It was a character building evening as only the hardier breed turned up to Round 5 of the Denso and Tern Cycles Evening 10 Series, with just eight riders taking the line in chilly conditions and having to battle a stiff and gusting north-west wind. That of course meant a good chance of scoring big points on the Long Lane circuit.

Oli Freeman didn’t finish that much off the pace from his Round 3 time, the last time on the technical circuit, loosing just nine seconds to take the win in 22 minutes 51 seconds. Freeman declared post-race that “The straight was horrible”, indicating a tough triple passage along the A442. Freeman extended his Series lead to 11 points as a result. His nearest challenge came from Phil Roberts, making his first solo appearance of the year and stopping the watch on 23:46. Meanwhile third placed Ben Wood lost a lot of speed thanks to the added frustration of being stuck behind a slow moving mobile water tanker for the entire half mile length of his second passage down Long Lane, which affected both his rhythm and time: 1:07 down on his Round 3 effort in 24:07.

In the Road Bike Series winner Allan Henderson stated that the evening constituted “The toughest conditions I’ve ever ridden in”, which wasn’t enough to stop him adding five points to his tally and moving up to the runner-up spot in the standings thanks to a 27:09 effort, just five seconds off his Round 3 time; with the benefit of the tailwind south along the B5063 making up some of the lost ground pushing north. Henderson’s nearest challenge came from Series leader Peter Jukes in 27:51, and who now holds a four point lead.   

Result:

Cumulative Standings after five rounds

Pos’nNameClubCatMachine2.5 miles6.25 miles10 milesNo.
1Oli FreemanWrekinsport CCSTT5:3914:1422:513
2Phil RobertsWrekinsport CCSTT5:5614:5423:468
3Ben WoodWrekinsport CCVTT6:1015:1324:076
4Matt PriceWrekinsport CCVTT6:2316:0325:525
5Allan HendersonWrekinsport CCVRB6:4316:5927:091
6Paul CoupeWrekinsport CCVTT6:4217:0827:327
7Peter JukesWrekinsport CCVRB7:0517:2727:514
8Chris DunnWrekinsport CCVRB6:4517:2028:022

Solo – Overall

Pos’nNameBest 12Total Points
1Oli Freeman2929
2Ben Wood1818
3Matt Price1212
4Rich Smith88
5Pete Jukes77

Solo – Road Bikes

Pos’nNameBest 12
1Pete Jukes22
2Allan Henderson18
3Chris Dunn17
4Rich Smith16
5Tim Burn6

Solo – Women

Pos’nNameBest 12
1Bethan Tomlinson6

2-Up

Pos’nNameBest 5
1Matt Price & Dave Seager6

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