Race Report – South Hams Youth Race – SW Youth Series #2 – Velopark
Youth A Rider Brad Messenger takes 2nd in the Youth A race at the Velopark with a strong ride. Louie Priddle came in fourth as well with some impressive attacks!
Here’s what Brad had to say post race:
When I arrived at the Velopark this morning it was cold but sunny. As my warm up went on it started to get hotter so I decided to strip all base layers off and go with just a bare skinsuit for the first time this year. I regretted this as soon as I got onto the track as the wind chill was quite cold…
The race started and there wasn’t much happening so after about 5 minutes I decided to launch my first attack, well at least I tried to attack but with the course being fast and not too windy the gear ratios let me down and it was hard to get away as people were straight on your wheel and easily spinning the max gear of 52/16.
Time went by and many attacks were being set off but none being able to get away from the group. However Louie Priddle attacked, so I sat up and slowly moved back, and got a good gap and held it for about a lap until people started chasing him back… By this point it was pretty obvious it was going to be a sprint finish. I continued to stay near the front to leap onto any attacks as there was still a chance of people getting away if we weren’t careful. I slowly glided back through the group for a bit more draft when one of the other riders decided to push me onto the grass, I quickly got back onto the track before I hit something on the grass, I’ve never been very good at cyclocross!
5 laps to go and still no one had got away, I sat near the front getting ready for a sprint finish. 1 lap to go and someone got off the front and it looked like he was going to take the win but I took my line perfectly through the last corner and started sprinting as soon as I got away from the corner with only 1 rider on my wheel. We caught the guy in front and as I thought I was going to take the win the CS dynamo rider following me through the last corner beat me to the line. I was quite happy with 2nd and it gets me some early season points in the hope of getting dispensation to race in adult cat 3 before the end of the season.
