30th May 2013

Five St Neots riders entered the fourth Rockingham Race. Richard, Tim, Steve Muchmoore and Wayne from last week were joined by David 'Di2' Lindsay, entering his first race. There was a strong northerly wind and conditions were humid, although the ever present threat of rain never materialised.

With only three 2nd cats the organisers decided to mix things up a little. The 3rd cats who so far hadn't got a top 10 placing were demoted to the 4th cat group - that included an unhappy Richard. However, it turned out Wayne's first set of points did count, so he was now racing on a 3rd Cat licence!

With a few 3rds thrown into the 4ths, the group was stirred up a little and a good pace was set with Richard and Tim among those taking the lead at the front of the bunch. 20 minutes into the race and we were lapping the first dropped riders from our group, but Stephen and David were still in the mix.

In the thirds group, Wayne was having a hard time. A fierce pace was being set with constant attacks as riders tried to cross to the bolstered 4ths groups. However, at the back of this group riders were suffering and being shelled out. Unfortunately Wayne was among them, he was eventually lapped and forced to withdraw. By the end of the race the survivors of this group had averaged 26.66mph, the fastest pace so far this series.
Riders continued to be dropped from the 4ths group and half way in it was David's turn, a victim of one of the draggy little ramps, today running straight into the headwind. However, the group was still holding off the 3rds, it was starting to look like they might stay away.

Steve stayed with the 4ths group almost to the end, but with a couple of laps left to go he too was dropped. Only the old men, Tim (much the senior of the two) and Richard, were left in contention.

On the penultimate circuit the lapped riders were forced to withdraw from the race leaving just 8 riders in the lead group. A Rockingham rider was dropped and it was down to 7. A Bourne rider attacked, but was reeled in, so for the final lap the group was together. Not much happened until the penultimate bend when an early attack for the line went off. A split opened with Tim, Richard and the Bourne rider on the wrong side. The gap was seconds, but there wasn't enough tarmac or strength left to close it down and contest the sprint.
Richard finished 5th and Tim 7th, a good race for them, while Steve, David and Wayne DNF'd, disappointing but they've got the bug and will be back for more!

Next week the race moves to the open road and the Southwick circuit. It's a good course with a testing hill finish. The last time St Neots raced here Tim was dropped early on (but it was only his 2nd race) and Richard finished 6th.

Richard O