R9 Friction Hydraulics Series: West Cheshire TTCA 10

It was a sensational County win for Hayley Wells as she took victory in Round 9 of the Friction Hydraulics Series, the West Cheshire TTCA 10 on a red hot afternoon. Wells led Aerologic RT home to a fabulous 1-2-3-4 as the team dominated the overall standings at Waters Upton, making the most of the sun that finally and belatedly emerged to produce fast conditions. Wells stopped the watch on 22 minutes 24 seconds, 27 seconds ahead of team mate Phil Collins making his first appearance of the 2026 Friction Series.

Wells took a 20 point bite out of Chris Riley’s Friction Series lead to move to just a 15 point disadvantage, but it took a bit of determination, as she explained: “With conditions looking quite good it looked to be a quick-ish day, and I had a target in mind. The first half to Hodnet ‘felt’ quick, but on the turnaround I soon realised I was a little down on target. Determined to not give up, I dug deep, and slowly the average speed crept up, making good progress. The last mile felt tough into what wind there was, but sadly there wasn’t much left in the tank to fight! I feel privileged to achieve the rare honour of taking the overall County win”. Wells also extended her lead in the Friction Female Series as a result, with Thea Osmund-Smith taking the runner-up spot in 24:34.

Wells got great support from her team mates in this race, with Phil Collins making only his second appearance of 2026 taking runner-up spot with 22:51, his best of 2026 so far. Collins was complementary about the event, stating: “It was a great event, well organised and a good turn out. The weather was extremely hot and it was difficult to stay cool. However, I enjoyed the course and was pleased to set my quickest time for a 10 so far this year; thanks to everyone who helped support the event”.

The rider in third spot showed remarkable fortitude not only to finish so high up to standings but to get back on a bike at all. 2025’s Friction Veterans Champion Jonathan Mills-Keeling suffered horrendous facial injuries on his bike in February which required the services of the Welsh Air Ambulance; and is happy just to have a chance to compete again after a low key test in a club event on 6^th May. He stopped the watch on 23:04, 10 seconds ahead of George Coombes who rounded off a stellar day for Aerologic. Mills-Keeling didn’t start without trepidations however, as he explained: “It was good to have a little go. I was really nervous racing, and had done a Wrekinsport club 10 a few weeks earlier on the same course. I wanted beat that time and I did. It was brilliant to be part of the scene again; I will try to do as many as I can. Great rides from Hayley and Phil; thanks to all involved”.

In the Friction Veterans Series it was a close call between the winner John Westhead and runner-up Clive Bourne, with Westhead taking victory in +4:31 just two seconds ahead. He had method in that win, using the average speed setting on his bike computer to judge whether he was up or down on target, a technique that can spur a rider to push harder when they know they are up: “I was aiming to beat my Veteran 10 standard and knew that I had to achieve 24mph to get it. I went out to the turn in 24.2mph, but warming up it felt like there was a head wind both ways, so I was unsure how the return leg would be. In the end, I just dropped slightly to 24.1mph, which achieved my standard. I was quite surprised to find that I was the fastest Shropshire Veteran as a number of them behind me usually beat me. The effort to get my standard obviously edged me ahead of the others, though we were all very close in the end”. Riley extended his Veterans Series lead after taking third spot with +4:14. 7 seconds ahead of Osmund-Smith, and now holds a 170 point advantage over Stuart Proctor.

In the Friction Road Bike Series the handicapping system saw North Shropshire Wheelers’ Richard Simpson win by a good margin in an adjusted 22:35 ahead of Coombes in 23:14, and who squeezed out reigning Champion Jon Goh by a solitary second. There are usually two types on weather that produce fast rides for those who can take advantage: right after a thunderstorm, and ‘scorchio’, which is Simpson’s favoured racing conditions: “The heat really suits me, and I felt like I had a really good run despite being held up at the roundabout. I really enjoyed it; a very well organised event too, so many thanks to all those involved”.

SCCA:

Pos’n	Forename	Surname	Club	Cat	Machine	Time	Points
1	Hayley	Wells	Aerologic RT	F	TT	22:24	60
2	Phil	Collins	Aerologic RT	V	TT	22:51	55
3	Jonathan	Mills-Keeling	Aerologic RT	V	TT	23:04	50
4	George	Coombes	Aerologic RT	S	RB	23:14	45
5	Christopher	Riley	Paramount CRT	V	TT	23:18	40
6	Jonathan	Goh	Paramount CRT	V	RB	23:42	35
7	Clive	Bourne	Oswestry Paragon CC	V	TT	24:05	30
8	Richard	Simpson	North Shropshire Wheelers	V	RB	24:11	25
9	Ian	Connolly	Ludlow CC	V	TT	24:16	20
10	Thea	Osmund-Smith	Paramount CRT	FV	TT	24:34	15
11	John	Westhead	Paramount CRT	V	TT	24:47	10
12	Andrew	Dawson	Paramount CRT	V	RB	25:22	5
13	Les	Boughey	North Shropshire Wheelers	V	TT	26:19	5
14	Peter	Rickard	Paramount CRT	V	RB	26:55	5
15	Colin	Wells	Paramount CRT	V	TT	27:04	5
16	Ashley	Kirkham	Wrekinsport CC	V	TT	27:27	5
17	Nick	Hickman	Paramount CRT	V	RB	27:32	5
18	Phil	Guy	North Shropshire Wheelers	V	TT	28:16	5
19	Elaine	Beckett	North Shropshire Wheelers	FV	TT	29:00	5
20	David	Wilson	North Shropshire Wheelers	V	TT	30:20	5
21	Matt	Muir	Propel Cycling Club	V	RB	31:22	5
.	Paul	Duncan	Paramount CRT	V	RB	DNS	.

Veterans:

Vet Pos’n	Forename	Surname	Club	Cat	Machine	Vet +/-	Vets Points
1	John	Westhead	Paramount CRT	V	TT	+4:31	60
2	Clive	Bourne	Oswestry Paragon CC	V	TT	+4:29	55
3	Christopher	Riley	Paramount CRT	V	TT	+4:14	50
4	Thea	Osmund-Smith	Paramount CRT	FV	TT	+4:07	45
5	Jonathan	Mills-Keeling	Aerologic RT	V	TT	+3:53	40
6	Phil	Collins	Aerologic RT	V	TT	+3:49	35
7	Richard	Simpson	North Shropshire Wheelers	V	RB	+3:29	30
8	Ian	Connolly	Ludlow CC	V	TT	+3:08	25
9	David	Wilson	North Shropshire Wheelers	V	TT	+3:01	20
10	Phil	Guy	North Shropshire Wheelers	V	TT	+2:53	15
11	Jonathan	Goh	Paramount CRT	V	RB	+2:49	10
12	Andrew	Dawson	Paramount CRT	V	RB	+2:34	5
13	Les	Boughey	North Shropshire Wheelers	V	TT	+1:55	5
14	Colin	Wells	Paramount CRT	V	TT	+1:51	5
15	Elaine	Beckett	North Shropshire Wheelers	FV	TT	+0:09	5
=16	Peter	Rickard	Paramount CRT	V	RB	+0:08	5
=16	Nick	Hickman	Paramount CRT	V	RB	+0:08	5
18	Ashley	Kirkham	Wrekinsport CC	V	TT	-0:52	5
19	Matt	Muir	Propel Cycling Club	V	RB	-4:42	5

Females:

Female Pos’n	Forename	Surname	Club	Cat	Machine	Time	Female Points
1	Hayley	Wells	Aerologic RT	F	TT	22:24	60
2	Thea	Osmund-Smith	Paramount CRT	FV	TT	24:34	55
3	Elaine	Beckett	North Shropshire Wheelers	FV	TT	29:00	50

Road Bikes (on handicap):

RB Pos’n	Forename	Surname	Club	Cat	Machine	RB Adj Time	RB Points
1	Richard	Simpson	North Shropshire Wheelers	V	RB	22:35	60
2	George	Coombes	Aerologic RT	S	RB	23:14	55
3	Jonathan	Goh	Paramount CRT	V	RB	23:15	50
4	Andrew	Dawson	Paramount CRT	V	RB	23:30	45
=5	Peter	Rickard	Paramount CRT	V	RB	25:56	40
=5	Nick	Hickman	Paramount CRT	V	RB	25:56	40
7	Matt	Muir	Propel Cycling Club	V	RB	30:46	30

Top Club Award:

Pos’n	Club	Points
1	Paramount CRT	345
2	Aerologic RT	220
3	North Shropshire Wheelers	150
4	Oswestry Paragon CC	55
5	Propel Cycling Club	30
6	Ludlow CC	25
7	Wrekinsport CC	5

Cumulative Standing after nine rounds

Overall

Position	Name	Club	Cat	Best 12
1	Christopher Riley	Paramount CRT	V	325
2	Hayley Wells	Aerologic RT	F	310
3	Tomos Hales	Aerologic RT	S	230
4	Robert McGregor	Paramount CRT	S	190
=5	Jonathan Goh	Paramount CRT	V	180
=5	Kirk Vickers	Holohan Coaching Race Team	S	180
7	Stuart Proctor	Dave Scott Coaching	V	155
8	Bryn Davies	Hafren CC	V	130
9	Mark Pritchard	Aerologic RT	S	115
10	David Scott	Dave Scott Coaching	S	110

Veterans

Vets Position	Name	Club	Best 12
1	Christopher Riley	Paramount CRT	495
2	Stuart Proctor	Dave Scott Coaching	325
3	John Westhead	Paramount CRT	265
4	Jonathan Goh	Paramount CRT	215
5	Thea Osmund-Smith	Paramount CRT	180
6	Andrew Dawson	Paramount CRT	165
7	Bryn Davies	Hafren CC	155
8	Philip Gardner	Mid Shropshire Wheelers	140
=9	Paul Duncan	Paramount CRT	130
=9	Paul Edwards	Wrekinsport CC	130

Females

Female Pos’n	Name	Club	Best 12
1	Hayley Wells	Aerologic RT	420
2	Thea Osmund-Smith	Paramount CRT	325
3	Helen Tudor	Oswestry Paragon CC	145
4	Kathryn Rossiter	North Shropshire Wheelers	135
5	Elaine Beckett	North Shropshire Wheelers	110
6	Claire Blackwell-Smyth	Paramount CRT	100
7	Gill Snelson	Paramount CRT	95
8	Rebecca Pugh	Paramount CRT	85
9	Sophie Edge	Dave Scott Coaching	60
=10	Evie Fletcher	Paramount CRT	55
=10	Hannah Lancaster	Ludlow CC	55
=10	Laura Sheppard	SCCA Private Member	55
=10	Lauren Turley	Bridgnorth Cycling Club	55

Road Bikes

Road Bike Pos’n	Name	Club	Cat	Best 12
1	Stuart Proctor	Dave Scott Coaching	V	350
2	Jonathan Goh	Paramount CRT	V	320
3	Andrew Dawson	Paramount CRT	V	275
4	David Scott	Dave Scott Coaching	S	155
5	Paul Duncan	Paramount CRT	V	150
6	Thea Osmund-Smith	Paramount CRT	FV	105
7	Mark Fenn	Shropshire CCA	V	100
=8	Karl Moseley	Bridgnorth Cycling Club	V	85
=8	Max Baker	Mid Shropshire Wheelers	S	85
=8	Richard Simpson	North Shropshire Wheelers	V	85

Juniors

Junior Pos’n	Name	Club	Best 12
1	Taliesin Goh	Mid Shropshire Wheelers	60

Top Club Award

Position	Club	Total Points
1	Paramount CRT	3005
2	Aerologic RT	1080
3	Dave Scott Coaching	815
4	North Shropshire Wheelers	760
5	Mid Shropshire Wheelers	310
6	Wrekinsport CC	300
7	Holohan Coaching Race Team	275
8	Bridgnorth Cycling Club	230
=9	Hafren CC	205
=9	Oswestry Paragon CC	205
11	Ludlow CC	165
12	Market Drayton Cycling Club	60
13	Propel Cycling Club	30
14	Newport (Shropshire) CC	20