Road Racing

Team BHB rider Lewis Ferguson took the honours in Sundays XMTB Cyclo Cross, held over a short and tricky course in Castle Park in Bangor. This was Ferguson’s second win in succession, the main feature being his first ever success over Irish Champion Robin Seymour.

The Bangor race attracted yet another superb entry, 60 for the main Senior event, with a well supported program of Youth races. Most pleasing of all the wide array of talent on display, representative of all cycling disciplines, once again the downhill clan showed great enthusiasm for the event.

The eight lap Senior race began with the riders charging down the all weather pitch and onto the BMX track section, the mass of riders led by downhillers Rick Lawerence and Glynn O’Brien. As the riders entered the woodland section for the first time the sheer traffic caused a few log jams, from which cries of “ excuse me old chap would you move out of the way please “ could be heard. (or words to that effect!) One early retirement was Apollo’s Junior McAuley, the young ace forced out when a crank came off!
The opening lap ended with Ray Brownfield (North Down) leading from Robin Seymour (Team Worc), Lewis Ferguson (Team BHB) and Alistair McSorley (Apollo CT), this quartet already pulling clear of the chasing pack. On the next circuit Ferguson and Seymour broke away leaving McSorely and Brownfield to dispute third. Having his first Ulster outing of the season, the newly bearded Dave Gill (Team Worc) looked very strong in fifth. Next came Peter McConville (Newry Wheelers) and Robbie Lamont (XMTB) having their weekly battle for the Vets prize. Glyn O’Brien (U/A) was still going well after his good start, having a good battle for eighth with Neil Delahaye (Usher RC) and Mark McKinley (Newry Wheelers).
As the Ferguson, Seymour battle for the lead continued on lap three, Brownfield made third place his own as McSorley slipped back into the clutches of Gill. McConville found himself a clear leader in the Vets contest after Lamont was forced out due to illness. At this stage the top ten had been joined by Connor Campbell (Newry Wheelers), and leading rider in the MTB Class, Glenn Kinning (Castlereagh CC), who suffered an early blow due to a puncture.
The race reached the halfway point with Seymour looking to have broken clear from Ferguson, and as far as the large crowd of spectators was concerned, that was the race over, they awaited a Seymour win. On a dramatic penultimate lap Seymour was forced to pit for a new font wheel after his front tubular tyre had been ripped off by a tree root. Ferguson was the new leader, almost one minute up on Seymour. The last lap proved frantic, Ferguson battled thorough the tail end traffic knowing that behind him Seymour was making a huge effort to catch him. At the finish Ferguson scored a popular win as Seymour crossed the line 30 seconds down, with Brownfield an excellent third in front of his ‘home’ supporters.

Final Results
1 Lewis Ferguson - BHB @ 44.12
2 Robin Seymour - WORC @ 44.32
3 Ray Brownfield - North Down @ 45.47
4 David Gill - WORC @ 46.55
5 Mark McKinley - Newry Wheelers @ 47.00
6 Allister Macsorley - Apollo @ 47.17
7 Peter McConville - Newry Wheelers @ 47.44
8 Neill Delahaye - Usher @ 48.19
9 Conor Campbell - Newry Wheelers @ 48.58
10 Gary Henning - Newry Wheelers @ 49.57
11 Graham Boyd - XMTB @ 50.03
12 Liam McGreevy - Banbridge @ 50.14
13 Glyn O’Brien - U/A @ 50.30
14 Michael Hamilton - North Down @ 1 lap
15 Keith Millar - North Down @ 1 lap
16 Michael Cullen - Plush @ 1 lap
17 Ross Blayney - Ards CC @ 1 lap
18 Drew McKinley - Newry Wheelers @ 1 lap
19 William Mulligan - Banbridge @ 1 lap
20 Jon Runciman - Banbridge @ 1 lap
21 Tarja Owens - WORC @ 1 lap
22 Fred Macsorley @ Apollo 1 lap
23 Anthony Mitchell - North Down @ 1 lap
24 Liam Baxter - Newry Wheelers @ 1 lap
25 Ross Galway - Dromara @ 1 lap

02.08.05

Team performs well @ FPM

Well done to the Apollo team at the recent FPM 3-day Race. The team lifted the team prize, along with David Gardiner & Tony Hare comming 6th & 7th in the general glassification.

Stage 1: Due to road works, the race was switched to 4 laps of the carriageway. In terrible conditions, wind and rain the race ended in a bunch finish despite a few attempts for break aways.

Stage 2: David & Tony managed to get away from the main bunch with a few others and managed to get 1:18 over the rest of the pack. The rest of the riders managed to stay clear of trouble and make it difficult for the chasing bunch to close down the breakaway, thanks to Marti. Apollo are now the leaders in Team Classification.

Stage 3: TT Specalist Cathal put in a great time, over the distance, with a head wind the whole way. David & Tony put in great times to stay in contention with the leaders and have a chance of taking the Yellow jersey.

Stage 4: Finally some sunshine! Lots of early attacks went off the front, with the Apollo riders trying to keep it together in order to keep the team prize. A group got away but were eventually brought back on the final climb, the dreaded Reed Hall. We were back on top the team classification. The riders then ensured that no-one else got off the front in order to protect the team prize. Nearly all managed to get over the finish line, even Junior then fell off his bike.

Unfortunally, Peter McSorley was injured in a crash within the Final kilometer after staying with the leaders all day. However, he is up and about now and will be back on the bike soon!

David Mulholland, who was riding for the Ulster Junior team, managed a credible 22nd in GC, and was the 2nd Junior over the line. He had been riding well all weekend and was unlucky to miss the break!