TEAM MAD DOG ENERGY LEMONADE WIN but LCC MAINTAIN THEIR LEAD
- maddogrb
- Jul 31, 2014
- 4 min read
Team Mad Dog Energy Lemonade win in Scotland: London Cycling Campaign maintain a slender series lead: Cycle Chilterns earn yet another silver: MPORA VELOTEC enjoy their most successful round yet.
With the excitement and enthusiasm of the Commonwealth Games going on just round the corner, the fifth round of the SportPursuit StreetVelodrome Series got underway in front of a pack crowd in Paisley.
The early morning qualifying and led to one of the best amateur rider line ups of the series so far with competitive times being set in both the men’s and women’s competitions.
The qualifying amateurs lined up in their teams and joined some great professional riding talent including, Commonwealth games riders Ross Edgar (Scotland / Track) and Rab Wardell (Scotland / Mountain Bike), Isla Short (British Cross Country Champion), Keelan Philips (BMX Flatlands Star), StreetVelodrome regular pro rider Dave Johnson and ITV’s The Cycle Show presenter Anna Glowinski (Road / Mountain Bike).
The initial heats saw a higher the usual number of Catches being scored (as a faster riders catches up with the slower rider before the end of the 3 lap race). In fact series backmarkers Mpora Velotec were to score an incredible 5 catches at Paisley having only scored 2 all series.
By winning their initial heats pro riders Anna Glowinski, Isla Short, Dave Johnson and amateur rider Rob Nelson secured their places in the semi finals.
The rest had to battle it out in the Survival races. These once again saw some of the closes races of the day with just 2 or 3 hundredths of a second separating out the riders.
But it was Sarah Bradford (Mpora Velotec) and Jack Ravencroft (Mpora Velotec) who both managed to battle through to gain their well earned place in the semi finals. They would both be joined by the spectator wildcards of Rab Wardell (the first Pro to win a wild card) and Pammie Ball both riding for Cycle Chilterns. This meant that Cycle Chilterns would once again enjoy getting all four of their riders to the semi finals.
The men’s semis saw Dave Johnson for London Cycling Campaign go through to the gold medal race alongside Jack Ravencroft for Mpora Velotec. Jack would just lose out by half a second. Meanwhile amateur rider Rob Nelson for Cycle Chilterns managed to beat pro rider and spectator WildCard Rab Wardell for bronze.
This gave London Cycling Campaign their fifth gold medal of the series and meant that with no golds on the table Mpora Velotec needed to win gold in the Women’s final to stay in contention for the overall series title.
Unfortunately Mpora Velotec’s Sarah Bradford lost out to Maddog Energy Lemonade’s Anna Glowinski by 1.2 seconds. Meaning Mpora Velotec could now only score another bronze, to go with their collection of 3. And this is exactly what Sarah managed to do by beating the Spectator’s wildcard Pammie into 4th place and winning bronze.
This left Anna to face the current Mountain Bike cross country champion and Cycle Chilterns guest rider Isla Short in the gold medal final. It was a tense affair with a heavy dousing of rain just before the riders entered the track, both were given a few laps to get used to the reduced grip levels.
This didn’t seem to deter them much as they both managed to post race times as quick as those in the dry. Neither rider willing to give in it was just three tenths separating them at the end. As they crossed the line it was Anna who once again won gold for Maddog Energy Lemonade putting them in a close second to London Cycling Campaign in the series table. Isla, winning Cycle Chiltern’s 3rd silver medal of the series kept the team in contention for the over all title.
So the teams now head south for the Super Final on 7th August in Broadgate, City of London. Only the best will perform in this exciting evening of racing. Six of the best amateur riders from the regional events are now invited to come and race for the teams in front of the crowds in the central London location.
On the night the title for the best amateur male and female riders will be decided in a straight fight between the invited riders plus two lucky wildcard entrants (one male / one female) who will have to qualify on the day. Qualifying runs from 11am till 3pm and is free.
Other titles up for grabs will be the best pro male and pro female riders. This will be a tense and dramatic joust as the pro riders are all now more experienced and therefore faster. Will recent commonwealth games double gold medallist Craig Maclean MBE beat regular StreetVelodrome pro rider Dave Johnson? Will Anna Glowinski who has been dominate all series be pipped to the title on the last night by challenger?
As for the overall team title its looking like a straight fight between London Cycling Campaign and Maddog Energy Lemonade with just one gold medal separating the two teams. There are four available on the night. But Cycle Chilterns could spring a surprise if they managed to win all four golds available thanks to their impressive tally of three silvers. Mpora Velotec unfortunately are out of the equation, but they can still spoil the party by scoring some catches during the night. They are now only 3 behind Cycle Chilterns.
Its going to be a great night of StreetVelodrome entertainment. Please come along an join in.
Report and images courtesy of www.streetvelodrome.com
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