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By Terry Kirkup via northumbriacsc.org
The Vikings got their chance to once again play host to the Orchid Male Cancer Charity Euro-Vets, a privilege indeed to be allowed to host a round two years in succession outside of Wednesfield, so I doubt if we’ll make it a hat-trick as there are quite a few clubs who’d like to run one and aren’t as lucky as us.
So, could the locals repeat their splendid performances of 12 months previous when a handful of the much sought after trophies remained on Geordie mantelpieces?
There was a slightly lower than hoped for turnout but once again those present put on a great show, although most spectators were either in an EasyJet flying skip overhead, or else a screaming Virgin 125 whizzing through Crammy on the East Coast Line.
The meeting followed a familiar theme, with 11 riders using the standard 16-man format for the Over 40s and 9 current and not-so-future pensioners adopting the 9-man layout as we’d used at Hull in Round 7.
Praise Be to our massively dedicated long-distance travellers Pete Chant of Southampton, Jim Collier of Swindon with Eddie Ridley and Martin Hollebon of Hellingly who once again demonstrated their incredible support for a great series and a worthy charitable cause. We really appreciated them trekking all this way into the Northumbrian Unknown and hope they had a decent trip back home to the South of England.
Apart from the real diehards from Birmingham (Messrs. Timms, Hodgkinson and Winwood) and Yorkshire (Mr Burke, Mr Knowles, Mr Dyson and the incomparable Mr Rothwell) who remain fully committed and will go anywhere, it was great to see our latest recruits to the Euro-Vets, Colin Gray and Joe Beuckmann take the trouble to hike down from Glasgow to support the meeting and our Club. And extra special to see Coventry’s Main Man Joe McLaughlin come up quite a long way on his own to sample our humble facility.
Speaking of which, there were a few quiet murmurings of “it’s a bit slippy” as several of our newest visitors sampled the delights of their first ever race on the AstroDrome but once they’d strung a few laps together they all looked happy, and fast enough. With the extra length of the straights, terminal velocity is always going to be high on reaching the turns and we Vikings know from experience that you simply need a speed adjustment to keep everything in line around such comparatively tight bends, a fact readily discovered by most of the entourage today after a short while. Although we’d brushed it fairly well, the east wind was up and yet again the shale had swallowed a huge amount of rainfall with little or no retention. Lack of sufficient bodies as track staff meant we had no opportunity to roll out that ridiculous length of hose just for a bunch of old far…
And before I finish handing out the praises, gotta mention Gordon Stobbs, age-old Viking (yes, like the rest of us!) now domiciled in Lancashire who resisted the temptation to stay in the tin hut to help us out with the starting gates all day. Cheers Gordon mate. Also thumbs up for Neil Magee, suffering nicely with some sort of bug after his Canadian holiday – probably Brown Bear Fever. And the handful of folk who provided raffle fodder. Not very many but enough.
That just leaves a rollicking to dish out to Treasurer Smithy, who (twice, I think) lifted the chequered flag a lap too soon, causing much grimacing, grief for his great pal, Referee Keith Dyer and plenty of “discussion” amongst the riders!
So on to the racing, if I can recall any of it. There were some great scraps in this one. Again it was Mark Winwood and Martin Hollebon who looked most likely to top out the Over 40s, joined today by home favourite Jason Keith and Vikings third heat leader Michael Parr (“Who’s that?” – pit whisper) who had a fantastic day in the only round he gets a chance to ride in due to permanent Saturday working. But of course always in the mix would be Pete Chant and Jason Burke who started steadily, weighing up the surface before getting fully up to speed. With these six taking the odd point off each other and only Mark remaining unscathed for his SEVENTH maximum score, the selection of “A” Finalists was going to be tight, and it was the home duo who squeezed in with the series leaders at the expense of JB and Pete. Significantly, EIGHT riders won a heat with Eddie Ridley and Pete Chant the last to do so towards the end of the match.
The Big Race was yet another win for the amazing Mark, easing out of the gate off the inside just ahead of Mick Parr, who pressed the ultimate winner to the flag with Martin snapping at his heels, keeping a weary eye on Jason who looked a bit slower than of late, but still gave chase. It looked like they were all waiting for a mistake, but none were made.
The only real crash of the day occurred when Pete drove under Mick Knowles going into the first bend at the start of the final lap of the Over 40s “B” Final. Because Mick was already fast approaching the inside kerb, the concrete lip (fortunately nicely rounded) provided a somewhat intrusive landing strip for his derriere, with Pete landing on top of our Sheffield pal to exert a bit of extra pressure, and it took a few minutes for enough of the pain to disperse so that he could be dragged back to his feet by a bunch of ridicule-throwing morons! I must add that in all of his races, Mick looked very fast on our long straights, but with Pete again looking rocket-powered behind him there was only a one percent chance of a clean pass coming off here!
Over 40s A Final
1st – Mark Winwood – Birmingham
2nd – Michael Parr – Northumbria
3rd – Martin Hollebon – Hellingly
4th – Jason Keith – Northumbria
Over 40s B Final
1st – Jason Burke
2nd – Eddie Ridley
3rd – Mick Knowles (awarded)
with Pete Chant excluded
The combined 50s and 60s meant only four rides for each rider under the fairest formula which is a nine man twelve heat affair. Paul Dyson was destined to finish top scorer after getting the better of Terry Kirkup superbly in the first heat, losing only to series leader Paul Timms. However, the latter made an amazing, completely uncharacteristic mistake in the final race when, facing the other Paul off his inside, he made a distinct movement at the gate. Believe me, the rest of us watching from the pits issued a clearly audible, communal gasp, this being probably the most unexpected event we’ve seen in the whole series!
It left Referee Keith Dyer with little option but to wave a furry finger, sending Paul back to the pits. With Joe McLaughlin and Terry level on 14, PT found himself level with Fred on 12 after Stevie Hodgkinson one point behind had allowed an error to lose him a certain win earlier in the meeting. Because TK had managed to overcome Joe when they met, he got grid 2 in the “A” Final with Paul D on 1, Joe 3 and Paul T outside. A fluky quick start saw Terry away leaving the second bend following a handy bump from PD and fortunately for him the other three kept mauling each other for the rest of the race, leaving him clear for a lucky win.
Over 50s A Final 1st – Terry Kirkup – Northumbria 2nd – Joe McLaughlin – Coventry 3rd – Paul Timms – Birmingham 4th – Paul Dyson – Bury
Over 50s B Final 1st – Steve Hodgkinson – Birmingham 2nd – Fred Rothwell – Pedal Sport 3rd – Jim Graham – Northumbria 4th – Norman Carson – Northumbria
With only four Over 60s present it wasn’t hard to figure the entries for the “A” Final, and that meant Terry got the inside courtesy of being highest scorer of the quartet in the match from Fred, Jim Graham and fellow Viking Norman Carson, giving the old plastic knee a rare run out. Another decent gate got TK into the lead again while Jimmy and Fred scrapped it out for second, the Yorkshireman finally getting the better of the home man.
Over 60’s A Final 1st – Terry Kirkup – Northumbria 2nd – Fred Rothwell – Pedal Sport 3rd – Jim Graham – Northumbria 4th – Norman Carson – Northumbria
Fred laid on an extra race to ensure everyone got at least five attempts to conquer the AstroDrome, and this one was won well by Glasgow’s Joe Beuckmann after Andy Knowles had taken an early lead, only to run out of steam following his very competitive “engagement” with brother Mick a few races earlier. Colin Gray continued his rapid improvement to get the better of Jim Collier before the end of the final race.
Consolation Race
1st – Joe Beuckmann – Glasgow 2nd – Colin Gray – Glasgow 3rd – Jim Collier – Swindon 4th – Andy Knowles – Northumbria
Next event in this series – the penultimate Round 9 at Ipswich on Saturday 4th October at 1:00 pm. Please come and join in!
Report from 3318news.co.uk
Terry Kirkup of Northumbria has sent us his final instalment of Eurovets coverage for the 2014 series, with another fantastic, in-depth analysis on what has been a well organised and enjoyable campaign for all involved. Many thanks once again Terry.
So after what seems like a fairly long season, largely due to the amount of travelling involved for all the regular Euro-Vets competitors, we arrived at the Grand Finale staged by the ever-so-professional (normally I’d shudder at the very idea, but you all know what I mean!) Wednesfield CSC on a day blessed with dry weather, and just the blustery wind to deal with. The wind, in fact, played a major part in proceedings with many re-runs necessary after riders caught their helmets on the rising tapes. Helmets WITHOUT PEAKS, may I add!!! (yes, that is indeed me getting another dig at the ridiculously outdated and unnecessary helmet peak rule, the repeal of which is long overdue).
Great to see Norman Venson parading his new artificial hip around the place today, we’ve missed him lately!
Today saw the Series hardcore riders back on track with a disappointingly low number of additions, which meant another mixed-age event, Fred Rothwell again having to split us all up into two groups using the 9-man 12 heat format and running three heats from each group alternately. Not ideal with Very Old Men (VOMs?) having to race Sweet Young Things but it does at least give older legs a chance to recover with decent gaps between rides.
Wednesfield’s shape and size make it a track best suited to regular visitors but it still provided some exciting moments as the EVs went on a points quest, some a bit more anxious than others to improve their overall scores.
Hellingly’s Martin Hollebon and Northumbria’s Jason Keith were the only two ever-presents in this years event but even without each having to drop their lowest scores the flying Mark Winwood of Birmingham was already this year’s Champion before turning a wheel here, so prolific has he been in top scoring. However, things didn’t go quite so smoothly this time for Mark, his hard-worked and Elite League hammered drivetrain letting him down as Jason Keith chased him in the heats. Jason and I did in fact both slow to see if Mark could scoot it to the flag but it was locked up so he dropped valuable points and missed the “A” Final for the first time this year.
Meanwhile, Martin Hollebon was again cracking in the wins with some superb gating in Group One, with Pete Chant again on song and Over 50s leader Paul Timms right there with them. In Group Two, Sheffield’s returning star Jason Burke continued his impressive EV performances here heading Jason Keith and only losing to Mark, with rapid homester Dave Meanley next up and the other Sheffield man Mick Knoowles obviously enjoying his new Archie Wilkinson mount around Ashmore Park’s wide open spaces.
There was plenty of action a bit lower down with Eddie Ridley again demonstrating how fit he’s getting and thus faster with each meeting, and Jim Collier was also winding it up on his new Archie, he and fellow Swindon racer Paul Matthews having a great scrap as they managed to move each other offline in heat 8 enough for the ever watchful Northumbrian Jim Graham to sneak under both on the run to the line in one of the best finishes of the day, to much applause.
Nobody likes repecharge races but they were again necessary today to sort out the finalists. The victorious few joined seeded riders Martin Hollebon, Jason Burke, Paul Timms and Phil Hemming in the 40s and 50s “A” Finals respectively while the losers together with the unfortunate Mark Winwood filled the “B” Final slots. The 60s “A” Final was easy to fill as there were only four contestants.
Jason Burke was tremendous around the first bend in the 40’s “A” Final off grid one to head home the closely following trio of Martin, the other Jason and Pete for a well deserved if somewhat unexpected win. The “B” Final went to Mark Winwood as a consolation prize, mounted on a very strange looking machine borrowed from an old Viking. Just behind him, Dave was chased hard by Mick with Eddie giving it his all for three laps before fatigue set in!
The 50s “A” Final had a familiar look, but Paul Timms once again proved unstoppable, his gating prowess shooting him out in front of Phil Hemming while the now customary scrap ensued behind with Steve Hodgkinson, seeking to ensure his Series Runner-Up spot, battling around the outside of Terry Kirkup for three laps until making the inevitable overtake to relegate the interloper to last place. The “B” Final saw local hero Mick Aris, back from that horrible calf injury, rocket into the lead with Fred Rothwell seeing off the challenges of Paul Matthews and Jim Graham to rousing applause.
Mick repeated the performance in the Over 60’s “A” Final with a gentle nudge on the first bend leaving Terry with too much catchup work, as he just managed to stay ahead of Fred and Jim to the flag. Such a shame that Mick missed the previous four rounds, as at least one podium may have looked different today!
So finally we had the Series winners sorted out, with the virtually untouchable Mark Winwood topping out the Over 40s to become 2014 Champion. Paul Timms has been outstanding all season giving the 40s a good run for their money while easily outgunning the rest of the older groups to take the Over 50s Championship comfortably. And with Mick’s injury creating extra chances for the OAPs it came down to a 3-way race between Grand Veterans (I think that’s what they’re known as now) Fred Rothwell, Jim Graham and Terry Kirkup with the latter just squeezing in enough points to take the 2014 Over 60s title.
Over 60’s Champion Terry Kirkup, Over 50s Champion Paul Timms and 40s Champion Mark Winwood proudly wearing their TLI Cycling Champion’s jerseys and displaying their winner’s trophies after the Wednesfield presentations.
Another great day of Old Folk’s Racing steered along nicely by the ever-jolly Fred Rothwell and run like clockwork by Roger Ellis and his team of helpers. Roger paid tribute to Fred following the last race and presented him with a card and a small token of our group appreciation for what he’s done for the Sport and the Charity.
After the prizegiving we retired to some British Legion Club hundreds of corners from Ashmore where the Aces had laid on another welcome feast for their visitors. Thanks to Mark Winwood who drove slowly enough for Jason to keep up with him (same old story on track!). The feed was greatly appreciated by travellers and locals alike, and the principal activity was conducted by Mick Knowles assisting Fred in counting the contents of our Orchid Male Cancer Charity’s collection boxes.
It looks like we again raised over six hundred pounds for Orchid from not a massive number of competitors and supporters who bought raffle tickets as we moved around the country between staging Clubs. Well done to all concerned and roll on 2015!
Report By Terry Kirkup, Northumbria Vikings and Photos from Brian Barnett via 3318news.co.uk
My first thought on seeing the Eagles’ track suggested it was a vast arena and I’d be lost on it’s wide, sweeping bends. Strange how first impressions can be deceiving though, as it felt reasonably compact when racing on it, although very fast, and it had been prepared beautifully for the occasion. It is indeed wide from fence to fence across the middle but the track itself is the same width as ours, and with its overall measurement being 2 metres shorter than Cramlington it really did feel smaller than it looked.
With only 22 competitors across the three age groups (a surprisingly and disappointingly low turnout of 50s and 60s) Jim Graham, Fred Rothwell and Terry Kirkup were certain of making at least the Over 60s “A” Final while the rest of the field had to battle hard for position. So the Oldies had to race with the Over 40s which was a pretty strong group bolstered by a good influx of one-off South East riders including a bunch of very rapid Kesgrave representatives. Fred’s solution this time was to split the field into two 11-man matches running over the standard 16 heat formula with the last four places lopped off, Off we kicked at around 1:00pm, exactly the same time as the Heavens opened. They don’t ALWAYS get the forecast wrong!
Jason Keith was the only one of the northern-most trio to miss out on a trophy, cruel luck after scoring 18 points in his round with some great riding which included leading the Champion for 3 laps in heat 12 and a defeat of close rival Martin Hollebon earlier. He did win the Over 40’s “B” Final, with Martin pushed down to third place by a rapid Paddy Wenn, to maintain his challenge for overall third place in the series, however. Meanwhile, it was current series leader, Birmingham’s Mark Winwood who took top honours after dropping just one point to Danny Zagni when they met early on. Then came two identical clashes with the local hero and current British Over 40s Champion, Danny clearly disappointed that the “A” Final should end with him on the centre green at the pits bend during the first two stagings of the Final.
Mark had, uncharacteristically, left a fair old gap underneath him as he sped off grid one both times, and of course like a flash there was the Champ to take advantage with a strong run up the inside. That left Mark with the choice of either trying to blast around the outside or snuff out the challenge by closing Danny down, and twice he chose the latter option resulting in the two stoppages after a bout of involuntary grasstracking. Danny did have the opportunity to take his place in the second re-run but politely declined. That left his two impressive Kesgrave colleagues, Peter Ingram and Gary Brown to chase Mark home in the last race of the day.
I hope I’m wrong, but looking at Heat 3 of the Group 2 match it appears that Sheffield’s Mick Knowles, flying today on his new, ex- Kevin Smith alloy Archie may have been robbed of the chance to compete in the 40s “B” Final, although I wasn’t privy to the draw (he says, hoping not to cause offence or controversy!).
Over 40s A Final
1st – Mark Winwood – Birmingham
2nd – Peter Ingram – Kesgrave
3rd – Gary Brown – Kesgrave
Over 40s B Final
1st – Jason Keith – Northumbria
2nd – Paddy Wenn – Norwich
3rd – Martin Hollebon – Hellingly
4th – Dave Meanley – Wednesfield
The Over 50s “A” Final proved a similar outcome to the previous round, where a judicious piece of sneaking around the first bend on lap two allowed Terry Kirkup to pass Phil Hemming and Stevie Hodgkinson, scrapping hard going into the corner and drifting wide coming out. by which time the flying Paul Timms had made his getaway for yet another maximum score to add to his unassailable lead in the Over 50s class.
Over 50s A Final
1st – Paul Timms – Birmingham
2nd – Terry Kirkup – Northumbria
3rd – Steve Hodgkinson – Birmingham
4th – Phil Hemming – Wednesfield
Over 50s B Final
1st – Ray Pyke – Great Blakenham
2nd – Fred Rothwell – Pedal Sport
3rd – Jim Graham – Northumbria
The penultimate round of the series had only three Over 60s present so they could have tooled about on track and still reached their “A” Final. It certainly wasn’t like that, however, as Fred showed with two excellent rides in his first two outings. Jim was hit by a very unusual bout of leg cramp he hasn’t experienced before which hampered his performance this time. Ultimately though it was Jim on grid 1, Terry on 2 and Fred on 3 to end their day, taken with a decent gate by TK with Fred following him home ahead of Jim to maintain very close scores between the first two overall.
Over 60’s A Final
1st – Terry Kirkup – Northumbria
2nd – Fred Rothwell – Pedal Sport
3rd – Jim Graham – Northumbria
It’s always (almost always!) good to put a face to a name, and today it was a pleasure for me to meet Jamie Goldsmith, the Eagles’ Club Chairman who did the damp and unloved pits marshalling job today and got the meeting completed efficiently with his little team of helpers in somewhat miserable conditions. Jamie is one of those people who seem to exude happiness, see presentation piccies courtesy of South East camera-wielding maestro Brian Barnett.
Last event in this series – the Grand Finale at Wednesfield on Saturday 18th October at 1:00 pm.
After the rain affected opening round of the 2014 Eurovets GP series at Horspath (Oxford) in late April, hopes were high that sunshine and agreeable weather conditions would be in place for round 2 at Coventry on Saturday 10th May.
All the Eurovets riders were eagerly awaiting racing at the super banked Hearsall Common circuit in Coventry, scene of the memorable 2013 British Open Final, which many of the vets had attended or who had seen the excellent coverage of the final on their TV screens.
Hopes were dashed on the weather front as continuous heavy showers in the preceding 48 hours in the Coventry area had rendered the track waterlogged, producing heavy conditions, which of course are not the ideal ones for the veteran competitors.
A rearranged British Junior & Youth League round was staged from early morning, prior to the Eurovets round 2. This was subject to persistent showers, which although not heavy in the most part, prevented the drying out of the Hearsall Common bowl.
However, what everyone in attendance feared actually materialised around 1pm. A massive 5 minute long downpour completely flooded the track, swamping the straights to half way out on either side.
Everyone clubbed in – juniors, officials, parents and vets – and after a sustained 15 minutes of remedial work, racing was underway again. This had the effect of presenting the vets with even heavier conditions as the Eurovets eventually got under way an hour behind schedule.
There was once again a very good turnout across the three categories. A surprise, but very welcome, debutant was Tim Grimes (from Hethersett), who acquitted himself very well.
Long distance competitors included friendly Geordies Jim Graham, Terry Kirkup and Jason Keith. Terry raced to his best Eurovets GP score to date. The trio left happy, staying at Birmingham overnight before heading to Bury on Sunday.
There was a new winner of the Over 60s final when Birmingham`s Bob Prince deservedly took the honours racing in his first TLI Cycling hosted event. Series Over 60s leader Mick Aris took second, with Fred Rothwell third.
There was keen competition in the Over 50s classification. A number of prominent riders missed out on a final appearance, including Steve Mullinder, the returning Paul Dyson and the aforementioned Prince and Kirkup.
Over 50s competition leader Paul Timms had reeled off five wins to ensure gate one in the final. He was in terrific form all afternoon and eventually won the final in fine style.
The busy Aris finished runners-up. There was a great battle between home man Joe McLaughlin, still hampered by various injuries, and Birmingham`s stylish Steve Hodgkinson, for third, which McLaughlin won after a fierce dive on his rival.
This result also echoed the overall Over 50s series leadership – Timms leading from a pressing Aris, and McLaughlin in close attention.
In the final placings in the Over 40s, Mark Winwood strode to an accomplished maximum to head the race for the final. He was joined Leicester Eurovets stalwart Norman Venson, Hellingley`s flying Martin Hollebon and Dave Frith from Coventry.
Winwood speeded to victory with Venson runners-up. There was a spectacular crash involving Hollebon and Frith, with the Sussex star remounting first to claim a podium finish.
Unfortunately, Eurovets regulars such as John Whiting, Mark Grifiths, Kevin Smith, Chic Mackie and Phil Hemming were missing, some due to illness. The Eurovets group hope to see them all back featuring in later rounds soon.
Another absentee was Wednesfield comeback man Kevin Marson, who had performed very well in the opening round at Horspath two weeks previously. Kevin`s absent was un-explained but it is hoped he returns to the series soon.
The Swindon trio of Jim Collyer, Paul Matthews and Martin Glover, who made their Eurovets debuts at Horspath, were again very welcome and friendly additions to the series. Ben Mould`s father, Dave, also featured at Coventry and seemed more competitive than at Oxford.
The next round of the Eurovets GP series is at Poole, Dorset, this Saturday (31st May), commencing at 1pm. Poole is a new venue for the Eurovets GP and all the riders are keenly looking forward to racing at one of the sport’s most foremost venues.
Riders can register on the day at Poole for a £4 `day licence` or take out a really cost effective TLI Cycling years membership at an affordable £10. There are no rider levy fees applicable at TLI Cycling promoted events. For more information, please go to: www.tlicycling.org.uk