WIGHTLINK-WIGHT MOUNTAIN CYCLISTS COMPETE IN MAINLAND EVENTS

Isle of Wight cyclists from the Wightlink-Wight Mountain Cylce Race Team recently competed at events in Portsmouth and Thruxton, with Joe Staunton achieving a 3rd place finish.

Oliver Nolan travelled to Portsmouth last week to compete in his first E/1/2 race of the season at the Mountbatten Centre.

Oliver was up against a tough field of over 20 riders but managed to cover several breaks in the early stage of the race, a difficult task when you’re a lone team rider. Unfortunately, a few riders managed to get away with a few laps to go, leaving Oliver to fight it out for the minor places in the bunch.

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After the race Oliver said:

“I was feeling pretty good so hopefully some good results will be on the cards in the near future”.

James Veal travelled further afield to Thruxton on Tuesday (5th April), braving the elements to race in the first round of the Behind the Bike Sheds Summer series.

After his promotion to category 2 last season, this was going to be a step up in ability from his previous races. A cold and windy track meant that the uphill section would prove to be decisive and after 30 mins the race split with James, unfortunately, finding himself in the chasing group. With only a handful of riders prepared to work to bring the bunch back together, the lead group stayed away until the end. James put in a big effort on the last lap and managed to finish ahead of the chasing group, coming home 19th overall.

A good start to his 2nd Cat racing season but James is hoping to learn from this experience and pull out a better result in his next race.

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Joe Staunton raced at the Mountbatten Centre on Wednesday (6th April) to race in his first E/1/2 Evening Series races of the season. Again, the conditions were not favourable with very high winds. Joe got away in a break from the gun which settled with 5 riders taking a lap on the bunch. One of the front riders attacked with 5 minutes to go and stayed away leaving the rest to fight it out for the minor places. Joe put in a great effort but was just out sprinted to the line, finishing in 3rd place.