The Dernies were out for the first time this season at Palmer Park. The A and B Derny Paced championships are run on different nights throughout the season the Senior As had the honour of kicking things off – and the packed programme meant that the Bs had a relatively quiet night.

With the Dernies really filling out the programme, the VIA International 10 Lap Scratch races make way for an A and B Hare & Hounds and, this week, the As were really up for the chase – reeling in the Bs’ half lap advantage just after half distance and settling in for the sprint finish.

It was Matt Gittings of AW Cycles who led out the Sprint, with Ian Greenstreet of Newbury RC on his wheel, followed by Gittings’ team mate Cam Swarbrick and Martyn Harris of Banjo Cycles. Gittings missed the opening round of the season following his ride in the Tour of Malta but had warmed up his track legs the day before at Herne Hill, taking the second round of the Sprint Omnium Series.

Gittings polished off the Sprint, with Swarbrick coming round Greenstreet in the closing stages to snatch second. It was Jason Pitt of Palmer Park Velo who took the B honours  ahead of Rikki Pankhurst of AW Cycles and John Glaysher of a3 crg. Jayne Paine of Willesden CC was the only rider in the Ladies category this evening and scooped up the points in the Hare & Hounds, Unknown Distance and the AW Cycles 20k Endurance events.

The Dernies were out next and the opening heat saw Gittings cruise through to the Finals, along with Harris. English led Heat Two for most of the race with Sam Sturgeon of Team Terminator and Swarbrick 20 metres behind. Sturgeon surged ahead in the closing stages and passed English as Swarbrick’s challenge succumbed to a stuttering motor. Will Macke of AW Cycles took the third heat, passing Greenstreet  just past half distance and easing away to take a comfortable win.

Another short but sweet Unknown Distance race saw Swarbrick and Pilgrim Morris off the front of the race at the bell. Swarbrick picked up the pace and distanced his fellow escapee but only just held off a hard charging Harris to seal the A win with Frazier Carr of AW Cycles picking up third place. Pankhurst again led the B riders’ charge for the line, with Glaysher second and pacemaker Pilgrim Morris earning a point for his efforts in third place.

After a weekend of road racing in the sun in Bristol, it was time for the first Reading Track League of 2011. The weather looked like it was going to take a turn for the worse only a few hours before the first race was due to start – large black clouds rolled in over Wokingham and Reading, and the threat of a cancelled season premier was a distinct one.

Fortunately the clouds rolled away again, and the weather held off nicely for the racing to commence. After the opening youth race it was time for the big boys in the A league 10 lap scratch. A strong headwind down the back straight made it hard for anyone to break away on their own, so the race came down to a bunch sprint. I had positioned myself in the top 3 of the bunch with just over 200 metres to go and, as the sprint started, I found a gap and managed to ride through it, clinching 3rd place behind Sam Sturgeon and John Coolahan.

The next event was the Sprint, with heat 2 containing 4 riders, 3 in AW Cycles kit – Frazier Carr, Nick English and I. Sam Sturgeon of Team Terminator positioned himself behind Nick and made his move at the 200 metre mark. With no one able to match his pace, Sam cruised through to the sprint final later on in the evening.

The third race of the evening was the Devil Take the Hindmost. There was a good AW Cycles representation in this race with 3 Junior riders and Nick English from the Senior squad. The pace didn’t seem that fast, and the group stayed neatly together, with the Devil eliminating the last rider every lap. With only 15 A league riders, this was a short race. When it was down to the last 4 riders the bell was given. At this point Nick was on the front with me closely tucked onto his wheel. Just before the 200 metre line I started to put the pressure on to get past Nick and to make sure I didn’t get boxed in by the other two riders who were trying to come round. I got to the front and put my head down and sprinted to the finish line. I managed to hold off the chase to take my first with of the season and only my second ever A league win.

With a 3rd and a 1st, I had already achieved more points than I did in the whole of last year, which isn’t a bad start to the season. The penultimate event of the night was the Unknown Distance race. With an attack from the gun from Nick English and Donal Linehan, the pace was pretty high. Realising this was a strong breakaway in an unpredictable race I set after the break with Ian Greenstreet. When I realised that Ian was playing it tactically trying to slow me down to let his team mate get away, I overtook him and quickly bridged the gap to Nick and Donal and as I caught them we were given the bell. Going down the back straight I was third in the line, and saw a gap open up on the inside of Donal, and I tried to force my way through, but ended up getting 3rd place.

The last event as always was the AW Cycles 20km Scratch race. Again an early move by Nick English was closed down, and within a few laps I found myself in a group of 4 riders off the front of the bunch, and before we knew it we had half a lap on the bunch. The group consisted of myself, Martyn Harris, Donal Linehan and Josh Ansell. After a couple of big efforts Josh pulled out of the group leaving the three of us to work together to gain that all important lap on the field, but as the race wore on and the laps wound down, the relative “freshness” of our legs also subsided. Martin went off on his own to lap the field, and then almost immediately make another impressive move off the front.

A two man chase group lead by Nick English caught Donal and I with about 15 laps left to go, but my legs were too far gone to keep up with them, so I pulled up to wait for the bunch and with 11 to go I was back in the bunch, staying near the front, trying to recover my legs for the sprint at the end. With 2 to go Harry Strudley came over the top of the group to give me an impressive and gutsy lead out. But on the last lap with no more than 300 metres to go the past two days of road racing and the rest of the evening’s racing caught up with me and I developed cramp in my inner calf. I tried to ride through it and fight for the sprint, but it was too painful, I think I still finished in the top 10, so this was my most successful 20km ever, and by far my most successful A league evening.

An all round good start to the racing season, with an AW Cycles rider finishing top 3 in every event but the sprint final. Hopefully this continues on the rest of the season.

Another day at Hillingdon – seems like only a few days since I was here last. The weather wasn’t too bad: it looked pretty sunny, but it was deceptively cold and windy. After a short warm up with Frazier Carr it was time to race. The 3rd Category riders were set off first, then the 4th Category riders. Frazier, Monica DaPolenza and I were all in the 3rd Cat race.

There was a very steady start to the race, until the back straight when someone attacked round the side of the group. It turned out to be one of many attacks that were closed down within a couple of laps. The strength of the wind had more effect on smaller groups who attacked, so the bunch was able to catch up with them. This pattern of attacking and being caught continued until after the 4th Cat riders had finished – the final attack lasted for about 5 laps, but was caught as we came round for 2 laps to go.

At that point the pace was very high, but Frazier and I moved up to the front of the bunch, and stayed there until we were swamped by other riders. I managed to make it back to the 2nd row of with two corners to go, and Frazier was back at the front.

On the last corner at the bottom of the hill, a rider swerved from the inside of the corner, and collided with another rider just in front of me. The victim did an endo and went into someone else, who went off onto the grass.

I had to slow right down and ended up about 25th or 30th, but I got round the mess and started sprinting up the hill, ignoring a problem with a clicking cleat. I wound up to full speed up the hill and was passing people all over the place. I went to go past someone on the right but they moved across so I was forced onto the grass. I still managed the pass and soon enough the finish line appeared. I finished 13th – another 30 Series points.

After the finish Frazier and I were warming down, when we were joined by Monica, who had stayed with the 3rd Cats for the whole race, but had been slowed down by the collision on the last corner. All in all it was a good race, but we can win this as a team.

AW Cycles is extending its support for Readings Palmer Park Velo club by launching a Junior Racing Team, feeding riders through from the Youth categories.

The team is designed to give talented youth riders a platform for progressing their cycling careers, allowing them to race and train as a team, with the backing of a recognised cycling institution.

The team was announced at Palmer Park Velo’s annual awards ceremony by AW Cycles’ racing team manager James Thompson on Sunday 23rd January.

Thompson introduced the line up of five riders, consisting of (left to right in photo) Stephen Bradbury (17years old), Frazier Carr (16), Will Macke (16), Cam Swarbrick (16) and Harry Strudley (16). All of these riders have been racing at Readings’ iconic velodrome from a very young age.

Thompson says “ AW Cycles is proud of its longstanding support for Palmer Park- it is the hub of the Reading cycling community and has produced some great cycling talent. Young cyclists at this age have previously lacked this crucial support and we have seen some great riders slip through the net, as they don’t have the motivation, camaraderie and support that racing with a team offers. This team is designed to retain their talent and keep their interest in cycling at this impressionable age. AW cycles, as a business, is delighted to support up and coming talent in the local community.”

Another glorious summer evening at Palmer Park in Reading was shattered by the roar of the motor bikes as the second round of the Derny motor paced championship dominated the programme.

Before the bikes came out, the racing opened with a 10 Lap Scratch race for the Senior A and B riders. A four man break with a lap to go looked to have the places sewn up, but AW Cycles endurance specialist Neil Cooper from Lower Earley wasn’t going to let them go and closed to gap to the leaders and surged through to take the first win of
the night in the As. The fast recovering Trevor Bradbury from Charvil took second place in the Bs race.

In the heats for the Derny races, Cooper qualified for the A final comfortably ahead of team mate Alex Peterson. The fastest of the B heats saw Round 1 winner Cam Swarbrick from Winnersh complete the 10 laps at an average of 36.8mph to take an easy win but Round 1 runner up Frazier Carr of Palmer Park Velo was made to work for his
final spot, taking the second of the two qualifying places in his heat.

The A final was run at a blistering pace, with Cooper’s team mate Matt Gittings taking the front from the gun and gradually opening a comfortable gap over the field. With just over a lap and a half to go, his nearest challenger Sam Sturgeon of Team Terminator lost contact with his pacer – his father Clive. It took nearly a full lap to get back in touch, by which point the race was effectively over. Cooper was unable to take advantage of Sturgeon’s misfortunes, but hung on for 3^rd place and another championship point.

The B final looked likely to be a close affair and started quickly with Donal Linehan (Newbury RC) and Trevor Bradbury taking up the charge. Swarbrick and Carr weren’t going to give up their championship lead easily, though, and the pair moved up and tucked in behind the leaders, easing past them just before the halfway point. They’d brought Kevin Holloway (High Wycombe CC) with them and with a couple of laps to go Swarbrick started to open a gap on Carr, with Holloway hanging on to his tail. Coming in to turn 3 with 200m to go, Holloway accelerated and started to come round the outside, his derny nudging ahead as they entered turn 4 side by side. With the advantage of the inside line and the shorter route, Swarbrick managed to ease ahead as they entered the home straight and hung on for the win.

The evening closed with a ‘sprint’ version of the traditional AW Cycles Endurance finale – a mere 10km. The A race ended in a very tight finish, with Cooper nicking it on the line
from Sam Sturgeon of Team Terminator. Bradbury took another 2^nd place in the B race.

The crowd at Palmer Park in Reading endured a close, muggy evening that again threatened showers but some equally close racing kept them entertained.

Charvil’s Senior A star Stephen Bradbury (Palmer Park Velo) is recovering from an injury and missed out on the points this evening, but his father, Trevor, returned after a nasty early season accident to take 3^rd place in the Senior B Points race and 2^nd in the closing AW Cycles 20km Endurance race for Reading CC.

Bradbury qualified for the Senior B Keirin final, too, taking up a place at the back of the chain of riders behind the motorcycle, shoulder to shoulder with Series B championship leader Cam Swarbrick (Royal Navy & Royal Marines Cycling Association). As the derny prepared to pull off, Bradbury jumped and Winnersh-based Swarbrick went with him, weaving his way through the riders ahead of him to take second place behind Rikki Pankhurst of AW Cycles. Keirin series leader Dave Dentus slotted in between them going off the back straight and the sprint for the line was frantic, with Dentus just taking it on the line from Pankhurst with Swarbrick taking 3^rd and a valuable championship point.

Swarbrick was well placed at the bell for the mixed A and B Unknown Distance race and led the charge for the line. Dentus, who was on fine form all evening as he ramps up for the National Masters Track Championships in Newport in two weeks time, managed to close him down off the final bend to sneak another win and consolidate his second place in the championship – closing to within 4 points of the Emmbrook schoolboy as the series nears the half way point.

In the youth races, Lower Earley’s Daniel Lansley (Palmer Park Velo) took second in the Under 14 Points race but was under pressure this week from Reading CC’s Max Stedman from Crowthorne took 3^rd in the Points race and the Scratch. With Lower Earley’s George Withers absent, though, it was Jason Pitt (Palmer Park Velo) from Earley who took the most advantage taking 2^nd in the Keirin and the Scratch.

Jason’s sister Emma won the Under 10 points race and took 2^nd in the Keirin and 3^rd in the Points race. Also keeping it in the family was Daniel Lansley’s younger brother Matthew who took a hat-trick of 2^nd places in the Under 12 events.

With the Reading round of the National Youth Track Omnium series rained off at the weekend, black clouds threatened again on Monday Night at Reading Track League. While the clouds never cleared and the temperature plummeted as the evening wore on, the rain stayed away and the crowd enjoyed a full meeting.

Charvil’s Stephen Bradbury’s good form continued with a 3^rd place in the opening 10 Lap Scratch race and a spirited, if ultimately unsuccessful, attack in the evening’s finale – the AW Cycles 10km Endurance race. The Palmer Park Velo rider also won his heat in the Senior A 10 Lap Derny Motor Paced Race and led the final early on before recent Herne Hill Derny Fest winner Matt Gittings of AW Cycles broke free to win by over half a lap.

Wokingham riders were to the fore in the Senior B Derny races with Winnersh’s Cameron Swarbrick of the Royal Navy & Royal Marines Cycling Association easily winning his heat, having sat in the bunch until 3 laps to go before surging to the front and pulling out a comfortable lead over Earley’s Paul Cooper (Reading CC) who also qualified for the final as one of the two fastest runners up. The final looked as though it would be between Swarbrick and Palmer Park Velo’s Frazier Carr – another of the League’s strong crop of Under 16s who have chosen to take on the adults rather than compete in the Youth League. Carr and Swarbrick had both won their heats comfortably – and
set the first and second fastest times – so it promised to be an excellent race.

By half distance, Carr and his pacer Lee Povey were on the front, with Swarbrick and his Derny rider George Gilbert tucked in behind and the two pairs pulling away from the rest of the field. Side by side for two laps, Swarbrick finally took the lead and initially started to pull away. With a lap and a half to go, it looked as though the very fast heat – and faster final, with Gilbert recording 37mph on the back straight – might have been too much for the young Sprint specialist and he started to lose touch with his
motor pacer. As the Derny eased off to allow him to sit back on its rear wheel it became clear that Carr, too, was fading fast. The gap settled down to about 3 bike lengths and, although Carr did close a little in the last half lap, Swarbrick hung on to take the win and extend his lead in the League table.

In the Youth races the Palmer Park Velo riders continue to dominate with Lower Earley’s Dominic Butler again picking up four third places in the Under 16 competition, but looking much closer to the leading duo. The Under 14 competition – which has become a little predictable over the last few weeks, was shaken up a little this week, with George Withers, also from Lower Earley, taking first place in the opening Handicap race, the 5 Lap Scratch and the Derny Paced race – the Youths competing over 6 laps, rather than the adults’ 10.  Earley’s Jason Pitt could only manage 3^rd in the Handicap, but took a well deserved win in the Unknown Distance race, ahead of Withers, and 2^nd spot in the Scratch and Derny races. Daniel Lansley made it a Wokingham 1-2-3 in the Derny race.

Daniel’s younger brother Matthew had another good night in the competitive Under 12 category, taking 3^rd place in all 3 of his races, while Jason Pitt’s sister Emma picked up a 2^nd and a 3^rd in the Under 10 category.

The switch from a Monday evening to the Sunday afternoon of a May Bank Holiday weekend for Reading Track League’s Bordeaux-Paris meeting is a long standing tradition. Poor weather over the last two years has led to the event – a round of the National Endurance 20km Series – being rearranged several times and eventually being run in September!

No such problems this year and with riders from as far afield as County Durham converging on Palmer Park velodrome, the field of around 100 adult and youth riders – and sizeable crowd of spectators – enjoyed glorious sunshine all afternoon.

In the 500m sprints Cam won his heat comfortably and taking runner’s up spot in the Senior B final from guest rider Simon Crouch from the ‘factory’ Planet X team.

And so to the main event – the Bordeaux-Paris derny motor paced races. The event commemorates the classic 350 mile one day road race which started in Bordeaux at 2am and finished in Paris 14 hours later. The race format changed over the years, but most famously saw the riders ride solo to Tours and then pick up a motorcycle pacer through to the finish in Paris. The Reading Track League version follows that format, with the riders taking part in a long (18 laps for Under 16s and Ladies, 36 for the Seniors) scratch race, from which the top 8 qualify to race with their own individual motor pacer for a further 66 laps (27 laps for the Under 16s and Ladies).

The Under 16 and Ladies qualifying race was run at a relatively slow pace with few attacks. Charvil’s Stephen Bradbury (Palmer Park Velo) attacked out of the last corner to take the qualifying spot ahead of Cam – with Withers and Pitt also making it into the motor paced event – the Palmer Park Velo riders squeezing out all but two of the Ladies. The derny paced race was also fairly cagey until the later stages. Cam, who had sat back in 8^th place for the first half of the race, moved up with 10 to go to make a leading trio with William Macke (Palmer Park Velo) and Bradbury. Macke had lead for much of the race but now Bradbury took to the front and the pace started to pick up. With five to go and those three were joined by Frazier Carr (Palmer Park Velo) and Emma Patterson (London Dynamo).

With two to go, Cam blew and dropped off the leading group but the real drama came halfway round the final lap when the engine on Bradbury’s derny
failed. Bravely, Bradbury gave it everything he had to try to keep his lead, but Macke and his derny driver George Gilbert eased past along the home
straight to take the win. Pitt finished a very impressive fifth with Cam trailing home sixth.

With one round already lost to the weather this season, the dark sky that greeted riders on Monday evening didn’t bode well, but the clouds parted 15 minutes
before the start of this week’s Reading Track League meeting and made way for a sunny, if breezy evening’s racing. Earley’s Neil Cooper (AW Cycles) took third place in the Senior A category in the opening 10 Lap Scratch with Cam consolidating his lead in the season long Senior B competition, also taking third.

With barely time to recover, the riders were back up for the gruelling 9 lap, League 4km Individual Pursuit Championship. Cam was the fastest of the B riders in 9th place overall.

Cooper and Cam were both well positioned at the bell in the Unknown Distance race, with Cooper just losing out to Bryan Taylor (VC Londres) in the sprint to
take second in the Senior As and Cam taking the Senior B victory.