Both the overall and female course records were shattered on a memorable evening in Round 12 of the SB Sports Injuries Series, as Tomos Hales and Hayley Wells lowered their own benchmarks, both set in Round 4, in the Wrekinsport CC Gordon Davis 18 – as riders had the treat of the partial eclipse during the race. The temperature dropped slightly, but there was still plenty of light available to race as Hales knocked 51 seconds off to lower the overall record to 37 minutes 17 seconds on the 18 mile Eyton – Hodnet ‘out and back’ course; whilst Wells lopped 40 seconds off her own record to reset the female target to 41:44.

Hales knew he had to put in a performance with the first-time presence in SB Series this year from Kirk Vickers, who was revealed to be targeting the course record pre-race. In the end reigning SB Series Champion Hales did more than enough even though he had the Ludlow Scenic 10 in his legs from 24 hours earlier. He commented: “The night had the potential for a quick time due to the wind blowing you up the slight up hill drag from Shawbirch to Hodnet. My main aim was to hold a good speed on the way out and push on the way back. However, my efforts of the Ludlow time trial the night before definitely were taking their toll. The short eclipse gave us a brief respite from the beating sun, but it was a very taxing night. I was happy to take a big chunk off my old course record; and will have to see how long it stands. Thanks for Wrekinsport for hosting, brilliant as always”.

With Hales off first rider Vickers didn’t have a chance to hold the record even briefly despite finishing 23 seconds behind the Aerologic rider and beating the old record by 28 seconds. Vickers stated: “A tough night in the heat, but I managed to pace it pretty well, building the effort slightly into the headwind on the way back. Top ride from Tomos, I just couldn’t quite match his speed on the night”.

Ride of the evening came from 16 year-old Newport rider Ben Bramford-Hale who not only finished 3^rd overall in 40:40, but also took a maiden win in the SB Road Bike Series and the Junior win too to move to joint lead of that Series. The 16 year-old fired off the start line as if his life depended on it, getting straight up to maximum speed with barely a delay. He commented: “I loved the experience of riding the race through the eclipse and enjoyed the time trial as it gives me a great point of comparison from how I’ve progressed against previous years. It was a great atmosphere with encouragement from the other riders and volunteers, who I’m very grateful to”.

Despite holding the female course record set in April, Wells surprising thought she had more left in the tank in her Round 4 effort. Here though she left it all on the road, potentially helped by Vickers overtaking her within the last 500 metres as a carrot to try to pull back. Wells’ 41:44 took 4^th spot overall in a powerhouse performance as she edged Chris Riley out by two seconds and narrowed the gap to Evie Fletcher at the top of the SB Female standings to 26 points after Fletcher finished as runner-up in 48:55. wells commented: “After a disappointing ride on this course back in April, I was hopeful I could better it! I started out sensible, knowing the return leg was going to be a little tougher. I was grateful for a slight drop in temperature for the return leg due to the eclipse, I managed to hang on and knock 40 seconds off my previous effort. It was a great atmosphere as always at mid-week events, many thanks to Wrekinsport”.

For the second evening in a row Paramount team mates John Westhead and Chris Riley were pushing each other to the limit in a closely-fought battle that saw Westhead just come home with the win over the SB Veterans Champion Riley by fours seconds in +8:13. Westhead revealed that he was a little wary of racing a longer time trail in the heat, but all came good: “After abandoning the Ride Fast Coaching Shropshire Championship 25 due to feeling unwell in 34ºC, I was uncertain about another race in high temperatures. However, after winning the Veterans category in the Ludlow Scenic 10 the night before I knew that I was going well. As this race was seven miles shorter than the 25, I decided to give it a go. In the end I was also aided by the eclipse of the sun, which offered an eerie relief halfway around the course. I was pleased to scrape a second win in two nights, and to increase the margin of my win over Chris Riley from three to four seconds. There’s almost nothing between us on age adjusted times in these shorter events, and I have been fortunate to edge the wins as those time gaps can be reversed very easily by being stuck in traffic”.

Full:

Pos’n	Name	Club	Cat	Machine	Time	Points
1	Tomos Hales	Aerologic RT	S	TT	37:17	20
2	Kirk Vickers	Holohan Coaching RT	S	TT	37:40	18
3	Ben Bramford-Hale	Newport Shropshire CC	J	RB	40:40	16
4	Hayley Wells	Aerologic RT	F	TT	41:44	14
5	Chris Riley	Paramount CRT	V	TT	41:46	12
6	George Coombes	Aerologic RT	S	RB	41:55	10
7	Mitchell Fletcher	Paramount CRT	S	TT	42:05	8
8	Tim Burn	Wrekinsport CC	S	RB	42:07	6
9	Chris Halford	Wrekinsport CC	V	RB	43:17	4
10	Stuart Proctor	Dave Scott Coaching	V	RB	43:39	2
11	Chris Staples	Wrekinsport CC	V	RB	43:53	2
12	John Westhead	Paramount CRT	V	TT	44:58	2
13	Paul Coupe	Wrekinsport CC	V	TT	45:39	2
14	Allan Henderson	Wrekinsport CC	V	RB	47:30	2
15	Chris Dunn	Wrekinsport CC	V	RB	48:04	2
16	Dave Seager	Wrekinsport CC	V	RB	48:52	2
=17	Evie Fletcher	Paramount CRT	F	TT	48:55	2
=17	Franco Della Mura	Wrekinsport CC	V	RB	48:55	2
19	Helen Tudor	Oswestry Paragon CC	FV	TT	49:21	2
20	Alison Fryer-Jones	Paramount CRT	FV	RB	52:54	2

Veterans:

Vets Pos’n	Name	Club	Cat	Machine	Vet +/-	Vets Points
1	John Westhead	Paramount CRT	V	TT	+8:13	20
2	Chris Riley	Paramount CRT	V	TT	+8:09	18
3	Stuart Proctor	Dave Scott Coaching	V	RB	+6:31	16
4	Chris Halford	Wrekinsport CC	V	RB	+5:46	14
5	Paul Coupe	Wrekinsport CC	V	TT	+4:46	12
6	Helen Tudor	Oswestry Paragon CC	FV	TT	+3:53	10
7	Chris Staples	Wrekinsport CC	V	RB	+3:30	8
8	Franco Della Mura	Wrekinsport CC	V	RB	+1:30	6
9	Dave Seager	Wrekinsport CC	V	RB	+1:18	4
10	Alison Fryer-Jones	Paramount CRT	FV	RB	+0:34	2
11	Chris Dunn	Wrekinsport CC	V	RB	+0:07	2
12	Allan Henderson	Wrekinsport CC	V	RB	-0:02	2

Females:

Female Pos’n	Name	Club	Cat	Machine	Time	Female Points
1	Hayley Wells	Aerologic RT	F	TT	41:44	20
2	Evie Fletcher	Paramount CRT	F	TT	48:55	18
3	Helen Tudor	Oswestry Paragon CC	FV	TT	49:21	16
4	Alison Fryer-Jones	Paramount CRT	FV	RB	52:54	14

Road Bikes:

RB Pos’n	Name	Club	Cat	Machine	RB Adj Time	RB Points
1	Ben Bramford-Hale	Newport Shropshire CC	J	RB	40:40	20
2	Stuart Proctor	Dave Scott Coaching	V	RB	40:44	18
3	Chris Halford	Wrekinsport CC	V	RB	41:29	16
4	George Coombes	Aerologic RT	S	RB	41:55	14
5	Tim Burn	Wrekinsport CC	S	RB	42:07	12
6	Chris Staples	Wrekinsport CC	V	RB	43:45	10
7	Franco Della Mura	Wrekinsport CC	V	RB	45:45	8
8	Dave Seager	Wrekinsport CC	V	RB	45:57	6
9	Alison Fryer-Jones	Paramount CRT	FV	RB	46:41	4
10	Chris Dunn	Wrekinsport CC	V	RB	47:08	2
11	Allan Henderson	Wrekinsport CC	V	RB	47:17	2

Juniors:

Junior Pos’n	Name	Club	Cat	Machine	Time	Junior Points
1	Ben Bramford-Hale	Newport Shropshire CC	J	RB	40:40	20

Wrekinsport Gordon Davis Handicap:

H/C Pos’n	Name	Club	Cat	Machine	H/C Time
1	Paul Coupe	Wrekinsport CC	V	TT	34:09
2	Franco Della Mura	Wrekinsport CC	V	RB	34:25
3	Chris Staples	Wrekinsport CC	V	RB	35:23
4	Tim Burn	Wrekinsport CC	S	RB	35:37
5	Chris Dunn	Wrekinsport CC	V	RB	37:04
6	Dave Seager	Wrekinsport CC	V	RB	38:22
7	Allan Henderson	Wrekinsport CC	V	RB	38:30
8	Chris Halford	Wrekinsport CC	V	RB	40:47

Cumulative Standings after twelve rounds

Overall

Position	Name	Club	Cat	Best 12
1	Chris Riley	Paramount CRT	V	188
2	Tomos Hales	Aerologic RT	S	172
3	Mitchell Fletcher	Paramount CRT	S	150
4	Richard Simpson	North Shropshire Wheelers	V	98
5	Hayley Wells	Aerologic RT	F	70
6	George Coombes	Aerologic RT	S	44
7	John Westhead	Paramount CRT	V	42
=8	Ben Wood	Wrekinsport CC	V	32
=8	Mark Hill	Hafren CC	V	32
10	Jamie Rossiter	North Shropshire Wheelers	V	30

Veterans:

Position	Name	Club	Cat	Best 12
1	Chris Riley	Paramount CRT	V	244
2	Richard Simpson	North Shropshire Wheelers	V	124
3	John Westhead	Paramount CRT	V	116
4	Mark Hill	Hafren CC	V	52
=5	Ashley Kirkham	Wrekinsport CC	V	38
=5	Ben Wood	Wrekinsport CC	V	38
7	Jamie Rossiter	North Shropshire Wheelers	V	36
8	Chris Halford	Wrekinsport CC	V	32
9	Kathryn Rossiter	North Shropshire Wheelers	FV	30
=10	Jan Davies	Hafren CC	FV	26
=10	Les Boughey	North Shropshire Wheelers	V	26
=10	Paul Coupe	Wrekinsport CC	V	26

Females:

Position	Name	Club	Cat	Best 12
1	Evie Fletcher	Paramount CRT	F	132
2	Hayley Wells	Aerologic RT	F	106
3	Helen Tudor	Oswestry Paragon CC	FV	62
4	Jan Davies	Hafren CC	FV	54
5	Kathryn Rossiter	North Shropshire Wheelers	FV	44
6	Ellie Langley	North Shropshire Wheelers	F	24
7	Elaine Beckett	North Shropshire Wheelers	FV	22
8	Rebecca Woodvine	Mid Shropshire Wheelers	F	20
=9	Emma Horne	Wrekinsport CC	FV	18
=9	Hayley Brain	Bridgnorth CC	F	18

Road Bikes:

Position	Name	Club	Cat	Best 12
1	Richard Simpson	North Shropshire Wheelers	V	160
2	George Coombes	Aerologic RT	S	70
3	Ashley Kirkham	Wrekinsport CC	V	44
=4	Matt Muir	Propel CC	V	42
=4	Rich Smith	Wrekinsport CC	V	42
6	Colin Wells	Paramount CRT	V	30
=7	James Neale	North Shropshire Wheelers	V	24
=7	Tim Mayo	Propel CC	V	24
=9	Adam Riley	Oswestry Paragon CC	V	20
=9	Ben Bramford-Hale	Newport Shropshire CC	J	20
=9	Ian Lister	Bridgnorth CC	V	20
=9	Rebecca Woodvine	Mid Shropshire Wheelers	F	20

Juniors:

Position	Name	Club	Cat	Best 12
=1	Ben Bramford-Hale	Newport Shropshire CC	J	20
=1	Jude White	Mid Shropshire Wheelers	J	20
3	Tom Lloyd	Mid Shropshire Wheelers	J	18
4	Georgia Lloyd	Mid Shropshire Wheelers	FJ	16
5	Iwan Bennett-Wilson	Mid Shropshire Wheelers	J	14
6	Alexander Richardson	Mid Shropshire Wheelers	J	12