What seems like almost permanent road works in Whittington this year stymied the Oswestry Paragon CC Hilly 19; meaning riders got a fast and furious experience on the reserve 7.7 mile Rednal ‘out and back’ course in Round 7 of the SB Sports Injuries Series. This is a course favouring locals who are aware of the potholes and unexpected undulations as it definitely isn’t as flat as expected. Winner was Series leader and reigning SB Series Champion Tomos Hales in 16 minutes 55 seconds, 22 seconds off Josh Williams’ course record on the newer, shorter version of this course due to significant potholes right at the original start.
Hales had been looking forward to the significant test of the Hilly 19 and had to refocus his effort to a short ‘eyeballs out’ effort, but took a comfortable win by 1:50 regardless. He commented: “I was a little bit gutted to not to the Oswestry Hilly as it is a very testing time trial. However the shorter Rednal course posed a different scenario with the short distance and bumpy road was a challenge. I possibly went off a little too fast and was caught out a bit by the steep hill near the finish on the return, but held on to dip under 17 minutes – thanks for Oswestry and Mid Shropshire Wheelers for hosting”. Hales now holds a 52 point lead at the top of the standings from Jonathan Mills-Keeling.
Unlike Hales, Fletcher is well-versed in tackling this course, pushing out Oswestry Paragon team mate Adam Riley by 33 seconds. This was both riders’ first appearance in the 2025 SB Series, and Fletcher was quite pleased things had been truncated with the heat: “Contrary to popular opinion, I quite like and enjoy the Rednal course, and at least it curtails our evening’s pain! I am happy with my evening’s work as my normalised power was slightly up on my average so I can’t complain, and ultimately I was never going to topple Tomos, so congratulations to him and a big thank you to the marshals for keeping us safe and the timekeepers for staying on top of things”.
Riley did have something to celebrate however as he took the win in the Road Bike category with his actual 19:18 adjusted to 18:46 on handicap, beating Road Bike Series leader Colin Wells by 1:02. Riley stated: “I wasn’t going to race as I’d been doing a lot of riding last week, but it was such a nice night it would have been a shame not to. I was about 20 watts down on my normal power, but the conditions were so good I still got a personal best for the new short course. I think if I’d been fresher and not got held up at the turn then a sprinter’s 18 would have been on the cards”!
With Veterans Series leader Mills-Keeling absent Clive Bourne and John Westhead took the opportunity to narrow the gap at the top of the Veterans standings, with Bourne taking the win in +2:14, 14 seconds ahead of Westhead who is now just 16 points off the Series lead. With the Rednal course familiar ro Bourne he was able to put that to his advantage, as he explained: “The ongoing traffic lights in Whittington meant the cancellation of the 19 mile course, with the 8 mile Rednal course standing in. Those of us who do it regularly are getting to know the position of the pot holes! It was a warm and sticky evening; but good for flexibility of joints and muscles in us older folks”.
Full
| Pos’n | Name | Club | Cat | Machine | Time | Points |
| 1 | Tomos Hales | Wrekinsport CC | S | TT | 16:55 | 20 |
| 2 | Peter Fletcher | Oswestry Paragon CC | V | TT | 18:45 | 18 |
| 3 | Adam Riley | Oswestry Paragon CC | V | RB | 19:18 | 16 |
| 4 | Phil Gardener | Mid Shropshire Wheelers | V | TT | 19:19 | 14 |
| 5 | Clive Bourne | Oswestry Paragon CC | V | TT | 19:35 | 12 |
| 6 | Karl Lombardi | Oswestry Paragon CC | V | TT | 19:36 | 10 |
| 7 | Dave Saunders | Mid Shropshire Wheelers | V | RB | 20:18 | 8 |
| =8 | Andrew Davies | Oswestry Paragon CC | V | TT | 20:21 | 6 |
| =8 | John Westhead | Paramount CRT | V | TT | 20:21 | 6 |
| 10 | Colin Wells | Paramount CRT | V | RB | 21:51 | 2 |
| 11 | Ashley Kirkham | Wrekinsport CC | V | RB | 22:05 | 2 |
| 12 | Alun Owen | Oswestry Paragon CC | V | RB | 26:20 | 2 |
Veterans
| Vets Pos’n | Name | Club | Cat | Machine | Vet +/- | Vets Points |
| 1 | Clive Bourne | Oswestry Paragon CC | V | TT | +2:14 | 20 |
| 2 | John Westhead | Paramount CRT | V | TT | +2:00 | 18 |
| 3 | Peter Fletcher | Oswestry Paragon CC | V | TT | +1:58 | 16 |
| 4 | Phil Gardener | Mid Shropshire Wheelers | V | TT | +1:44 | 14 |
| 5 | Adam Riley | Oswestry Paragon CC | V | RB | +1:16 | 12 |
| 6 | Andrew Davies | Oswestry Paragon CC | V | TT | +1:14 | 10 |
| 7 | Karl Lombardi | Oswestry Paragon CC | V | TT | +0:54 | 8 |
| 8 | Colin Wells | Paramount CRT | V | RB | +0:14 | 6 |
| 9 | Dave Saunders | Mid Shropshire Wheelers | V | RB | -0:10 | 4 |
| 10 | Ashley Kirkham | Wrekinsport CC | V | RB | -1:43 | 2 |
| 11 | Alun Owen | Oswestry Paragon CC | V | RB | -3:31 | 2 |
Road Bikes
| RB Pos’n | Name | Club | Cat | Machine | RB Adj Time | RB Points |
| 1 | Adam Riley | Oswestry Paragon CC | V | RB | 18:46 | 20 |
| 2 | Colin Wells | Paramount CRT | V | RB | 19:48 | 18 |
| 3 | Dave Saunders | Mid Shropshire Wheelers | V | RB | 20:12 | 15 |
| 4 | Ashley Kirkham | Wrekinsport CC | V | RB | 21:45 | 14 |
| 5 | Alun Owen | Oswestry Paragon CC | V | RB | 23:33 | 12 |
Cumulative Standings after seven rounds
Overall:
| Position | Name | Club | Cat | Best 12 |
| 1 | Tomos Hales | Wrekinsport CC | S | 140 |
| 2 | Jonathan Mills-Keeling | Aerologic RT | V | 88 |
| 3 | Hayley Wells | Wrekinsport CC | F | 72 |
| 4 | Chris Halford | Wrekinsport CC | V | 54 |
| 5 | Dean Callister | Aerologic RT | S | 46 |
| =6 | Chris Riley | Paramount CRT | V | 28 |
| =6 | Clive Bourne | Oswestry Paragon CC | V | 28 |
| =6 | Phil Collins | Wrekinsport CC | V | 28 |
| 9 | John Westhead | Paramount CRT | V | 26 |
| 10 | Oliver Rodwell | Wrekinsport CC | V | 24 |
Veterans:
| Position | Name | Club | Cat | Best 12 |
| 1 | Jonathan Mills-Keeling | Aerologic RT | V | 104 |
| 2 | John Westhead | Paramount CRT | V | 88 |
| 3 | Clive Bourne | Oswestry Paragon CC | V | 68 |
| 4 | Chris Halford | Wrekinsport CC | V | 62 |
| 5 | Clive Middleton | Wrekinsport CC | V | 40 |
| =6 | Colin Wells | Paramount CRT | V | 36 |
| =6 | Mark Hill | Hafren CC | V | 36 |
| =8 | Chris Riley | Paramount CRT | V | 32 |
| =8 | Ian Laverie | Wrekinsport CC | V | 32 |
| 10 | Phil Collins | Wrekinsport CC | V | 30 |
Females
| Position | Name | Club | Cat | Best 12 |
| 1 | Hayley Wells | Wrekinsport CC | F | 126 |
| 2 | Jan Davies | Hafren CC | FV | 50 |
| 3 | Helen Tudor | Oswestry Paragon CC | FV | 48 |
| 4 | Alison Salthouse | Propel CC | FV | 40 |
| =5 | Laura Sheppard | SCCA Private Member | F | 18 |
| =5 | Sorrell Williams | SCCA Private Member | FV | 18 |
Road Bikes
| Position | Name | Club | Cat | Best 12 |
| 1 | Colin Wells | Paramount CRT | V | 114 |
| 2 | Ashley Kirkham | Wrekinsport CC | V | 60 |
| 3 | George Coombes | Newport Shropshire CC | S | 40 |
| 4 | Rich Smith | Wrekinsport CC | V | 38 |
| 5 | Mark Fenn | SCCA Private Member | V | 34 |
| 6 | Adam Riley | Oswestry Paragon CC | V | 20 |
| 6 | Daniel Watts | SCCA Private Member | S | 20 |
| 6 | Steve Minton | Ludlow Brewery RT | V | 20 |
| 9 | Andrew Dawson | Paramount CRT | V | 18 |
| 9 | Chris Edwards | Ludlow Brewery RT | V | 18 |
| 9 | Matt Muir | Propel CC | V | 18 |
| 9 | Peter Jukes | Wrekinsport CC | V | 18 |
Juniors
| Position | Name | Club | Cat | Best 12 |
| 1 | Ben Bramford-Hale | Newport Shropshire CC | J | 20 |