All in the practice as Tom rides away
Triathlete Tom Sexton showed the benefits of a good winter's training by riding away from the rest of the field to score a maiden road race win in round two of the Northants CRA Spring Handicap Series at Old.
Pushed back a group by handicapper Rowland Summerlin after a strong
performance in the opening week, Sexton (Welland Valley CC) – 27 this Saturday – powered his way through to the front of the race by the last of the three laps.
He then went clear approaching the Loddington turn-off and rode the last few miles on his own to come home 40 seconds clear of a chasing group of six.
A full field of 60 riders was again spread over 12 minutes at the start.
But on an easier circuit and in less windy conditions, the scratch group this time found the gap too much to bridge and were still nearly two minutes shy at the finish where, contesting 10th place, they were led in by Brett Harwood (I-Ride.co.uk).
In front of them, Sexton – who competed for Northants Tri Club last year before deciding to concentrate on cycling and lives in Market Harborough – rode an attacking race from the start, splitting his group to make up 90 seconds on the six-minute group in front within three
miles.
Sexton then jumped away on his own to join the race lead, made up of riders from the 7.30, nine and 12-minute groups, on the airfield stretch at Harrington before launching the winning attack.
Chris Hewitt (Kingston Wheelers) took the sprint for second place ahead of Matt Garfield (Fenland Clarion CC), who survived from the 12-minute longmarkers along with John Taylor (WVCC) as Stuart Walters (Kettering CC) and Martyn Brown (WVCC), finishing eighth and ninth, lost contact going into Lamport for the last time.
Sexton's effort gives him the overall lead in the six-race series going into Saturday's third round, also over 48 km, on the Great Gidding circuit with headquarters at Glatton.
Leading positions and locals: 1 Tom Sexton (Welland Valley CC) 1:16.39; 2 Chris Hewitt (Kingston Wh) at 40 sec, 3 Matt Garfield (Fenland Clarion CC), 4 Nigel Bourne (St Ives CC), 5 John Taylor (WVCC), 6 Richard Mead (CC Luton), 7 Vic Barnett (WVCC) all same time.
8 Stuart Walters (Kettering CC) at 1.14, 9 Martyn Brown (WVCC) st; 13 Phil Rayner (WVCC) at 1.58, 15 Gregg Payne (Rockingham Forest Wh), 19 Lawrence Cox (WVCC), 21 Andy Fairley (KCC), 23 Nick Clarke (WVCC) all st; 27 Paul Brown (Numplumz) at 2.35; 29 Ray Taylor (WVCC)at 2.55, 30 Jamie Scott (Sub7bikes.co.uk RT), 31 Roy Crombie both st; 32 Scott McCann (both RFW) at 3.57, 33 Mitchell James (WVCC), 34 Robert Woodford (RFW) both st; 35 David Palmer (Cyclingbargains.com RT) at 4.35; 37 Paul Rothe (WVCC) at 5.15, 43 Hugh Boyle, 44 Michael Salter (both RFW), 46 Nick Horder, 48 Stuart Dawkins, 49 Alex Fry (all WVCC) all st; 52 Tom Kruger (45 RC) at 7.46; 54 Ian Dick (RFW) at 9.19; 55 Jack Hall (WVCC) at 9.58; 56 Steven Coulam (Dream CC) at 12.14, 57 Andrew Ayears st; 58 Mike Smith (WVCC) at 13.31.
Leading overall: 1 Sexton 24 pts, eq 2 Harwood & Raphael Deinhart (Cyclepremier-Metaltek RT) 19, 4 Paul Bennett (Melton Olympic CC) 18, 5 Garfield 17, 6 Bourne 16.
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Weather for Kettering
Sunday 27 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 25 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 12 C to 26 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North east
