Rugby RCC held their third 25-mile time trial of the season, using the two-lap course which encircles Ryton and Princethorpe and it proved a win for Peter Wright, with David Newton setting another PB in second place.
With main contenders James Heat
on and Russell Morris absent through work commitments an unusually off-form Tim Hastie missed his opportunity to gain some points and dropped to 9th place, over three minutes behind the winner.
The prospect of rain never materialised and most riders agreed that the strong SW wind was helpful on the stretch from Princethorpe to the A45.
The handicap is always a useful guide to conditions and 19 riders beat the theoretical target of 55 minutes, with Andrew Childs topping the list from Chris Lodge and Dave Pettifor.
Credit also to John Gabriel who is way out ahead in the season's Vet on Standard competition, finishing over a quarter of an hour inside his age related standard.
Mike Bloom set out with the intention of only completing one lap, having ridden in a 12-hour event on the previous Sunday when he covered 203.3 miles, while in the same event Ray Dyke covered 216.6 miles.
Full results:
Peter Wright 59-02, David Newton 59-48, Adrian Tayles 1-00-46, Craig McKee 1-01-11, Phil Scott 1-01-16, Russell Green 1-01-54, John Gabriel 1-02-05, Mike McCann 1-02-09, Tim Hastie 1-02-24, Marina Bloom 1-03-49, Phil Gatley 1-04-23, Eliot Blundell 1-05-12, Dave Gunby 1-05-22, Simon Brand 1-05-36, David Kimberley 1-05-44, Andrew Childs 1-06-20, Andy Ure 1-07-08, Ray Dyke 1-07-19, Tom Willcock 1-07-19, Rob Robson 1-07-26, Patrick Weir 1-08-00, Barry Burrows 1-08-19, Dave Pettifor 1-09-10, Samantha Anderson 1-09-45, Sophie Edge 1-13-56, Chris Lodge 1-14-33, Tony Johnson 1-15-32, Stuart Sykes 1-16-35, Paul Peasegood 1-26-06, Mike Bloom D N F.
Club Handicap: Andrew Childs 50-20, Chris Lodge 51-48, Dave Pettifor 52-10.
Private Entries: Neil O'Leary 1-14-47
MI Racing
Rugby's top rider Ryan Ballard has continued his successful comeback with yet another win in the 110 kms Paramount CRT Road Race near Telford.
He broke away from the field at the end of the first lap on the circuits main climb and stayed away for the remaining 100kms to win alone 45 seconds up on the finishing bunch.
This means Ryan has had three road race wins and an 8th in this his first comeback year.
n The team's time trialists also featured in the prizes this weekend with Barrie Mitchell winning his age standard in the Coventry CC 10 mile Time Trial on Saturday with a time of 22 mins 26 seconds.
Second place was taken by John Dixson who recorded 24 mins 33 seconds and the team's up-and- coming lady rider Emily Whitmore was 3rd lady with a time of 25mins 35 secs.
Emily followed this up on Sunday in the Warwickshire RC 25-mile time trial by being the fastest lady in a time of 1 hour 07 mins 58 seconds.
The team's star veteran Time Trialist Tony Taylor also competed and recorded 1 hour 02 mins 02 seconds on a very windy day.
n Dunchurch's Martin Hackley showed the team colours at three events in the last week.
On Tuesday he won the Milton Keynes Bowl circuit race and picked up a lap prize for a lone break.
He then repeated this on Thursday evening at the Hog Hill circuit in London.
He returned on Saturday hoping to get a hat-trick of wins for the week, but was beaten into second place when a local rider crept off the front of the race with three laps to go and no chase was pursued, leaving Hackley to win the bunch sprint for second place.
These two wins now bring his season's tally to 11.
n Competing in a strong field of 120 riders including almost 90 vets Vince Jenkins of Leisure Lakes RT was back in the prizes when he came 2nd on standard in the Cardiff 100 Milers open 25 mile Time Trial on Saturday.
On a very hot day and against a gusty wind on the return leg to Usk, the Leisure Lakes rider clocked 1.00.36 losing far less time than many other riders who struggled with the conditions.
"Just 29 seconds behind the winner, I was a bit disappointed with my time until I saw how everybody else had done,' said Vince, who will now prepare for the VTTA National 50 in Buckinghamshire next week.
