambulance – a shortened race pursued of only 8 laps.
The changed racing dynamic led to a higher intensity race for this 8 laps. Numerous breakaways were attempted and chased by Staunton, who worked hard at the front to control the race and prevent the large teams of up to 5 riders from dominating. Another crash on the final lead into the finish put tensions on high but Staunton held his nerve to finish strongly in 8th place.
He said:
“I’m really happy with the way this weekend has gone. I’m still learning at every race as I only started competitive road racing towards the end of last season having competed in triathlon before. The results this weekend give me confidence I’ve trained well over the winter and can hopefully continue to work hard and get some good results in throughout the season.
Article continues below this advertisement “The team and I have some big targets later in the year so lots to look forward to!”
Matt Allsopp lined up in the E12 race at Thruxton with a strong field of 50 riders. The race was 1 hour and 5 laps of the circuit in which Allsopp managed to get into a couple of short lived breaks.
Knowing the race wouldn’t split Matt sat in and helped cover a few attacks made. With some of the riders dropping out the back Allsopp positioned himself well coming into the final chicane being towards the front he got out the saddle to lay down his sprint, but with possible dehydration he cramped up in both legs and rolled over the finish line safely in the bunch.
