Three Stars, Hayley Holland, Poppy Kisley and Richard Santhouse, were in action at Milton Keynes Bowl on Thursday evening for race 3, in the King and Queen Crit Series.
The evening started sunny, but then went a little cloudy with some droplets of rain. However, in the end it stayed completely dry on the surface, with a 9mph breeze, which made for a great evening of racing.
The women’s race for Cat2/3/4, started at 6pm on the inner circuit and was for a duration of 45 minutes, plus 5 laps. From the start there was a breakaway of three riders, which Poppy tried hard to chase down, lapping the remainder of the field in her efforts. Unfortunately she was still unable to catch them before the line, finishing a fine fourth, with Hayley managing seventh. A great result for both riders who have been improving every week, their training clearly paying off.
Poppy leads Hayley
The men’s race, for Cat 3/4 started at 7pm on the outer circuit at a steady pace. A few attacks went off early, but as is usually the case, they were eventually caught. Richard went on a solo attack for a period of around ten minutes putting some power down. The bunch however managed to work together and caught him. He stayed in the bunch with just 5 laps to go to save some energy for the inevitable sprint finish. On the final lap the bunch sprint to the line began, with Richard managing an excellent fourth.
Richard with 5th place Ryan Allen (Verulam), who he’s trying to convince should join BSCC
Overall, a great night for Banbury in both the Men’s and Women’s races. Hopefully we can get some more Banbury Star racers at next week’s Thursday MK bowl race.