MAD DOG TAKE THE LEAD AT HAREWOOD HOUSE

The sun shone yet again on the riders competing in the SportPursuit StreetVelodrome Series as the tour gathered at Harewood House for round 3

Featuring as part of the Festival of Cycling and the ceremonial start of the Tour de France the StreetVelodrome event ran for 3 days with over 500 members of the general public having a go on the challenging banked corners.

But the main feature event was the racing on Sunday for the latest round of the nationwide series filmed for broadcast on Channel 4 in September.

It got off to a great start with Cycle Chiltern’s Lee Gratton beating his arch rival Ross Edgar riding for Mad Dog Energy Lemonade by just 1/1000th of a second. It was StreetVelodrome’s closest ever finish and it took Lee straight to the semi finals after he also beat Amateur Rider Steve Brondal by a catch.

Whilst Lee waited to see who he would face in his semi final, Ross had to battle through further survival races. He managed to beat his amateur opponents and secure a slot in the semi finals himself and a second chance to beat Lee.

This time he did it, improving with each race Ross managed to maintain his ‘no braking’ approach and crossed the line 1 second ahead of his Cycle Chilterns rival.

However he would now face Olympic medallist Craig Maclean MBE in the Gold medal final. Craig racing for London Cycling Campaign had managed to secure his place in the finals the easy way. First by a catch against Mpora Velotec Amateur rider Ian Lane and then by beating 21st Engineering Regiment and Army Cycling Union rider Ian Carry who was riding for the Mad Dog Energy Lemonade team on the day.

Ross and Craig lined up for their final and entertained the crowd with their show boating. Both engaging in the traditional track sprint eye ball to eye ball tactics before the Referee’s whistle blew.

But when it did Craig got the much better start. But Ross was closing the gap each time they passed the finish line. When they did it was too close to call by the line judge, but the electronic timing by Trumin Sports confirmed Craig had won London Cycling Campaign’s third gold by eight hundreths of a second.

Lee had earlier managed to beat the spectator’s wildcard semi finalist Steve Brondal securing Cycle Chilterns their third bronze.

In the women’s competition the level of the amateur riders increases with each round of the series. Round 3 was no exception with Corrine Moss riding for Mad Dog Energy Lemonade managing to beat Pro Rider Adel Tyson Bloor riding for London Cycling Campaign by just 1 tenth of a second. She became the first Amateur in the Series to secure herself a semi final position by winning her first two races.

She was joined by fellow amateur Sara Mullen riding for Mpora Velotec who had crashed heavily in her first heat, but later managed to beat Angela Ison riding for Cycle Chilterns. It was enough to win her the Spectator’s Wildcard and a place in the semi finals.

She would line up against Maxine Filby for Cycle Chilterns but could only manage fourth place, giving Maxine bronze.

In the final it was an all Mad Dog Energy Lemonade affair with both Corrine and Anna going head to head. Corrine managed to set the third best time of the day which would only be beaten by Pro riders Maxine and Anna. But it wasn’t enough to secure her the first Gold for an Amateur rider. Instead she had to settle for the first Silver for an Amateur rider! A fantastic effort.

The medal table is now lead by Team Mad Dog Energy Lemonade as the tour moves on to Stockton on Tees on 13th July. Will London Cycling Campaign take revenge? Can Mad Dog Energy Lemonade maintain their lead? Will Cycle Chilterns become the bride instead of the bridesmaid? And can Mpora Velotec close the gap on their rivals?