Criterium · 17 Jul , 2024 · David Stoyle

Round 1 of the Bath CC Mid Summer Series

Race Report – Round 1 – Bath CC Mid-Summer Series 2024

The first round of the Bath CC Mid-Summer series was blessed with a beautiful sunny evening at Odd Down and two good size fields for the two races.

The spectators were looking forward to some aggressive racing from those riders who had read the race manual and understood the series points system.

Points can be gained for the overall title in 3 ways: finishing position, the intermediate sprint and combativity points for being in the break. The briefing of the series points was met by a blank stare by some of the riders, others had a plan.

3^rd and 4^th Category Race

An aggressive lap one saw a group of 5 riders, Jack Beveridge, Michael Edwards, Simon Ker, Charlie McFadzean and William Scaplehorn move clear with a 3 second gap over the chasing bunch. This gap had extended to 5 seconds by the end of lap 2, but William had dropped back to the safety of the bunch. The group were awarded the first combativity points of the night

The break looked powerful and realising the danger, many riders tried to bridge across, and by lap 4, Milo Girardet and Oliver Brand had joined them. This strengthened the break but put it above the limit of 5 riders for combativity points.

By the time of the intermediate sprint at the end of lap 6, the leading group had grown to 9 with Henry Bond, Caleb Moon and Steven Whitehurst joining and they now had a 20 second gap. The results of the intermediate sprint were

Position	Race Number	Name	Club	Intermediate Points
1	19	Charlie McFadzean	Friction Racing	10
2	16	Simon Ker	Bath Cycling Club	7
3	3	Henry Bond	Bath Cycling Club	5
4	20	Caleb Moon	Reflex Racing	3

Shortly after the intermediate sprint Michael Edwards was dropped by the leading group. There followed numerous attacks from the bunch to bridge across but none of them were successful. Angus Collard and Charlie Hoy came closest and spent a few laps on their won in between the bunch and the break. Danny Puig Nieves alternated between attacking to bridge across and driving the peloton to not be lapped by the break.

At the half hour mark everybody knew that the break would stay away, and it would come down to two bunch sprints – the first to determine 1^st to 8^th and the 2^nd to determine the last two positions for BC points. There were two safe sprints – and the full positions are attached.

Charlie McFadzean, despite finishing 2^nd on the line, leads the overall series with 40 points having picked up the intermediate sprint and 4 combativity points. Milo Girardet finished 1^st on the night and is 2^nd overall having been late to the early party and didn’t pick up any bonus points. Simon Ker is 3^rd overall, having been 8^th on the finish line but picked up some early points.

				Round 1		Round 2		Round 3
Position	BC Number	Name	Club	Finish Points	Bonus Points	Finish Points	Bonus Points	Finish Points	Bonus Points	Total
1	922504	Charlie McFadzean	Friction Racing	27	14					41
2	1064997	Milo Girardet		30	0					30
3	417848	Simon Ker	Bath Cycling Club	18	11					29
4	1142211	Henry Bond	Bath Cycling Club	23	5					28
5	1616673	Oliver Brand	Pronto Bikes	25	0					25
6	969953	Jack Beveridge	Avid Sport	20	4					24
7	1761403	Caleb Moon	Reflex Racing	19	3					22
8	702028	Steven Whitehurst	Reflex Racing	21	0					21
9	1757362	Angus Collard	Portishead Cycling Club	17	0					17
10	927881	Charlie Hoy	Pronto Bikes	16	0					16

Elite, 1^st and 2^nd Cat Race

The strong E123 field were still all together after two laps with Sebastien Tyrie and Nathan Hallett driving the front of the peloton. After 3 laps Joe Reeves and James Brown tried to break away and when they were caught Felix Skelton countered over the top and went away on his own.

At the end of lap 4 Felix had an 11 second advantage with Joe Reeves, James Phillips and Jake Hollins trying to bridge across. Joe and James could not stay with Jake and at the end of lap 5 Felix picked up his 2^nd set of combativity points with Jake just a few seconds behind.

Then Will Duffy, having been on the back for the first 5 laps, made his move and within half a lap had caught Jake and brought the group of 3 together for a powerful break. They had a lead of 13 seconds at the end of lap 6 where Will took the uncontested intermediate sprint as they continued to work well together to extend their lead.

Position	Race Number	Name	Club	Intermediate Points
1	68	Will Duffy	Bath Cycling Club	10
2	78	Felix Skelton	Mud Dock Racing	7
3	83	Jake Hollins	Topp Cycling	5
4	63	Daniel Burt		3

Over the next few laps, they slowly extended the gap as riders tried to bridge across. First James Brown and then Joe Ress, but neither successful. Felix could not stay with Will and Jake and on lap 8 he dropped the wheel and slipped back to the bunch.

By lap 11, the leading duo had a lead of 25 seconds and were working very well together. Any cohesion had gone out of the bunch and as they attacked each other, the gap kept growing and Will and Jake racked up more and more combativity points.

On lap 17 Will decided that he wanted to go it alone and attacked Jake on the finishing straight so that he could amass more combativity points on his own. With 4 laps to go Will was still driving hard all the way to the line for 1st, Jake had settled for 2^nd place and Thomas Munn attacked the peloton and soloed away to 3^rd place.

Nathan Hallett won the bunch sprint for 4^th and Joe Reeves was 5^th.

Will Duffy amassed an incredible 70 points towards the series standings, rewarded for his win and aggressive racing. Jake Hollins is 2^nd on 56 points. Felix Skelton, despite finishing 14^th on the night is in 3^rd place overall thanks to his aggressive start to the race.

				Round 1		Round 2		Round 3
Position	BC Number	Name	Club	Finish Points	Bonus Points	Finish Points	Bonus Points	Finish Points	Bonus Points	Total
1	1522793	Will Duffy	Bath Cycling Club	30	40					70
2	1008173	Jake Hollins	Topp Cycling	27	29					56
3	1695534	Felix Skelton	Mud Dock Racing	12	17					29
4	1671242	Thomas Munn	Mud Dock Racing	25	0					25
5	1219787	Nathan Hallett	Pronto Bikes	23	0					23
6	1538233	Joe Reeves	Reflex Racing	21	0					21
7	869868	James Phillips	Pronto Bikes	20	0					20
8	408375	Justin Hoy	Pronto Bikes	19	0					19
9	1322918	James Brown	University of Bristol CC	18	0					18
10	1401850	Lui Pollastrone	Reflex Racing	17	0					17
11	1573714	Daniel Burt		13	3					16

Thank you to everyone for coming and supporting the Bath CC Mid-Summer Series Races – it was a great atmosphere at Odd Down and volunteers and marshals all appreciated the support and thanks from the racers.

Thanks to Jonathon Schofield for the photos…..

Looking forward to seeing you all next week.