Ben Moore and Matt Ellis are locked in a brilliant battle for overall glory in Spalding Cycling Club’s 2017 10 mile Time Trial League.
The man in form is Moore, who bagged wins at rounds eight and nine, but both riders remain in the hunt for overall glory ahead of the season finale.
Kind weather conditions for round eight enabled some fast times – notably for Tom Wright who, after a successful Grass Track day at Heckington, transferred the speed to the road by posting a personal best (PB) of 26.02mins.
Almost inevitably, the outright fastest time of the night was posted by Neil Palmer (Velo One) with 22.07mins, while Moore’s 22.41mins was sufficient to give him the fastest Spalding time – some nine seconds quicker than his 2016 time in the same round.
Second and third places in the club standings proved to be hard-fought, with Andy Bowser and Ellis separated by just three seconds on 23.22mins and 23.25mins respectively. Ellis’ time was matched exactly by guest rider Tim Lister (Bourne Wheelers) – an improvement of just over a minute from his first ride on our course.
Of the ladies, it was Sarah Bentley who took top spot in 28.55mins ahead of Sophie Wright, making a welcome return after a break for exams she crossed the line in 33.25mins.
After his 2-up ride with Bill Wood in July, Adrian Thurston rode his first ten of the season, finishing with 35.29mins.
Other Spalding times: Keiran Buffham 24.03mins, Frazer Wallis 24.45mins, Simon Wright 25.26mins and Barry Drew, in what appears to be his fastest ten-mile time of the year on 27.40mins.
Of the guests, Josh Wallis (Velo One) took his usual runner-up spot behind Palmer with 22.30mins, Lee Thomas (Team Bottrill) clocked 23.56mins, Ian Fensom (Fenland RC) managed 24.41mins. They were chased hard by Team Swift’s Chris Ward in 24.48mins.
Ian Aunger, of Fenland Clarion, was also in attendance and stopped the clock with 26.12mins.
Round nine, held on a windy day when it hardly stopped raining, still attracted ten club members and five guests to the start line.
Despite the conditions and perhaps eyeing the forthcoming championship events good times were posted by many of the competitors.
Once again Moore came out on top in 22.49mins, while positions two and three were reversed this time with Ellis in second place with 23.18mins, a sound bettering of his 2016 time of 27.46mins and a full 30 seconds ahead of Bowser’s 23.48mins.
In an amazing demonstration of consistency, Sarah Bentley was one second slower with 28.56mins in this round compared to her round eight time of 28.55mins – exactly the time she posted in round nine in the 2016 season.
Of the guests, the top two were from Velo One. Palmer managed to get inside 22 minutes with a fine 21.56mins and Wallis went seven seconds quicker than in round 8 to post 22.23mins.
The big surprise, though, was third placed guest Chris Ward (Team Swift) – with his 22.50mins a clear indication that he is finally back to form after surgery.
Other Spalding times: Kieran Buffham 23.54mins, Ross McGivern 24.31mins, Frazer Wallis 24.55mins, Tom Wright 26.35mins, Barry Drew 28.23mins.
Of the other guests, Bourne Wheelers’ Lister finished in 23.29mins and Duncan Roulston, who just pipped Sarah Bentley to the post with his 28.55mins.
