By Simon Foster - Andover Wheelers
Andover Wheelers have made an impressive start to the new season.They have managed to notch up 4 victories in recent weeks.
Things started well when Phil Jacobs finished a very good 19th place in the Perfs Pedal Road Race at Rowlands Castle. The race is seen as the season opener and always attracts a top quality field. Jacobs rode strongly amongst tough opposition to record a fine result.
The following week saw Jacobs scoring his first win in a Road Race. This time the race was on Portsmouthís unique ëDí shaped track. With a strong wind blowing off the sea and into the ridersí faces on the back straight, a solo break looked very unlikely. This did not stop Jacobs from trying. Jacobs attacked all race and still had enough strength to sweep of the final banking to take the bunch sprint by 3 lengths.
A week later the local club promoted the first of their open events for the season. The event was a hilly 10.2mile time trial based around Venham Dean, Conholt, Hatherden, Wildhern and back to Vernham Dean via Upton.
The event was won by ex-Andover Wheeler Neil Coleman in a time of 26.25s; he was also the fastest to the top of Conholt hill for which there was an extra prize.
Best for the local club was Phil Jacobs who finished in5th place with a time of 27.58s; Jake Prior followed him home in 28.31s for 6th place. In the womanís event there was a win for the local clubs Alison Hartnell in 40.09s to give a winning margin of just over 1 minute.
Other Andover Wheelers times; S Thompson 30.35s (with a slow puncture); E Wilcock 30.39s; S Foster 32.21s; N Adnitt 33.56s and M Risdale 36.33s:A week later the local club were in action again, this time in circuit races held on the Thruxton Motor Racing circuit. In the Elite, 1st and 2nd category Stuart Thompson rode very well to finish in 9th place after leading on his own during the last lap, only to be caught by his break-away companions less than a mile from the line. He showed great strength to recover in time to contest the sprint for the line.
In the race for 3rd cat rider Jacobs again showed his early season promise when he came in 3rd in a fiercely contested bunch sprint. In the 4th cat race Eric Wilcock was having his first taste of bunch racing and was very pleased to finish in 9th as the race finished in a sprint.
The following week Jacobs notched up his second win of the season as he won at Thruxton in the 56km 3rd cat race.Jacobs showed his strength in the blustery / stormy conditions as he out powered his rivals to the line. In the 4th cat race Simon Foster managed to finish in 10th place after spending most of the race trying to escape from the rest of the pack. He finished with a group that had got away on the final lap. Eric Wilcock again rode well when he finished in the main bunch.
The following day Foster was in action in the Border CA tandem 20 mile TT. Foster was riding with Lee Gardner who was making a return to racing after a lay off through illness. The pair were soon into ërace modeí and were surprised to win the event by exactly 4 minutes in 47.56s for an average speed of just over 25mph.