A real test awaited riders in Round 2 of The SB Sports Injuries Series as North Shropshire Wheelers presented their Hawkstone Hilly 19. Featuring two climbs past the Follies and some technical twists and turns north of Marchamley the course is particularly suited to road men – and so it proved with Newport Shropshire CC’s Ollie Atkin took a fine win in 46 minutes 10 seconds on a lovely morning. Given that this early season tester is often accompanied by chilly conditions that proved to be the norm, with riders additionally enduring a testing easterly wind that sapped the strength on the toughest part of the circuit for good measure, with Atkin moving into joint second in the Series as a result. He stated “Always an enjoyably tough race, and despite it being a beautiful sunny morning, the wind was straight at us on most of the climbing section. A lovely push on the descent made up for it! Great to take the win on my first outing of the year – many thanks to North Shropshire Wheelers for putting on the event and all the helpers”!
Atkin had signalled his strength of purpose by leading at the end of the first lap by 37 seconds from Bridgnorth CC’s Jonathan Mills-Keeling, but only added a further 10 seconds advantage on the second lap, showing different techniques to tackle the course. Mills-Keeling took both the runner-up spot in 46:57, seeing off Dan Watts making his first appearance of the season by 30 seconds, as well as taking a fabulous win of +4:16 in the Veterans category, with new North Shropshire Wheelers’ member James Powell showing great promise to take Veterans runner-up in +1:26. Mills-Keeling elevated himself to the top of both the Overall and the Veterans standings on the strength of this ride; opening a 12 point advantage in each competition. This was his first experience of a circuit that takes no prisoners, and he was impressed, stating: “The race was great, a real mixture. I’d not ridden the course before; it was really chilly but a sunny morning”.
Full result:
| Pos’n | Forename | Surname | Club | Lap 1 | Time | Points |
| 1 | Ollie | Atkin | Newport Shropshire CC | 00:22:42 | 00:46:10 | 20 |
| 2 | Jonathan | Mills-Keeling | Bridgnorth CC | 00:23:19 | 00:46:57 | 18 |
| 3 | Dan | Watts | SCCA Private Member | 00:23:23 | 00:47:27 | 16 |
| 4 | Mark | Pritchard | Revolutions Racing | 00:23:41 | 00:47:40 | 14 |
| 5 | James | Powell | North Shropshire Wheelers | 00:24:46 | 00:49:55 | 12 |
| 6 | Darren | Shaw | SCCA Private Member | 00:25:01 | 00:50:30 | 10 |
| 7 | Al | Horrigan | Newport Shropshire CC | 00:27:17 | 00:55:20 | 8 |
Veterans:
| Vets Pos’n | Forename | Surname | Club | Cat | Vet +/- | Vets Points |
| 1 | Jonathan | Mills-Keeling | Bridgnorth CC | V | +4:16 | 20 |
| 2 | James | Powell | North Shropshire Wheelers | V | +1:28 | 18 |
| 3 | Darren | Shaw | SCCA Private Member | V | +0:34 | 16 |
| 4 | Al | Horrigan | Newport Shropshire CC | V | -4:34 | 14 |
Cumulative Standings after two rounds
Overall
| Position | Name | Club | Cat | Best 12 |
| 1 | Jonathan Mills-Keeling | Bridgnorth CC | V | 32 |
| =2 | Ollie Atkin | Newport Shropshire CC | S | 20 |
| =2 | Tim Beardmore | Bridgnorth CC | V | 20 |
| 4 | Dean Callister | Revolutions Racing | S | 18 |
| =5 | Dan Watts | SCCA Private Member | S | 16 |
| =5 | Darren Shaw | SCCA Private Member | V | 16 |
| =5 | Tomos Hales | Wrekinsport CC | S | 16 |
| 8 | Mark Pritchard | Revolutions Racing | S | 14 |
| =9 | Bryn Davies | Hafren CC | V | 12 |
| =9 | James Powell | North Shropshire Wheelers | V | 12 |
Veterans
| Position | Name | Club | Cat | Best 12 |
| 1 | Jonathan Mills-Keeling | Bridgnorth CC | V | 36 |
| 2 | Darren Shaw | SCCA Private Member | V | 24 |
| 3 | Deb Hutson-Lumb | Wrekinsport CC | WV | 20 |
| =4 | James Powell | North Shropshire Wheelers | V | 18 |
| =4 | Tim Beardmore | Bridgnorth CC | V | 18 |
| =6 | Al Horrigan | Newport Shropshire CC | V | 14 |
| =6 | Bryn Davies | Hafren CC | V | 14 |
| 8 | Andy Rose | Revolutions Racing | V | 12 |
| 9 | Chris Riley | Paramount CRT | V | 10 |
| 10 | Dave Drew | North Shropshire Wheelers | V | 6 |
Women’s
| Position | Name | Club | Cat | Best 12 |
| 1 | Deb Hutson-Lumb | Wrekinsport CC | WV | 20 |
| 2 | Bethan Till | Wrekinsport CC | W | 18 |
| 3 | Helen Tudor | Oswestry Paragon CC | WV | 16 |
| 4 | Jan Davies | Hafren CC | WV | 14 |
| 5 | Alison Salthouse | SCCA Private Member | WV | 12 |
| 6 | Beth Wilson | North Shropshire Wheelers | WV | 10 |
| 7 | Clare O’Donnell | Wrekinsport CC | WV | 8 |
| 8 | Angela Boycott | Wrekinsport CC | WV | 6 |
Juniors
| Position | Name | Club | Cat | Best 12 |
| 1 | Chester Romei | North Shropshire Wheelers | J | 20 |