Watt a Night - Report from the Lichfield Wattbike League
Posted by Chris Rowe on Dec 15, 2009
The first race of the evening, a 500m time trial was won by Chris Stilgoe in 33.73 seconds. Alison Holmes finished in second place in 34.40 seconds closely followed by Beth Clayton 0.40 seconds later. The battle between these two latter riders would continue throughout the evening as they attempted to assert their authority over each other and the rest of the group. In Group 2 meanwhile Alex McDonald completed the distance in 30.44 seconds, with Group 3’s Ian Beard blasting home in 27.96 seconds.
The popular Team Sprint, in which each rider in the 3 man team races over a 250m distance, was the next race. Sue Smith, Debbie Capewell and Alison Holmes took the honours in Group 1 with Mark Stodgell, Rob Cox and Ian Roberts doing the same in Group 2. Group 3 was won by Simon Smith, Phil Kelly and Dave Smith.
The final event of the evening is the now traditional 500m Handicap. This race allows the riders with the slower time from the opening event to make amends. Riders set off at different intervals with the fastest rider from race one setting off last. In Group 1 Sue Smith pipped Ann Robinson to the line by a slender 1 second margin, whilst Alison Holmes ‘s 4th place gave her the overall victory in Group 1 for the evening. Richard McDonald won in Group 2 ahead of Tim Challinor with Mark Stodgell in third, who claimed the overall win in that Group. A 31.63 second ride clinched first place for Ian Beard, despite being set off 4 seconds behind Bertie Newey who finished in 31.87 seconds. Simon Smith took third place in 33.19 but Clayton who finished in 6th place had done enough to win the overall in Group 3.
The league takes a break over the Christmas period and restarts in January. A Christmas special will take place at the leisure centre on 30th December. Details of all the forthcoming league fixtures and the Christmas special can be found on www.lichfielddc.gov.uk/wattbikes
