27th Jock Wadley Memorial Road Race

Sunday 8th March

Sunday 8 March saw the cream of British cycling line up for what was this weekend’s biggest race promotion in the country, the Jock Wadley Memorial Road Race.

This event was to be held over a distance of 83 miles using a 6.5 mile circuit around the country lanes of Birch, Abberton and Layer-de-la-Haye.

VCR’s sole representative was Brett Travers. Unfortunately Richard Norris who was very fired up for the race had been struck down with a bout of Bronchitis during the previous week and was therefore a non starter.

With a sunny and dry but blustery day facing the riders, the race began in earnest on the first lap with several Elite category riders stamping their authority on the race. This strung the bunch out and it was clear that there would be many victims in this race long before the finish. Brett, just coming back from a recent operation, stuck out the relentless pressure as long as he could but eventually succumbed to the sheer pace and found himself detached from the main group. In order to gain some benefit from the occasion, he continued to ride round, putting in some quality miles before calling it a day.

Tony Gibb (Plowman Craven) was the first to take off and gain a decent gap before returning to the group as Yanto Barker (Le Col-Colnago) and  Will Bjergfelt (Sport Beans – Wilier) set off on a break that was to last half the race.
  
As these two tired, a small group containing James Millard (Plowman Craven), Simon Gaywood (Team Corley Cycles) and Ben Luckwell (Sport Beans – Wilier) joined up with them. This splintered, with Millard, Gaywood, Luckwell and Jack Kirk (Wye Forest CRC) forming the head of the race, with riders in ones and twos behind trying to get back on the pace.
 
Millard attacked on the final climb some few hundred metres before the finish to record a fine solo win. The sprint for second was fought out by the remnants of the group, with Gaywood coming out on top ahead of Barker who had managed to bridge across on the final lap.