HWCC had 11 riders across two races compete in round 7 of the Imperial Winter Series. It’s worth noting that, including this racing, HWCC has entered more riders into the leagues, 49,  than any other club except London Dynamo who’ve entered 57 racers. These entries have been spread over 17 HWCC members.

There were 6 riders in the 4th Cats – Creighton Varney, Stuart Smith, Andy Colsell, Jeff Roberts, Tim Osborne and Paul Morrissey; 3 – James Walker, Joe Clark and Karla Boddy racing in the 3^rd Cat’s and Adam Brittain and Steve Golla representing the club and Race Team in the E123, with Steve out to defend his lead in the Series.

4^th Cats

A rather large field of 48 4th cat riders took part in the 7th race in the Imperial Hillingdon Winter series. The start was unusually sedate, as normally the race kicks off with a quick break which sorts out anyone unable to stay with the pace. Creighton Varney, Jeff Roberts and Stuart Smith were always well placed at the front of the peloton with Tim Osborne and Andy Colsell tucked in mid pack. Paul Morrissey was biding his time at the back of the bunch. A headwind on the back straight was the brake that stopped any breakaways pulling away in the early stages.

The squad from Kingston Wheelers had a few attempts at breakaways, working well together but nothing came of it. Jeff Roberts had a dig off the front, and tried to split the bunch but a strong headwind and lack of any assistance caused him to drop back into the peloton. Ceighton Varney also made a great effort and managed by pure chance to jump onto the back end of the 3rd cat race (he was instructed to drop back to the main 4th cat bunch as this isn’t allowed, good trick though) notwithstanding this he maintained a strong position supported closely by Stuart Smith.

With about 7 laps to go Tim Osborne had a moment of reflection and decided to sit up and pull out of the race to watch at the sidelines. Andrew Colsell was playing a waiting game being well placed and well protected from the wind sitting in and waiting for a chance to jump. Morrissey unleashed a very punchy attack with 5 laps to go causing a gap which no one seemed to want to support, so with a headwind causing fatigue he dropped back to the main peloton. He then tried the same approach again hoping this time that someone would come to support him, however his efforts where futile and he dropped to the back of the peloton; well and truly broken. With 3 laps to go Varney, Smith and Roberts where well placed for the final sprint holding a good position in the pack.

At the finish, after a particularly nervous sprint, Varney got a well earned 18th place with Smith very close behind in 19th, Colsell in 25th, Roberts in 30th and Morrissey in 44th.

All riders intend to race again next week ,its addictive and we encourage all HWCC riders to come and have a go.

3^rd Cats

With many strong fourth cat riders transitioning to the third’s, and more winter fitness regimes taking effect, the pace was noticeably high from the start. Within the first lap the attacks had started. Karla Boddy was keen to chase the lone break from a Dynamo rider, who was safely bought back in within one lap. Thereafter a series of attacks forced the pace up, and kept it high.

With a strong head wind going round the back bend there were times when the entire peloton was stretched out in single file. Disappointingly the change in pace from head-cross-tail wind, delivered some questionable bike handling skills with many near-misses. Eventually the inevitable happened and one rider made a serious mistake in not holding their line on the bottom bend past the finish line. This ‘took a couple of riders out’ but thankfully all are well.

As the race unfolded Clark endeavoured to go in pursuit of glory, but again, the high winds meant that a lone break away was unlikely to stick and his efforts, along with many other breaks, were scuppered very quickly by a strong chasing peloton.

Coming into the last 5 laps Walker and Clark were well positioned and in the final lap they did well to keep themselves at the sharp end of the race and avoided a domino-effect crash on the penultimate bend. In the ensuring melee Walker came 11th, earning his first league points, Joe 21st and Boddy safely home in the bunch.

E123

With Steve Golla leading the series going into Round 7 there was much at stake for the HWCC rider. Early on in the race Adam Brittain got into a 2-man breakaway with InGear Quickvit rider Connal Yates but with fresh legs in the bunch and Jamie Pine (London Dynamo) on a mission to retain the series lead it was bought back after 10-15minutes.

Shortly after Brittain’s break was bought back Jamie Pine, Andy Betts (Felt Colbornes), Jerone Walters (VC St Raphael), Connal Yates and Chris Moores (Norwood Paragon) took charge and made distance between the peloton and themselves. The five-up quickly made a 30 second gap, which they manager to extend to over one minute as the race progressed.

As the race unfolded it was clear that the riders in the main bunch were not going to let Steve Golla or Rory Townsend go even though both riders tried several times to create their own break. Coming into the final laps the main bunch was back together, with the leaders out the front.

In the break, with 5 laps to go, Walters and Pine attacked early with only Betts giving chase. At this point it looked like Yates and Moores would have to settle for 4^th and 5^th. However, the front three played some cat and mouse and it was all back together going into the last 3 laps. Betts, Walters and Pine battled hard in the resulting sprint and Pine asserted his class taking the win, and the series lead from Golla. Pine and Golla have now won 6 of the 7 series races (Pine 4, Golla 2).

Meanwhile, back in the main bunch Brittain decided to inject some pace into the race. With three laps to go he came over the top of the bunch and managed to get a modest lead on the peloton along the finishing straight. No one was prepared to chase, and therefore Brittain, with a mammoth time trial effort, built up a decent lead of 20 seconds over the course of the next two laps. It looked like he would stay away taking 6th. As the chasing peloton entered the final lap the pace lifted and it began to look like Brittain would be swallowed up in the gallop to the line. Fortunately, his efforts prevailed and Brittain took 6^th place, ahead of Pete Wager (winner round 3) who had closed the gap to him to about 3 bike lengths!

Top riders overall E123 points table after 7 rounds:

Jamie Pine:London Dynamo	1070
Steve Golla:High Wycombe CC	940
Pete Wager:Felt-Colbornes RT	770
Rory Townsend:Prestige VC	710
Conall Yates:InGear Quickvit RT	580
Adam Brittain:High Wycombe CC	420
Andy Betts:Felt-Colbornes RT	390
Peter Cole:Handsling Racing	330
Vincent Halpern:Handsling Racing	330
Phil Holloway:Southend Wheelers	310
Arjan Planting:Dulwhich Paragon	300
Jerone Walters:VC St Raphael	260
James Norris:High Wycombe CC	230

The Imperial Winter Series happens annually between December and February; all events take place at the Hillingdon circuit, just a short drive into the outskirts of the metropolis for HWCC riders. So Far HWCC have seen an average of 12 riders race across the different categories each week; starting the season with great intentions, and expectations. But what about results…

Let’s not, also, forget the supporters; one week we had half a dozen members cheering on the team in the freezing conditions. Thank you to those who have supported the racers so far, we hope to see more of you on the circuit, either racing or supporting, in 2012.

Round 1 has already been covered in the race roundup, so straight onto Round 2:

Round 2 – E123

After a successful round 1, with several top 5 finishes (Steve 2^th and Adam in 4^th), HWCC returned to Round 2 with high hopes to continue their early season success.

After another fierce, fast and aggressive start with multiple attacks, all was brought back together and the peloton looked like it was set for a bunch gallop to the line. Going into the final lap, junior rider Rory Townsend of Prestige VC launched off the front in a bid for glory. However our very own Steve Golla, ever vigilant, and with 500metres to go gave his all. He quickly gained a significant gap to the remaining peloton behind and with just 200m remaining flew past, a now tiring, Townsend for a comfortable win! A great result for Steve gaining his first win of the 2012 season already!

Round 3 – E123

Round 3 saw more success for HWCC in the E123 race. It was a fast and aggressive start as usual with multiple attacks from the off. However, the peloton was vigilant to each attack and none lasted more than a couple of laps. However, with 10km to go, the one defining move of the race came from Elite rider Peter Wager (Felt-Colbornes RT) and James Norris (HWCC), which went unnoticed by some of the main group! Wager and Norris, aided by his, High Wycombe CC, fan club cheering him on, pulled away to a 40 sec advantage. The only possible upset came with 4km to go when Henry Furniss, as he had done the previous week, launched himself from the main group with a massive effort, he got within 20 seconds and looked almost certain for a 3rd place but such was the speed of the main group he was absorbed with 500m by the charging peloton. James’ efforts in the break left him with little left in the sprint and finished in a closely contested 2^nd against a well established Wager. Steve Golla managed to hustle through the bunch to finish 4^th and maintain his overall lead in the Imperial Winter Series. Another great result for HWCC and well done to James for a strong result!

Round 4 – E123 (Christmas Eve)

Round 4 saw a festively large group line up for the E123 race with 45riders looking to get some race miles in their legs prior to a few days of mistletoe and wine!

With the larger field, there were more elite riders, and as soon as the race began it was obvious this was going to be a fast and furious race with attacks from the gun. The peloton was rapidly strung out, with some riders being dropped off the back. After 15mins of racing Steve Golla (HWCC) launched his own attack, quickly Rory Townsend (Prestige VC) and, our own, Adam Brittain scrambled across to him and the three worked together to gain a small gap, Jamie Pine of London Dynamo was next to escape from the peloton and join the trio. The four then worked well together to gain an unassailable gap over the peloton, eventually gaining 45secs. Going into the final lap, the four riders now had the time to look at each other and see who had the nerve to wait and watch. With about half a lap to go, along the back straight, Steve attacked and gave his all into the headwind, Adam waited for the response from the two remaining companions obviously not willing to chase his own team mate. Finally a reaction came from Pine, however Townsend had obviously decided the winning move had gone. Pine managed to scramble back to Steve’s wheel and with 200m to go, he launched again to take the win with Steve coming home in 2^nd. Meanwhile Adam and Townsend, still playing cat and mouse, neither wanting to lead out the other, charged round to the final climb. Unfortunately, Townsend had the better of Adam to come home in 3^rd and Adam finishing in a well-earned 4^th

Women’s Series Round 1 (Christmas Eve)

With several successful men’s cat 3 races under her belt, HWCC’s, Karla Boddy was looking forward to getting her chance to get back to racing against the women. A healthy field of ~15 riders signed on for the E1234 Race, which is a considerable number for this time of year.

Boddy stirred up the pace from the off and decided to ride the first lap hard with the bunch in trail; one rider from Pearsons CC briefly jumped across but both riders were swallowed up before the first lap completed! And then the firing began; there were about 4 ladies who consistently kept attacking but to no avail. Eventually Monica DaPolenza of WyndyMilla attacked at the club house and held the pace up the slight rise, Keria McVitty went in pursuit of her with Boddy in tow. McVitty and Boddy quickly passed DaPolenza and worked together for over a lap but only managing a 10-15 second lead. The pace wasn’t too high in the bunch and fresh legs were chasing down attacks with no trouble.

In the final 5 laps a few riders went for the classic attack before the sprint; one move from WyndyMilla’s Emily Bagnall looked dangerous as she gained a gap of some distance with no one willing to scupper their energy chasing her down; Boddy however knew that without chasing the chances of now winning were slim and she went in successful pursuit of Bagnall.

With the bunch back together and the pace both nervous and tentative Boddy launched her final attack with just over 200m to go; coming round the mini-chicane toward the finish line Boddy had made a significant gap, and with enough time to celebrate before the line, she took the first win of the 2011 Winter League.

So far for the 2011-12 Winter League:

Round 1 (3^rd December)

Cat 4

14^th Malcolm Binns ; 27^th Tim Osborne ; 32^nd Creighton Varney ; 33^rd Paul Morrissey ; 36^th Mary Hannah Evans ; 37^th Stuart Smith

Cat 3

19^th James Di Rico ; 24^th James Walker ; 25^th Karla Boddy

E123

2^nd Steve Golla ; 4^th Adam Brittain ; 12^th James Norris ; 24^th Geoff Powell

Round 2 (10^th December)

Cat 4

34^th Tim Osborne ; 36^th Mary Hannah Evans ; 37^th Stuart Smith ; 38^th Paul Morrissey

Cat 3

20^th James Walker

Cat E123

1^st Steve Golla ; 22^nd James Norris ; 34^th Geoff Powell

Round 3 (17^th December)

Cat 4

22^nd Stuart Smith ; 29^th Tim Osborne

Cat 3

22^nd Karla Boddy

E123

2^nd James Norris ; 4^th Steve Golla ; 29^th Adam Brittain ; 36^th Geoff Powell

Round 4 (24^th December)

Cat 4

4^th James Turton ; 17^th Creighton Varney

Womens E1234

1^st Karla Boddy

Cat 3

15^th Joe Clark ; 22^nd James Walker

Cat E123

2^nd Steve Golla ; 4^th Adam Brittain ; 12^th James Norris ; 36^th Geoff Powell

Round 5 (26^th December)

Cat E123

6^th Steve Golla ; 16^th Geoff Powell