The opening round of the Welwyn Track League on Friday 24th April had an excellent number of both senior and youth riders with a warm evening making for hard and fast racing.
Tony Gibb won the opening 10 lap scratch for Group A riders from Bryan Taylor and James Jackson and went on to add the 10 lap Block Handicap and the Group A Devil.
The Group B events were enlivened by a number of Youth A riders. The opening 10 lap scratch was won by Richard Norris from Alan Galloway and Brett Travers. Tom Gallacher won the 10 lap Points race from Richard Norris and Alan Galloway
The closing 10 mile was run at a lively pace which saw the size of the field reduced by half distance. With 10 laps to go Tony Gibb, Bryan Taylor and Luke Merilees set up a serious breakaway trio only for Tony Gibb to puncture after a further 2 laps. Taylor and Merilees slowly built up a 100m lead and held it as they entered the final lap. The chasers wound up the pace in the closing stages with Bryan Taylor taking the victory and Luke Merilees just holding off the bunch to take a well deserved second place from John McClelland third with George Olive fourth
The various youth categories were rearranged to try and produce three equally sized groups – this produced some close racing in all three categories with 28 riders taking part.
Top performers were George Farrell in the AB section, Joseph Fry in the BC group and honours in the CDE group were shared between Connor Woodford, the Scott sisters, Michael Parry and Tom Durkin.
A good opening to the Welwyn season with more riders feeding into the system from the various strongly supported weekly training activities.
Results
Senior
10 lap scratch A - Tony Gibb (Plowman Craven) Bryan Taylor (VC Londres) James Jackson (PCA Ciclos Uno)
Devil – Tony Gibb (Plowman Craven) Bryan Taylor (VC Londres) Andy Owens (Welwyn Whs)
10 lap Scratch B – Richard Norris VC Revolution) Alan Galloway (CC Luton) Brett Travers (VC Revolution)
10 lap Points B – Tom Gallacher (Welwyn Whs) Richard Norris (VC Revolution) Alan Galloway (CC Luton)
10 lap AB Block Handicap (odd numbers) – Tony Gibb (Plowman Craven) James Jackson (Ciclos Uno) Bryan Taylor
(VC Londres)
10 lap AB Block Handicap (Even Numbers) – John McClelland , Joel Stewart, Luke Merrilees (all Agiskoviner)
10 mile – Bryan Taylor (VC Londres) Luke Merilees (Agiskoviner) John McClelland (Agiskoviner)
Youth AB
5 lap scratch – George Bateman , George Farrell , Ollie Plumley (all Welwyn Whs)
5 lap points – George Farrell (Welwyn Whs) Ryan Owens (Welwyn Whs ) Andrew Leverton (CC Ashwell)
Devil – George Farrell , George Bateman , Ryan Owens (all Welwyn Whs)
4 lap Handicap – Ed Ballam (West Suffolk) Andrew Leverton (CC Ashwell) Ryan Owens (Welwyn Whs)
Youth BC
4 lap scratch – Joseph Fry, Bethany Hayward, William Street (all Welwyn Whs)
Devil – Joseph Fry, Chloe Evans, Archie Wishart (all Welwy Whs)
5 lap Points – Joseph Fry, Bethany Hayward, =3rd Archie Wishart/William Street (All Welwyn Whs)
Youth CDE
3 lap Scratch – Connor Wood ford (Hillingdon) Tome Street (Welwyn Whs) Tom Durkin (Welwyn Whs)
3 lap Handicap – Isabel Scott, Sophie Scott, Harry Durkin (all Welwyn Whs)
4 lap Points – Tom Durkin, Sophie Scott , =3rd Isabel Scott/Jack Plumley (all Welwyn Whs)
Combined BCDE 4 lap Handicap – Michael Parry (Welwyn Whs) Harry Durkin (Welwyn Whs ) Daniel Maynard
(CC Ashwell)