Hayley Wells sealed the Friction Hydraulics Female Series with her 12th straight win in a commanding season. The Wrekinsport CC rider scored the maximum possible 740 points available in the 2024 competition from her best 12 rounds to deservedly win Series Gold following Round 14, the Emergency Services 25. Held over a busy weekend, local riders were able to enter these championship events which move around the country each year, and which were added to the Friction Hydraulics Series for 2024 due to the use of Shropshire roads.

Wells finished a strong 6th Overall in 1 hour, 0 minutes 35 seconds on the rolling Press – Battlefield course the morning after the truncated 10 mile event constituting Round 13, a classic old school double header in a packed weekend. This course is a challenge on any day, and Wells had a target in mind, but the efforts of the afternoon before seem to have just had an effect: “I was aiming to get as close to the hour as I could on this course but didn’t quite have enough in the tank. Very happy with the result, and a fun double weekender organised by the Emergency Services crew”! When told she had won Gold she added: “After a solid winter’s training I was really excited to get stuck into a full season of time trialling. It took a few races to get ‘used’ to the positioning again and feel comfortable on the bike, but once results started showing this helped increase my confidence. I feel I have developed a lot over the last few months and have loved every race and challenge the Friction Hydraulics Series has given. Delighted to have sealed Gold, and hopefully there is still more in the tank for next season! Special thanks to all the clubs, organisers and volunteers who give up their time to enable us to race”.

Finishing at the top of the County riders it was two wins in less than 24 hours for Tomos Hales on one of his favourite courses. Originally planned for the Tern Hill – Shawbirch course; then the Stanton – Tern Hill – Prees 25; organisers finally settled on the Battlefield circuit late on – which was much to Hales’ delight: “I was pleased that the race had moved to the Battlefield course as I do enjoy it. However, I set off a little too quick and struggled on the return, but managed to hang on for a respectable time – thanks to James Gibney and his team for organising; and for putting on a great double event weekend as part of the Shropshire Series”.

Hales stopped the watch on 54:41 to snip another five points off the advantage of Series leader Simon Romei who was runner-up in 55:57. Romei now has a 50 point advantage and is putting up a strong defence, pushing out Paramount team mate Chris Riley into third by 2:02. Romei also took the runner-up spot in the Friction Veterans Series with +11:04; 13 seconds behind Riley once the age-related standard had been applied but still holds a solid 80 point Series lead. He stated: “Super happy to have secured the County runner-up in the Emergency Services 25. A really good race on a course I am familiar with, so I knew where to push hard to make some good time. I could definitely feel the 10 mile race in the legs towards the end of this race. Thank you to all the marshals who once again did an excellent job in making these races go ahead, without them we couldn’t race. Also thank you very much to the race organiser who did a fabulous job of organising the 10 and 25 mile weekend races – we even had our names and start times printed on our race numbers”! 

Riley’s tongue-in-cheek comments about a course that takes no prisoners shows how an ‘off’ day can really affect performance, but that wasn’t the case here as he laid a ghost to rest with a fine 57:59 actual and +11:17 on Standard: “My first solo run of a Battlefield 25 since last year’s dismal Spring performance. We all have a special relationship with this course, and beating 58 minutes certainly brought us closer together. A great weekend by the Emergency Services team; and it was lovely to have rolled the SCCA Series into these races”.

The Top 3 in the inaugural Friction Road Bike Series were all in competition – and finished in the order of their position in the competition, seeing Mark Fenn take the win in an adjusted 1:02:44 and open up his Series lead to a commanding 180 points with four rounds to go. Fenn was another rider taking advantage of a busy weekend’s racing and revealed how he successfully planned to cope with this: “The morning brought good conditions to the rolling course. With racing both days my strategy worked well, with a consistent effort during the 25 miles. A well organised event”.

Result

Friction and Hydraulic Services Shropshire Championship Points Series – Round 14

Pos’n Forename Surname Club Cat Time Points
1 Tomos Hales Wrekinsport CC S 54:41 60
2 Simon Romei Paramount CRT V 55:57 55
3 Christopher Riley Paramount CRT V 57:59 50
4 Bryn Davies Hafren CC V 58:15 45
5 Robert McGregor Paramount CRT S 58:43 40
6 Hayley Wells Wrekinsport CC F 1:00:35 35
7 Ben Wood Wrekinsport CC S 1:03:02 30
8 Mark Fenn Shropshire CCA V 1:03:45 25
9 Ian Connolly Ludlow CC V 1:03:51 20
10 Simon Jones Hafren CC V 1:08:35 15
11 Ian Townsend Paramount CRT V 1:10:18 10
12 Colin Wells Paramount CRT V 1:10:20 5
13 Helen Tudor Oswestry Paragon CC FV 1:12:16 5
14 Ashley Kirkham Wrekinsport CC V 1:18:16 5
. Les Boughey North Shropshire Wheelers V DNS .
. Jonathan Goh Paramount CRT V DNS .
. Robert Garbett Wrekinsport CC V DNS .
. Deb Hutson-Lumb Wrekinsport CC FV DNS .

Friction and Hydraulic Services Veterans Championship – Round 14

Vets Pos’n Forename Surname Club Cat Vet +/- Vets Points
1 Christopher Riley Paramount CRT V +11:17 60
2 Simon Romei Paramount CRT V +11:04 55
3 Bryn Davies Hafren CC V +9:38 50
4 Ian Connolly Ludlow CC V +5:07 45
5 Mark Fenn Shropshire CCA V +3:16 40
6 Colin Wells Paramount CRT V +2:20 35
7 Helen Tudor Oswestry Paragon CC FV +1:54 30
8 Simon Jones Hafren CC V -1:23 25
9 Ian Townsend Paramount CRT V -1:54 20
10 Ashley Kirkham Wrekinsport CC V -11:15 15

Friction and Hydraulic Services Female Championship – Round 14

Female Pos’n Forename Surname Club Cat Time Female Points
1 Hayley Wells Wrekinsport CC F 1:00:35 60
2 Helen Tudor Oswestry Paragon CC FV 1:12:16 55
. Deb Hutson-Lumb Wrekinsport CC FV DNS .

Friction and Hydraulic Services Road Bike Championship – Round 14

RB Pos’n Forename Surname Club Cat RB Adj Time RB Points
1 Mark Fenn Shropshire CCA V 1:02:44 60
2 Ian Townsend Paramount CRT V 1:07:54 55
3 Ashley Kirkham Wrekinsport CC V 1:17:15 50
. Jonathan Goh Paramount CRT V . .

Top Club Award – Round 14

Pos’n Club Points
1 Paramount CRT 160
2 Wrekinsport CC 130
3 Hafren CC 60
4 Ludlow CC 20
5 Oswestry Paragon CC 5

Cumulative Standings after fourteen rounds

Friction and Hydraulic Services Shropshire Championship Points Series

Position Name Club Cat Best 12
1 Simon Romei Paramount CRT V 620
2 Tomos Hales Wrekinsport CC S 570
3 Bryn Davies Hafren CC V 490
4 Christopher Riley Paramount CRT V 425
5 Jonathan Mills-Keeling Aerologic RT V 355
6 Hayley Wells Wrekinsport CC F 340
7 Dean Callister Aerologic RT S 295
8 Robert McGregor Paramount CRT S 285
9 Paul Horton Bridgnorth Cycling Club S 200
10 Alvydas Janusauskas Paramount CRT S 195

Friction and Hydraulic Services Veterans Championship

Vets Position Name Club Best 12
1 Simon Romei Paramount CRT 695
2 Bryn Davies Hafren CC 615
3 Christopher Riley Paramount CRT 605
4 Jonathan Mills-Keeling Aerologic RT 415
5 Deb Hutson-Lumb Wrekinsport CC 345
6 Colin Wells Paramount CRT 320
=7 Ian Connolly Ludlow CC 305
=7 Mark Fenn Shropshire CCA 305
9 Helen Tudor Oswestry Paragon CC 245
10 Ashley Kirkham Wrekinsport CC 165

Friction and Hydraulic Services Female Championship

Female Pos’n Name Club Best 12
1 Hayley Wells Wrekinsport CC 740
2 Helen Tudor Oswestry Paragon CC 485
3 Deb Hutson-Lumb Wrekinsport CC 275
=4 Emma Brown Paramount CRT 150
=4 Thea Osmund-Smith Paramount CRT 150
6 Jan Davies Hafren CC 80
7 Jayne Powell Paramount CRT 75
8 Sorrel Williams SCCA Private Member 45
9 Kathryn Rossiter North Shropshire Wheelers 35

Friction and Hydraulic Services Road Bike Championship

Road Bike Pos’n Name Club Cat Best 12
1 Mark Fenn Shropshire CCA V 460
2 Ian Townsend Paramount CRT V 280
3 Ashley Kirkham Wrekinsport CC V 230
4 Paul Duncan Paramount CRT V 175
=5 Emma Brown Paramount CRT F 120
=5 Jonathan Goh Paramount CRT V 120
7 David Cannell Paramount CRT V 110
8 William Preston Paramount CRT S 105
9 Douglas Brown Paramount CRT V 80
10 Phil Guy North Shropshire Wheelers V 75

Friction and Hydraulic Services Junior Championship

Junior Pos’n Name Club Best 12
1 Ben Southgate Wrekinsport CC 180

Top Club Award

Position Club Total Points
1 Paramount CRT 2020
2 Wrekinsport CC 1360
3 Aerologic RT 855
4 Hafren CC 635
5 Bridgnorth Cycling Club 315
6 Newport (Shropshire) CC 250
7 Oswestry Paragon CC 215
8 Mid Shropshire Wheelers 165
9 Ludlow CC 130
10 North Shropshire Wheelers 115