A year long series contested at tracks all around the country, the national endurance league includes races from many of the biggest open meetings of the season. The club was represented by at least one member in 6 of the 8 rounds of the series.
Good Friday Meeting – Golden Wheel
The Good Friday meeting got the series off to a start up in Manchester on 22nd April. Toby Blackman was the club’s only representative and narrowly missed out on qualifying for the final of the 20km scratch which counted towards the series. After the disappointment of missing out on making the final Toby made up for it in the other races of the day, coming 7th in the Ron Becket Scratch race, no mean feat considering the quality of the field for the meeting which included professional 6 day rider Leif Lampater.
Portsmouth Easter Meeting – The Kingsbury Cup
The next round of the series took place the following day down in Portsmouth. I decided to make the trip down to Portsmouth for this round and was joined by Junior Conor Bunn and U16 rider Kieran Laurie. Before the main race their was an omnium for all senior riders (including Kieran who was riding up!). A good result in the opening scratch race and 3rd place in the Sprint was enough for me to secure 5th in the omnium. Kieran rode well in the points race, attacking at every opportunity and picking up several points along the way. More than 30 riders took to the track for the final race of the day: The Kingsbury Cup Scratch race. All 3 of us had a few digs off the front trying to test the other riders, but as the race reached it’s closing stages it seemed like it would all end in a bunch sprint. But with just over 2 laps to go Ralph Carter (London Dynamo) broke clear of the bunch. With no-one willing to chase he rode to a clear victory. I finished 3rd in the bunch sprint, giving me 4th place, Kieran was 7th and Conor finished a respectable 17th.
Result:
1. Ralph Carter
2. Neil Cooper
3. Martin Dawkins
4. Iain Cook
7. Kieran Laurie
17. Conor Bunn
Bordeaux – Paris Meeting
Next the league headed to Reading. I was again joined by Kieran, who was riding as a youth, along with Toby and James Solly. The main event was a 50km 2 stage Derny race. The first stage was a 20km scratch race where the top 9 riders would qualify to compete in the next stage. The pace was high from the start, with the stronger riders wanting to break up the field as much as possible rather than risk leaving it to a sprint. Despite this all the VCL riders looked comfortable and the race stayed together. With 4 or 5 laps to go James spotted his chance and attacked off the front of the group. He managed to stay away from the chasing pack to qualify first. Behind him a very close bunch sprint was unfolding. I just managed to sneak through in 9th place, taking the last qualifying spot. The 2nd stage followed shortly after, a 30km derny race. Here another VCL member Tony Hibbert was in action…unfortunately for him he was pacing me! Much like the scratch race, the racing was pretty quick. I struggled to stay in contention with the leaders and dropped back in the last 10km. James however had a great race, keeping up with all but the top 3 and finishing in 5th place. The race was won by Matt Gittings who lapped the field. The youth riders had the same style of race, only slightly shorter. Kieran, paced by Tony, rode well to 3rd place.
Result:
1. Matt Gittings
2. John McClelland
3. Chris Bush
5.James Solly
8. Iain Cook
Meadowbank GP – Edinburgh
The next race in the series wasn’t until June. James and I both made the long journey north along with Tony. This was the 40th anniversary of the this prestigious 2 day track meeting, with past riders including Chris Hoy among others. To our disappointment the first day of the meeting was rained off. To make up for this the organisers race all the races on the sunday. This meant a packed program including several bunch races, a derny race and the final 10 mile scratch (which counted towards the endurance league). James managed 5th place in the points race and 7th in the big race of the day. I didn’t do nearly as well at what is now my 2nd track (I am at uni in Edinburgh), will have to return next year and do better.
1. Sebastian Pancratz
2. John McClelland
3. David Martin
7.James Solly
13. Iain Cook
Dudley GP – Billy Jones Trophy
After missing the Newcastle round of the series me and Jason Cattermole headed to Halesowen in July. This was the first time i had ever ridden Halesowen and the first time Jason had more than 5 years. I struggled to get used to the tight final banking in the first races of the day. Jason on the other hand was flying, picking up 3rd in the opening scratch race and placing highly in the devil. The Billy Jones Trophy was a 40 lap scratch race. The race was dominated by Science in Sport riders Adam Duggleby, winner of the Golden Wheel and Alastair Rutherford, reigning national omnium champion. The two of them took it in turns to attack the bunch, gradually wearing down the legs of all the other riders. With less than 10 laps to go 2 riders were away with a big lead on the bunch. Duggleby attacked out of the bunch and i luckily managed to get on his wheel and the two of us rode across to the leaders. We stayed away until the end of the race and i got 3rd in the sprint. This result lifted me up to 7th overall in the series. Jason, not wanting to help chase me down, happily rolled in with the main bunch.
1. Adam Duggleby
2. Alastair Rutherford
3.Iain Cook
19. Jason Cattermole
Scunthorpe Trophy Meeting
Next up was the penultimate round of the series. As the final round was in Dundee and clashed with the Dave Creasy Six this was my last chance to score points towards the series. Despite feeling quite good i didn’t get the result i wanted, but it was still worth the trip as it gave me a much needed opportunity to get some fast racing in before the Madison at Herne Hill the following weekend.
Overall Standings
I managed to hold 7th place overall despite not scoring in the last two round, a big improvement on my 26th place in 2010. James finished 24th overall, ten places better than his 2010 performance!
1. Adam Duggleby, 115pts
2. Chris Bush, 95pts
3. John McClelland, 92pts
4. Ben Elliot, 44pts
5. Matt Gittings, 42pts
6. Alastair Rutherford 39pts
7. Iain Cook 38pts
24. James Solly 14pts
