The Eastern Region Track Championships.

The Eastern Region Track Championships were held at Welwyn on Saturday 15th September and Ciclos Uno were represented with a mixture of youth and experience in David Baker, James Jackson, Ian Bell, James Whatling and John Saysell.

The record entry of 87 riders were blessed with a warm sunny day to enjoy an excellent and competitive afternoon's racing in the various categories from Senior down to Under 8’s.

The programme opened with the Senior Pursuit, with James Whatling and James Jackson competing for Ciclos Uno. James Whatling was making his competive debut on the track, after one previous outing at Manchester Velodrome, and it showed somewhat, missing the start whistle and having a bit of a wobble to begin with. He got into the rhythm of things soon enough and pushed hard towards the end of the race to finish in 15th place. James Jackson used his sprint to power off the start line like a train and held it well to finish 9th, a fantastic result for both of them considering neither had the advantage of tri bars or disc wheels. Doug Bradshaw (Cambridge CC) powered home to take the win from John McClelland (Agiskoviner) with Simon Bateson (Team Economic Energy) third.

After a round of heats and repechages in the Senior Sprint, the four Semi-final winners going into the final were Andy Ballentyne (Easterley RC), Robert Cox (Cambridge CC), James Jackson and John McClelland, who had narrowly defeated David Baker in the first semi-final. After a cagey start, with all four riders slowing to a near standstill on the first bend, Cox attacked with 300m to go, but McClelland's power closed the gap and held off the challenge of James Jackson as they came into the home straight, to win by a length.

The Ciclos Uno team pursuit team of David Baker, James Whatling, John Saysell and James Jackson were up next. Led by the experienced Baker, the team rode without any tri accessories and instead relied on power, aggression and team work. All four rode out of their skins for 6 laps and finished third, a fantastic result which we hope to better next year with some practice! Cambridge CC ran out the winners from the eight team pursuit squads competing, with Team Welwyn in second place.

The final event of the meeting the was the Senior 10 mile scratch. With a field of some 45 riders, the race was building to a close finish with all the main riders in contention positioning themselves for the win when, with two laps remaining, a crash occurred as the riders entered the home straight. The race was stopped as Ian Clarke and Mario Morias were transported to hospital and the restart saw John McClelland take the a narrow victory from David Baker, with Trevor Burke (North Road Club) in third and James Jackson in fourth.

Results.

Team Pursuit.
1.) Cambridge CC
2.) Team Welwyn
3.) PCA/Ciclos Uno

Sprint.
1.) John McClelland: Agiskoviner
2.) James Jackson: PCA/CiclosUno
3.) Robert Cox: Cambridge CC

10 Mile Scratch
1.) John McClelland: Agiskoviner
2.) David Baker: PCA/CiclosUno
3.) Trevor Burke: North Road Club
4.) James Jackson: PCA/CiclosUno

One day.....

.......James Whatling will finish a race on the SERRL's Benendon circuit, after having punctured there in the cold and rain in the SERRL stage race in May, and then on Sunday 9th September, breaking a spoke and suffering in the sun.

The SERRL race was the latest round of the Sigma Sport Series and the competiton was strong, with teams from Sigma Sport, Wildside RT, Agiskoviner and Pacific/Flanders all there to work for and to protect their team leaders. The rolling circuit included 11 climbs of a sharp, roughly surfaced climb and although there were some attacks, the pace of the race and the fact that the contenders for the series were watching each other closely meant that the peloton remained together.

On the fifth lap, disaster struck for James on one of the sapping, dragging climbs as he broke a spoke in his front wheel. Although he managed to get a wheel from the first aid car, he wasn't paced back up to the bunch and they steadily pulled away from him. Never one to give up, he pushed on solo for five more laps but was pulled out by the organiser on the final lap, with no chance of regaining contact.

The finishing climb proved influential as the point where the race split and, on the penultimate lap, 8 riders broke clear, including the series leader Gary Dodd (Sigma Sport) and they worked together to hold their lead, with Dodd pulling away to win and consolidate his position in the series.

Results.
1.) Gary Dodd: Sigma Sport RT
2.) Chris McNamara: Wildside RT
3.) Andrew Bye: Kingston Wheelers
4.) John Veness: Kona UK
5.) Tom Copeland: InGear Development

Jackson earns his stripes.

You might be forgiven for thinking that this might be Malcolm Eliiot winning the Bob Chicken London Grand Prix above, and you'd be right, but if you look just behind Malcolm's victory salute, you can see young James Jackson taking fifth in the race and the biggest result of his young career thus far.

The race was held at a relentless pace from the start and even though eventual winner Elliot (Pinarello) and Dean Downing (Rapha/Condor) worked an early move, this was soon extinguished by a peloton wise to the danger these two represented.

Barring a solo escape from Matt Talbot (Rapha/Condor) the pace of the race kept everyone together and, as the race reached it's finale, James was holding position well in the top 10. As they started the final lap, James just had to make things a little bit harder for himself and decided he wanted to work his way up from the back of the field! Demonstrating just how strong he is, sure enough, come the final bend he was at the head of the race again and, managing to the avoid the crash that affected a lot of the other riders, unleashed his sprint to finish closely behind the experienced Elliot.


Results.
1.) Malcolm Elliott: Pinarello RT
2.) Andy Tinsley: Bioracer Onimex RT
3.) Warrick Spence: Cyclefit-Serotta
4.) John Mozley: Merlin Racing Team
5.) James Jackson: PCA/Ciclos uno

A night at the track with Action Jackson.

James Jackson ended his first season competing on the track at the final meeting of the 2007 Welwyn Track League and underlined his growing stature as an all round track rider with a selection of fine performances in front of a good sized crowd.

Competing in the Senior Class A category, only the collective effort of Agiskoviner's experienced John McClelland and Joel Stewart could prevent James from taking victory in both the 10 lap Scratch and the Points race, but the experience he has gained from competing in the season long Welwyn League should stand him in good stead for the forthcoming Eastern Region Track Championships.

Results:
Senior Class A.

10 Lap Scratch
John McClelland (Agiskoviner)
James Jackson (PCA Ciclos Uno)
Joel Stewart (Agiskoviner)

10 Lap Points
Joel Stewart (Agikoviner)
James Jackson (PCA Ciclos Uno)
Robert Cox (Cambridge)

Jackson steps up to the mark.

James Jackson took another step in his development, at Team Economic Energy's penultimate circuit race at Dunton on Thursday 9th August, as he held his own with established New Zealand professional, Gordon MacCauley (PCA/Evans Cycles RT).

Gordon and team mate James Millard were using the race at Ford's test track as part of their training for their upcoming races in the Tour of Britain and the Tour of Ireland, but this didn't mean that they were there to make up the numbers. Keen to prove himself against this tough opposition, James marked Gordon's every move and the pair even managed to escape the clutches of a very hard chasing peloton to work together for a lap or so, before being reeled in.

The whole field seemed to have something to prove tonight and the pace was unrelenting, with the bunch often strung out along the whole length of the straights. Despite a lot of hard work in attempting to escape, by the likes of Dean Shannon and Andy Lyons (Heron Cyclesport), Ben Price (Rapha Condor) and the two man tag team that was the PCA Evans Cycles RT, nothing semmed like it would get away until, with a lap and half to go, MacCauley put in a final big attempt to rid himself of the clutches of the bunch....not to mention young Jackson!

He soloed off and managed to hold everyone off until the last kilometre when the capture was made. Somehow James Jackson found himself where he didn't want to be, in front with about 600 metres to go, and although not an ideal situation, he jumped as hard as he could and held off everyone except Ben Price (Rapha Condor) and Steven Griffiths (Glendene CC/Bike Trax) who got around him for the win and second place respectively.

Results:

1.) Ben Price: Rapha Condor
2.) Steven Griffiths: Glendene CC/Bike Trax
3.) James Jackson: PCA/Ciclos Uno

The James' go time trialling.

James Whatling and James Jackson competed in the Herts Wheelers evening 10mile time trial on Tuesday 7th August and, despite their relative inexperience at the discipline, acquitted themselves well, coming first and second respectively.

The evening was made more eventful by James Whatling's ability to be clumsy at any given time, and tonight he somehow managed to get a stick in his eye as he went to go to the loo in a nearby hedge. It was very painful and left him with a very red eye, perhaps was not the best result when getting married in a few days! The second eventful moment came when our esteemed sponsor, Mr Trevor Maddern, decided to put in an appearance on his scooter to cheer us on along the way. He might, however, have regretted this move as, at about a third distance, the heavens opened, leaving him very wet and the James' struggling to see in the rain and the gloom.

Despite the downpour, and the subsequent need to take it rather steadily at the turn, both the Ciclos Uno riders charged for home and James Whatling won in a time of 21.35, with James Jackson in second place with 22.07.

Jackson works hard for 2nd at Dunton.

James Jackson continued his fantastic run of results with a well earned 2nd place in the latest of Team Economic Energy's circuit races at Ford's Dunton test track.

The latest of the Thursday night series, held on the 2nd August, had it's largest field yet, as word spread about the quality of the racing to be had. James Jackson was quickly into the action, and went almost from the gun trying to tempt a few others to try and escape the bunch. The size of the field was playing a large part in the racing though, with there always being someone willing to pull the break back.

Not to be undeterred, both James' tried time and again to pull away but even when groups began to form, the peloton was quickly onto them, unwilling to let anything get away. James Whatling, perhaps thinking too much about his points needed for his 1st Cat licence, decided to hang back and wait for the finale but James Jackson continued in his quest to break free, working hard throughout the race.

With 3 laps to go, it was the winner of the previous week's race, Daniel Patten (Pacific/Flanders RT) who made the move and, for once, no one seemed too keen to chase. Ben Price (Rapha Condor) decided he wasn't going to let Daniel have another breakaway win and pulled hard on the front of the bunch, instigating the charge to pull the escapee back. The pace was unrelenting for the final two laps and, as the bunch opened up the sprint, Daniel was engulfed, his quest unfulfilled. The sprint was a hectic one, with plenty of pushing and shoving, but Adam Norris (PCA/Evans Cycles RT) found the gap and managed to make the jump on James Jackson to take the victory. James Whatling came in for 12th, still searching for those points!

Results:
1.) Adam Norris: PCA/Evans Cycles RT
2.) James Jackson: PCA/Ciclos Uno
3.) Ben Price: Rapha Condor
4.) Mark Beattie: Maldon & District CC
5.) Andy Waterman: Norwood Paragon