Tuesday 10th March was like the last night of the proms, the atmosphere was electric as riders waited to start the last night of the Youth Wattbike League at Friary Grange Leisure Centre. The 3 groups of riders were ready and raring to start their first race of the evening as Group 1’s riders took to their saddles!
The traditional opening event, the 500m Scratch race, was set to be a battle royal between Sophie Capewell of the Lichfield Club and Paige Millward from Lyme RC. As the countdown commenced a hush fell upon the room in anticipation of the start. Throughout the race Sophie and Paige pushed each other to the limit, but it was Sophie who took the line first in 38.65 seconds just 24/100ths of a second ahead of Paige. Sophie’s sister, Emily, took the third place in 43.04 seconds to keep family pride intact.
Group 2 saw Jacob Kelly, the league leader, looking to consolidate his lead and stamp his authority on the evening’s proceedings. His 34.35 second ride did just that as he finished ahead of Alison Holmes (35.59) and Lyme RC’s Sam Birchall (36.58). Group 3 meanwhile was lead home by Lee Westwood in 30.27, with Matt Gee 2nd in 30.68 and Ben Hendon 3rd in 30.87. The next event was a Win and Out. In this event the first rider to reach 200m wins the race overall, but then the race is restarted to determine 2nd place over a second 200m distance. The same is repeated for 3rd place so that 3 riders are then left in the race and they race over 400m to determine 4th, 5th and 6th places. In Group 1 Paige Millward of Lyme RC won over club mate Sallie Birchall and Emily Capewell was 3rd. Group 2 was won by Jacob Kelly of Lichfield CCC, Alison Holmes was 2nd and Sam Birchall finished in 3rd Group 3 finished with Westwood in first place, Hendon 2nd and Bertie Newey in 3rd spot.
A short respite led riders into the 500m Team Sprint with riders paired up, in order to race 250metres each and their cumulative time used to determine finish positions. The results for Group 1 were set on a knife edge as sisters Emily and Sophie Capewell recorded the exact same time as Lyme RC club mates Paige Millward and Sallie Birchall, so they all shared the top spot with their 38.42 second rides. In group 2, Jacob Kelly and Luke Selibas won in 33.27seconds. Group 3 winners in a time of 28.70 were Nick Selibas and Matt Gee.
The penultimate event of the evening was the Keirin. This is the event in which a motorcyclist paces the cyclists round the velodrome, and peels off the track at a determined distance leaving the cyclists to sprint to the line. An extra Watt Bike ridden by a willing parent, Debbie Capewell, a competitor in the Friday League, fulfilled the role of the motor bike. Group 1 was won by Sophie Capewell; Kelly took Group 2 and Matt Gee Group 3.
The final event of the evening was a 500m handicap time trial. In this event riders were set off at intervals dependant on their time from the evening’s first race. Emily Capewell proved to be the on form rider in Group 1and took first place, followed by Milward and then Sophie Capewell. Group 2’s thrilling race saw Luke Selibas set off first and cross the line in that position, Alison Holmes was 2nd and Jacob Kelly, after setting off last some 6 seconds after Selibas, fought his way to 3rd place. In Group 3 Deborah Newey took the top spot, humiliating her son Bertie at the same time who took 4th position. The 2nd spot was taken by Nick Selibas and Matt Gee was 3rd.
In the league overall there were no changes in the final positions. Jacob Kelly took first place with a total of 84 points accumulated over the 7 weeks. Paige Milward was 2nd and also took 1st Lady with 66 point. Sophie Capewell, who won in the evening’s event, was 3rd overall. Prizes were also awarded to fastest Team Sprint pairing and Group 1 was won by Paige Milward and Emily Capewell. In a dramatic change on the night, Jacob Kelly and Luke Selibas took the fastest time for Group 2. Georgia Tonks was also awarded the rider who had shown the most improvement of the league, by improving by 5% her 500m time.
