Heavy localised rain over Shawbirch and Crudgington saw three riders fail to start the Wrekinsport CC 25, Round 10 of The SB Sports Injuries Series. They missed a treat because thankfully that rain abated by 7:10pm to gift a searing fast night, with practically still conditions and easy passage through the air. Held the evening before the Shropshire Championship 25 the leading riders were perhaps to be forgiven for leaving a little something in the tank - not that you would have known it from the blistering times set by the first two. Won by Revolutions Racing's Dean Callister in a fabulous 53 minutes 49 seconds, he saw the potential of an evening with lots of available oxygen: “Pouring down with rain bouncing off the road when I was riding to start made me think what was I doing, but a few minutes into the race it stopped and actually dried up very quickly. With Tern Hill being dry it made for a fast night, a little warmer and would have been possible to PB. I enjoyed the race in the end and was pleased with the result - thanks to Wrekinsport for standing in the rain and putting the race on”.
Callister beat off a strong challenge from Wrekinsport's Tomos Hales, 42 seconds back on 54:31 and equalling his all time personal best set in the 2021 Shropshire Championship 25. This saw him move up to the head of the SB Series by a slim two points over Jonathan Mills-Keeling, great consolation for failing to set a new personal best. He stated: “The build up to the race didn't look too promising with some huge black clouds around. The first five miles of the course had a lot of water on it; however it soon cleared up to become a quick night. The legs felt very good on the night, but I knew I needed to hold some back for the SCCA Championship 25 the following night - thanks to Wrekinsport for organising; and all the marshals that stood in the rain for us”.
15 year old Ben Southgate did set a personal best, but agonisingly missed out on beating the 25mph/hour benchmark by just nine seconds with a still fabulous time of 1:00:08. Southgate moved up to fourth in the Overall SB Series behind Callister, and now has a commanding lead of 90 points in the SB Junior Series in a season of rapid improvement. He was delighted with his performance, commenting: “That was a PB, it was good, but it was harder on the way back”.
In the SB Veterans Series a newcomer came to the fore with Wrekinsport's Jon Evans surprising himself with a win in only his second ever time trial, setting a +7:49 against Veteran's standard to beat Nova Raiders' Jenny Newton by five seconds. Evans has taken to time trialling like a duck to water, which given the initial conditions was probably an advantage as he set a very respectable actual of 1:01:34. He is clearly enjoying the experience: “All I’d like to say is I'm very happy with the first two time trials I’ve ever entered, the first being the Wrekinsport 10 on the Tiddly course where I got a top 10 finish and this 25 where I managed a Top 5 finish overall and top Veteran. It gives me huge encouragement to carry on and try and add to the points tally for Wrekinsport who are a great club with a great membership and a long and distinguished history”.
AS well as taking the runner-up spot in the Veterans Jenny Newton also took the win in the SB Women’s Series with a solid 1:07:09, beating team mate Karen Sherriff by 6:10. Newton hasn’t been racing much in 2022 and had promised herself not to race in the rain, but explained why she relented: “Firstly thanks to the timekeepers and all marshals for taking a soaking of your own. I've raced very little this season and thought about not starting, but I didn't want to let team mate Karen down. Glad I did in the end despite the rain; I felt good and paced it well. Nowhere near my fastest times but happy with my effort”.
