SUCCESS ACROSS THE BOARD FOR WIGHTLINK-WIGHT MOUNTAIN RIDERS

The weekend saw action in both road and off-road disciplines for Wightlink-Wight Moutain Cycle Race Team. At the Gorrick Spring Classic XC, Nadia Lele continued her good form by finishing 3rd in the women’s sport race. Despite 2 crashes, she persevered through to take the final spot on the podium – a hard but rewarding race. Ewan Cook was next in the men’s sport race, which featured plenty of new faces. After a hard start and an unfortunate chain drop on the first lap, Ewan raced well, picking through the front group of riders with several well-timed attacks, holding a 20-second gap for the latter half of the race to take a fantastic solo win – his second victory in row. Competing in the youth race, Mackenzie Cook got off to a solid start. In an attritional race which saw riders puncturing, Mack unfortunately crashed, losing his group. Nevertheless, he took 5th place – showing he is improving with every race in his first season competing. Next up was Finley Manser-Grundy who took on the Root1 Downhill Race at Tidworth Bike Park. Coming back to the bike from a period of illness, he was excited to get back racing. The course was dry and had a great variety of technical rooty sections, berms and big step down jumps. This was a very different course to the first round which saw some fast times. Finley had a run of bad luck on the first run when his chain came off after a big jump. On his second run he managed to take a few seconds off, helping him finish 5th fastest 20″ wheel bike of the day in the U12s age category. His next races are at Windhill and Forest of Dean. Finally, Alfie Hayden, Nick Earley and Oli Nolan travelled to Winchester to compete in VC Venta’s Spring Road Race. For all 3 riders this was their first road race, representing an opportunity to gain valuable experience for the rest of the season. Positioning themselves towards the front of the race in order to cover any early attacks, the team were well placed to influence proceedings. However, some bad luck for Alfie in the form of a puncture ended his race after the 1st lap. Nick, active at the front controlling a threatening breakaway, was caught out in a crash mid-way through the race, having to abandon with mechanical issues along with many other riders. Oli was momentarily caught up in the crash, but was able to chase back on to the remaining front group. Gradually moving up towards the front on the final lap, he contested the bunch sprint for 2nd place, crossing the line in 6th place.