It was a fully booked season opener for the Behind the Bikeshed circuit race series this Tuesday at Thruxton with a large contingent for Team Sotonia making the journey to a very cold motor circuit.
In the 4th cat race, Sotonia had five riders – Phil Godfrey, Russell Speight, Matt Dixon and two new juniors – Josh Bakker and Red Walters.
Phil Godfrey reports: “The 4th cat race was pretty hectic from the off really. Lots of dodgy riding and getting caught by women on the left and some E/1/2 riders on the right! Then there was a big crash involving a few DHC and Josh, about 10 riders came down. I was a bit disappointed to miss the break – a Venta guy and Matt went away soon after the crash and noone, except Russ who did a lot of work on the front, seemed interested in chasing. I won the bunch sprint for 5th and Russ just behind 6th.”
In his first race, Matt held on for a very impressive 2nd place in the breakaway. Red also looked strong in his first race as a junior and was near the front all race, finishing 25th in the large field.
Josh Bakker described his crash hampered race: “Two guys locked bars right in front of me, I went flying over the top. I tried to catch up but never quite made it back to the bunch.”
The 3rd cat race was also pretty ‘eventful’ where we had James Peckham, Paul Ransom and Andy MacKay riding.
James: “There was some confusion in our race with laps, we had an extra lap, I think it was while commissaires were dealing with the aftermath of the crash in 4ths. On what should have been our bell lap there were questions in our group as to whether it was the last lap. However the pace picked up and there was a sprint on what turned out to be the bell lap. Riders all over the road, slowing and others speeding on etc. Luckily no one attacked and I got into a good position in the top 5, held that onto the hill, as the pace slowed near the chicane I opened up my sprint and held on down the finishing straight for 3rd place with Paul close behind in 9th.”
Andy finished in the pack after an active race, riding strongly to chase down attacks and was unlucky not get in a break.
Ben Scott-Munden lined up for Sotonia in the E/1/2/3 race, where there was an early two man break of Ken Buckley (Eden Verenda) and Paul Double (VC Venta). With the race in pieces and seemingly noone willing to chase, Ben waited to the last lap to get away from the main bunch and take 14th.
So plenty of great top 10 results for the team for the Summer series opener. We’re looking forward to next week!
Thanks to Steve Oliver of the pics.
