The rolling A49 is in greater demand this year due to the A442 road works, with the rolling Prees – Battlefield course providing a test for many in Round 4 of the Friction Hydraulics Series, Mid Shropshire Wheelers’ 25. Won overall in an incredible time of 47 minutes 57 seconds by John Archibald riding for HUUB WattShop, for the first time in 2024 reasonable conditions prevailed, resulting in a number of personal bests. Taking the honours for Shropshire, Aerologic’s Dean Callister took his second maximum 60 points of the 2024 Series with an impressive 53:56 despite is with traffic, as he explained: “Always a course I enjoy, however I got held up with traffic three times on the way out and lost a little time, but that’s open road racing. I was pleased with my effort for my first 25 of the year, and a great effort by all the Aerologic team to take the team win on the day”. That team performance saw Aerologic add 155 points to their Top Club Award tally and move up to second place 20 points behind Paramount CRT.
One of the riders scoring a personal best on this testing course was Wrekinsport’s Tomos Hales who seems to be hitting a purple patch of form at the moment. Hales took the County runner-up spot and headed to the top of the Friction Series standings thanks to his 54:40 effort. He was, however, under no illusions of the challenge in front of him before starting, with top quality riders in the field: “Favourable weather actually made the Battlefield time trial rather enjoyable. I managed to get a personal best on this course which was good, and it was great to be well placed in a stacked field. Congratulations to Dean for the Shropshire win, and thanks to Mid Shropshire Wheelers for hosting and holding this great season opener”.
Just 11 seconds behind Hales one of those top quality riders Hales alluded to was breathing down his neck as Oswestry Paragon’s David Griffiths stopped the watch on 54:51. This was Griffiths’ season opener, always a test to see how much of the fitness has remained over the winter months, with Griffiths stating: “It’s good to be back on a bike. This is my first time on my time trial bike this year, a nice rolling route. It was nice to be racing with an ex-team mate from Scotland, John Archibald – thanks to the organisers”.
In the Female Series Hayley Wells took her second win in as many rounds to take over sole lead at the top of this Series thanks to a solid 1:01:26 ride – a massive reduction on previous efforts on this course, as she explained: “I managed to knock around six minutes off my time from last year on this course and surprised myself by picking up a second personal best of the weekend! It was a tough slog out into the head/cross wind, but some wind assistance was appreciated on the way back – Thanks to Mid Shropshire Wheelers”.
As long as he finished Paramount’s Simon Romei knew he was in for a course best as this was his first attempt. The Battlefield course can catch out the unwary, with seemingly the only flat piece of road through Hadnall. Romei recorded a great +10:14 to see off the attentions of Aerologic’s Jonathan Mills-Keeling by 1:04, but seems to have suffered on the ‘out’ leg: “This is the first time I have raced this 25 course. I found the outward leg testing with a head/cross wind which I really pushed on, going hard, and knowing I had a good tail wind on the way back. I was really happy to take the Veteran’s win. As always the marshals and organisation of Mid Shropshire Wheelers were first class – thank you to everyone marshalled this race”. Hafren CC’s Bryn Davies finish third in +8:07 to hold onto the lead of the Veteran’s Series, but with a narrowed margin of 40 points from Romei and Mills-Keeling who are joint second.
SCCA:
| Pos’n | Name | Club | Cat | Time | Points |
| 1 | Dean Callister | Aerologic RT | O | 53:56 | 60 |
| 2 | Tomos Hales | Wrekinsport CC | O | 54:40 | 55 |
| 3 | David Griffiths | Oswestry Paragon CC | O | 54:51 | 50 |
| 4 | Simon Romei | Paramount CRT | OV | 56:46 | 45 |
| 5 | Paul Horton | Bridgnorth Cycling Club | O | 57:12 | 40 |
| 6 | Scott Palmer | Aerologic RT | OV | 58:41 | 35 |
| 7 | Jonathan Mills-Keeling | Aerologic RT | OV | 58:43 | 30 |
| 8 | Mark Pritchard | Aerologic RT | O | 58:49 | 25 |
| 9 | Devon Round | Mid Shropshire Wheelers | O | 59:12 | 20 |
| 10 | Bryn Davies | Hafren CC | OV | 59:31 | 15 |
| 11 | Hayley Wells | Wrekinsport CC | F | 1:01:26 | 10 |
| 12 | George Coombes | Newport (Shropshire) CC | O | 1:03:22 | 5 |
| 13 | Rob Kennard | Aerologic RT | OV | 1:07:17 | 5 |
| 14 | Colin Wells | Paramount CRT | OV | 1:09:18 | 5 |
| 15 | Robert Garbett | Wrekinsport CC | OV | 1:12:43 | 5 |
| 16 | Helen Tudor | Oswestry Paragon CC | FV | 1:14:10 | 5 |
| 17 | Geoff Edgerton | North Shropshire Wheelers | OV | 1:16:11 | 5 |
| 18 | Ashley Kirkham | Wrekinsport CC | OV | 1:17:13 | 5 |
| . | Victor Chetta | Mid Shropshire Wheelers | OV | DNS-A | . |
| . | Les Boughey | North Shropshire Wheelers | OV | DNS-A | . |
| . | Deb Hutson-Lumb | Wrekinsport CC | FV | DNS-A | . |
| . | Oliver Rodwell | Wrekinsport CC | OV | DNS-A | . |
Veterans:
| Vets Pos’n | Name | Club | Cat | Vets +/- | Vets Points |
| 1 | Simon Romei | Paramount CRT | V | +10:14 | 60 |
| 2 | Jonathan Mills-Keeling | Aerologic RT | V | +9:10 | 55 |
| 3 | Bryn Davies | Hafren CC | V | +8:07 | 50 |
| 4 | Scott Palmer | Aerologic RT | V | +7:40 | 45 |
| 5 | Colin Wells | Paramount CRT | V | +2:55 | 40 |
| 6 | Geoff Edgerton | North Shropshire Wheelers | V | +2:39 | 35 |
| 7 | Rob Kennard | Aerologic RT | V | +2:38 | 30 |
| 8 | Helen Tudor | Oswestry Paragon CC | FV | -0:01 | 25 |
| 9 | Robert Garbett | Wrekinsport CC | V | -1:20 | 20 |
| 10 | Ashley Kirkham | Wrekinsport CC | V | -10:13 | 15 |
Females:
| Female Pos’n | Name | Club | Cat | Time | Female Points |
| 1 | Hayley Wells | Wrekinsport CC | F | 1:01:26 | 60 |
| 2 | Helen Tudor | Oswestry Paragon CC | FV | 1:14:10 | 55 |
| . | Deb Hutson-Lumb | Wrekinsport CC | FV | DNS-A | . |
Top Club Award:
| Pos’n | Club | Points |
| 1 | Aerologic RT | 155 |
| 2 | Wrekinsport CC | 75 |
| 3 | Oswestry Paragon CC | 55 |
| 4 | Paramount CRT | 50 |
| 5 | Bridgnorth Cycling Club | 40 |
| 6 | Mid Shropshire Wheelers | 20 |
| 7 | Hafren CC | 15 |
| 8 | Newport (Shropshire) CC | 5 |
| 8 | North Shropshire Wheelers | 5 |
Cumulative Standings after four rounds
Friction and Hydraulic Services Shropshire Championship Points Series
| Position | Name | Club | Cat | Best 12 |
| 1 | Tomos Hales | Wrekinsport CC | S | 160 |
| 2 | Paul Horton | Bridgnorth Cycling Club | S | 155 |
| 3 | Bryn Davies | Hafren CC | V | 135 |
| 4 | Devon Round | Mid Shropshire Wheelers | S | 130 |
| 5 | Simon Romei | Paramount CRT | V | 125 |
| 6 | Dean Callister | Aerologic RT | S | 120 |
| 7 | Jonathan Mills-Keeling | Aerologic RT | V | 115 |
| 8 | Matthew Garthwaite | Newport (Shropshire) CC | S | 105 |
| 9 | Christopher Riley | Paramount CRT | V | 65 |
| =10 | Oli Freeman | Wrekinsport CC | S | 60 |
| =10 | Scott Palmer | Aerologic RT | V | 60 |
Friction and Hydraulic Services Veterans Championship
| Vets Position | Name | Club | Best 12 |
| 1 | Bryn Davies | Hafren CC | 210 |
| =2 | Jonathan Mills-Keeling | Aerologic RT | 170 |
| =2 | Simon Romei | Paramount CRT | 170 |
| 4 | Christopher Riley | Paramount CRT | 110 |
| 5 | Ian Connolly | Ludlow CC | 105 |
| 6 | Scott Palmer | Aerologic RT | 85 |
| 7 | Geoff Edgerton | North Shropshire Wheelers | 80 |
| 8 | Colin Wells | Paramount CRT | 70 |
| 9 | Mark Fenn | Shropshire CCA | 65 |
| 10 | Helen Tudor | Oswestry Paragon CC | 50 |
Friction and Hydraulic Services Female Championship
| Female Pos’n | Name | Club | Best 12 |
| 1 | Hayley Wells | Wrekinsport CC | 120 |
| 2 | Helen Tudor | Oswestry Paragon CC | 115 |
| 3 | Emma Brown | Paramount CRT | 55 |
Friction and Hydraulic Services Road Bike Championship
| Road Bike Pos’n | Name | Club | Cat | Best 12 |
| 1 | Mark Fenn | Shropshire CCA | V | 100 |
| 2 | Ashley Kirkham | Wrekinsport CC | V | 65 |
| =3 | Jonathan Goh | Paramount CRT | V | 60 |
| =3 | Matthew Garthwaite | Newport (Shropshire) CC | S | 60 |
| =5 | Paul Bailey | Bridgnorth Cycling Club | V | 55 |
| =5 | Scott Palmer | Aerologic RT | V | 55 |
| 7 | Ian Townsend | Paramount CRT | V | 45 |
| 8 | David Cannell | Paramount CRT | V | 40 |
| 9 | Sam Davey | Paramount CRT | S | 35 |
| 10 | Emma Brown | Paramount CRT | F | 30 |
Friction and Hydraulic Services Junior Championship
| Junior Pos’n | Name | Club | Best 12 |
| 1 | Ben Southgate | Wrekinsport CC | 60 |
Top Club Award
| Position | Club | Total Points |
| 1 | Paramount CRT | 360 |
| 2 | Aerologic RT | 340 |
| 3 | Wrekinsport CC | 305 |
| 4 | Bridgnorth Cycling Club | 175 |
| 5 | Hafren CC | 140 |
| 6 | Mid Shropshire Wheelers | 130 |
| 7 | Newport (Shropshire) CC | 125 |
| 8 | Oswestry Paragon CC | 60 |
| =9 | Ludlow CC | 20 |
| =9 | North Shropshire Wheelers | 20 |