Telford finds himself in wrong place for sprint finish in cycle race (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Telford finds himself in wrong place for sprint finish in cycle race

THE weather down by Hurn airport was warm and dry, giving almost perfect conditions for an afternoon of circuit racing.

The Sid and Gords Circuit Race covered all categories from youths to elite riders on a demanding four-mile circuit.

And Bryan Telford and Chris Broad-Drake saw to the Swindon RC's interests in the third-cat race run over ten laps and marked by frequent breaks.

In the end, the race came together in the final lap and a sprint finish was on the cards.

Unluckily, Telford found himself in the wrong position at the head of the field with about one kilometre to go, but Chris Broad-Drake managed a creditable eighth place on the uphill sprint.

In the fourth-cats race, which started at a fast pace, Steve Willis and Clive Gwyther were wearing the Swindon colours.

However, Gwyther closed down all attacks, until a two-man break eventually managed to slip away.

The remaining group worked well together until the final lap when Clive decided to go for a long attack to the finish.

He suffered on the final uphill stretch, but managed to hang on for third place, which earned him eight points and his third- cat licence.

Westerley CC's open circuit time trial on the Hampstead Norris course was another district round of the Rudy Project time trial series.

Swindon's Steve Marchant, last year's winner of the Rudy Project, went flat out to collect the valuable 30 points, covering the two laps in 1hr 43min.

He was followed by Paul Holdsworth (Hounslow and District Wheelers) in 1-1.43 and David Johnson (High Wycombe CC) in 1-3.30.

The weekly club ten resumed last week in dry, windy and overcast conditions. Even so, Chris Bishop and Joe Schwartz still managed to achieve new course personal bests.

Overall SRC results for the night as follows: C Bishop 23.25, R Cowen 23.54, G Messer 24.06, C Hayter 24.36, J Schwartz 24.44, K Tilley 24.51, D Higgs 24.58, M Allen 25.47, T Jordan 25.52, K Williams 26.00, S McCurdy 26.07, R Patterson 26.19, B McPhail 27.11, M Murkin 27.37, R Cantwell 27.45.

For news and information about the Swindon RC, see the website www.swindon-rc.co.uk