Another great turnout on Dangarsleigh Road yesterday resulted in a rapid handicap race, with all 23 riders completing the 30k course in under an hour. Jacqui King and Jo Wauch got things underway with Jacqui Munday then chasing at one minute although Jo pulled away riding solo before the turn and holding out to win in style, finishing almost a minute ahead of the six-minute trio who had stayed together for the full duration of the chase.

Further  back up the road, the seven, nine and ten minute groups had all come together with the big bunch making life tough for the chasers behind. Scratch had an extra pair of legs this week and Dave Munday, Houlty and Rob Hale managed to catch the block trio of Kirky, Ben Harris and Hugh Munday right on the turn but they were still 2 minutes in arrears of the bigger bunch ahead and almost 8 minutes down on Jo at this point. At the top of Monument with just 5 kilometres remaining, Jo was still 4 minutes ahead of them and the gap to the bunch was still at 50 seconds.

Up ahead, Jo was well clear and cruised over the line for a well-earned and comfortable victory, her first since September 2014. Almost a minute back Dave Jenner won the sprint for second place from Haydo and Alex Thomas. Then we had almost a minute and a half to wait before the big bunch came charging over the crest and with a tail wind it was a very rapid sprint for fifth spot and the final RROTY bonus points. In the end Rhys just edged it from Johnny but it was a close run thing with 10 riders crossing the line in the space of one second.

Just 20 seconds later, the combined Scratch-Block group thundered through with Scratch having chased at an average speed of just under 41kph without success. Hugh Munday couldn’t help himself and took on and beat Houlty in the sprint for 16th place with Houlty claiming fastest time on the day.

We have a new leader at the top of the Road Racer League. Courtesy of his second place, Dave Jenner now tops the table by 2 points from Tom Simmonds. Haydo has jumped from 9th to 4th spot and Jo’s victory has catapulted her from from 27th to 11th place. Many thanks to Phil Thomas for putting the signs out and running the race, next week we’re back on Long Swamp for Round 7.

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