Course shortened to 18 miles due to traffic lights

The first use since 2017 of one of the toughest courses in Shropshire saw an inaugural Bridgnorth CC Open saw Tomos Hales head to the top of the Friction Hydraulics Series standings following Round 2. The course, starting above Bridgnorth and heading to Much Wenlock and Shipton had to be cut from the planned 21 miles to 18 miles due to the curse of road works which seem to be everywhere in the County currently. However, that didn’t stop riders facing the most testing parts of this most technical circuit, with cold conditions adding that character building element as Hales stopped the watch on 44 minutes 10 seconds.

Hales has been is sparkling form during the early season and his comments graphically show the nature of the challenge on offer: “A fresh morning with a sporting course was a good challenge set by Bridgnorth CC. The hill out of Much Wenlock was tough. It was a course where you had to go deep in sections and recover in others. A top job by Tim Beardmore for organising the event and getting it back on the calendar, and thanks to all the marshals that helped out. I look forward to doing the full 21 Miles next year if the road works are finished”! Hales’ perhaps surprising choice of a single front chain ring on such a lumpy course whilst weight saving also limits the range of available gears, but seems to be a fashionable choice, with a number of riders having to ‘honk’ out of the saddle to get up the more challenging climbs.   

Taking the honours for the promoting club Jonathan Mills-Keeling would have good knowledge of the roads used for training, but the experience is so much different when ‘on the rivet’. His 44:56 pushed out race organiser Beardmore by eight seconds, but he agonisingly missed the Veteran’s win from the same rider when the age-related weightings were applied, registering +3:33 to Beardmore’s +3:34. Mills-Keeling stated: “My first time riding the Bridgnorth hilly, a challenging and fun course, thanks to all club mates for putting on”.

But Beardmore revealed that things could have been so much different without a mechanical mishap that cost him valuable time shortly after the start as well as the Series lead. Beardmore was also running a single chain ring setup, but called the longevity of the carbon fibre component into question as just two years use was enough to wear the teeth down enough to cause the incident. The quality of his ride to come back from losing nearly a minute off the bike to finish in 45:06 shows tenacity, though it evidently affected his concentration and trust in the ring not unshipping itself again under pressure on the climbs: “A lovely morning, but not my best race. A dropped chain a mile in cost me the best part of a minute. From then on I found it difficult to concentrate and was just happy to get round. I was very pleased to take the Veterans win. Thanks to everyone who took part and helped out, I’m off to buy a new chain ring”.

The Women’s race saw Bridgnorth CC’s Robin Jones take a maiden victory in her first time trial with a good effort of 1:01:28. More used to triathlon, Jones found benefits to her training regime from the test, commenting: “I really enjoyed the route. My first time trial of any sorts, but I gave it a shot on my road bike to complement my triathlon training currently. I’m hoping to enter a few more later on in the Series”.

Women’s Series leader Victoria Doran had a busy weekend, with another testing event the day before sapping her strength, as she explained: “I’d run a hilly off-road half marathon at Cannock Chase the day before and had only had about 5 hours sleep, so I felt done in before I started! My aim was to get round in one piece and bag some points for Wrekinsport, so I was pleased I was able to do that at least, even if it was probably a record slowest time! The course was quite technical for a rider of my limited bike handling skills and the hills kept on coming the whole way around. I would certainly like to try it with fresh legs and see what difference it makes”! Despite that typical modesty regarding her abilities she still registered 1:09:45 and showed great determination to extend her lead at the top of the Women’s standings.

Whilst only one Junior tried his luck North Shropshire Wheelers’ Chester Romei took a first ever win over father Simon by 1:08 thanks to his 49:38 effort – capturing 6th place in the process and ensuring bragging rights on the way home. The 15 year-old is in his first full season and this was his first experience of a classic hilly time trial, a traditional feature of the early season. He stated: “A really good race, amazingly set out and the marshals were amazing. My first hilly time trial,; I didn’t expect anything from it but came out with an acceptable time – thanks to the marshals and Bridgnorth CC for holding the event”.

SCCA:

Pos’nForenameSurnameClubCatTimePoints
1TomosHalesWrekinsport CCS44:1060
2JonathanMills-KeelingBridgnorth Cycling ClubV44:5655
3TimBeardmoreBridgnorth Cycling ClubV45:0450
4AndrewRoseRevolutions RacingV48:1845
5RobChildsBridgnorth Cycling ClubV49:0640
6ChesterRomeiNorth Shropshire WheelersJ49:3835
7AdamMumford Wrekinsport CCS49:4930
8KarlMoseleyBridgnorth Cycling ClubV49:5825
9GraemeDonnellRevolutions RacingV50:0720
10Simon RomeiParamount CRTV50:4615
11Jonathan Dickens Bridgnorth Cycling ClubV51:3510
12MarkGriffithsWrekinsport CCV51:395
13RichSmithWrekinsport CCV51:405
14Ben Upton Bridgnorth Cycling ClubV55:075
15DaveMooreWrekinsport CCV55:425
16DavidDrewNorth Shropshire WheelersV57:435
17RobinJonesBridgnorth Cycling ClubW1:01:285
18VictoriaDoranWrekinsport CCWV1:09:455
.IanConnollyLudlow CCVDNS-A.
.EmmaSerjeantHafren CCWVDNS-A.
.DeanCallister Revolutions RacingSDNS-A.
.DavidGriffithsOswestry Paragon CCSDNS.

Veterans:

Vets Pos’nForenameSurnameClubCatVet +/-Vets Points
1TimBeardmoreBridgnorth Cycling ClubV+3:3460
2JonathanMills-KeelingBridgnorth Cycling ClubV+3:3355
3AndrewRoseRevolutions RacingV+1:0050
4KarlMoseleyBridgnorth Cycling ClubV+0:0545
5RobChildsBridgnorth Cycling ClubV+0:0140
6GraemeDonnellRevolutions RacingV-0:2735
7MarkGriffithsWrekinsport CCV-1:4830
8RichSmithWrekinsport CCV-2:2225
9Simon RomeiParamount CRTV-2:5120
10Jonathan Dickens Bridgnorth Cycling ClubV-3:3215
11DavidDrewNorth Shropshire WheelersV-5:2810
12DaveMooreWrekinsport CCV-5:395
13Ben Upton Bridgnorth Cycling ClubV-6:475
14VictoriaDoranWrekinsport CCWV-17:455

Women:

Women’s Pos’nForenameSurnameClubCatTimeWomen’s Points
1RobinJonesBridgnorth Cycling ClubW1:01:2860
2VictoriaDoranWrekinsport CCWV1:09:4555
.EmmaSerjeantHafren CCWVDNS-A.

Junior:

Junior Pos’nForenameSurnameClubCatTimeJunior Points
1ChesterRomeiNorth Shropshire WheelersJ49:3860

Top Club Award:

Pos’nClubPoints
1Bridgnorth Cycling Club 190
2Wrekinsport CC 110
3Revolutions Racing 65
4North Shropshire Wheelers 40
5Paramount CRT 15

Cumulative Standings after two rounds

Friction and Hydraulic Services Shropshire Championship Points Series

Position Name Club Cat Best 12
1 Tomos Hales Wrekinsport CC S 115
2 Tim Beardmore Bridgnorth CC V 110
3 Jonathan Mills-Keeling Bridgnorth CC V 105
4 Graeme Donnell Revolutions Racing V 60
=5 Andrew Rose Revolutions Racing V 45
=5 Chris Riley Paramount CRT V 45
=7 Rob Childs Bridgnorth CC V 40
=7 Victoria Doran Wrekinsport CC WV 40
9 Chester Romei North Shropshire Wheelers J 35
=10 Adam Mumford Wrekinsport CC S 30
=10 Stuart Wortley Wrekinsport CC V 30

Friction and Hydraulic Services Veterans Championship

Position Name Club Best 12
1 Tim Beardmore Bridgnorth CC 120
2 Jonathan Mills-Keeling Bridgnorth CC 110
3 Graeme Donnell Revolutions Racing 80
=4 Andrew Rose Revolutions Racing 50
=4 Chris Riley Paramount CRT 50
=6 Karl Moseley Bridgnorth CC 45
=6 Victoria Doran Wrekinsport CC 45
8 Rob Childs Bridgnorth CC 40
9 Stuart Wortley Wrekinsport CC 35
10 Mark Griffiths Wrekinsport CC 30

Friction and Hydraulic Services Women’s Championship

Women’s Pos’n Name Club Best 12
1 Victoria Doran Wrekinsport CC 115
2 Robin Jones Bridgnorth CC 60

Friction and Hydraulic Services Junior Championship

Junior Pos’n Name Club Best 12
1 Chester Romei North Shropshire Wheelers 60

Top Club Award

Position Club Total Points
1 Bridgnorth CC 300
2 Wrekinsport CC 230
3 Revolutions Racing 105
4 Paramount CRT 60
5 North Shropshire Wheelers 40