| Aaron McCaffrey of Heffs Bike Shop sprinted clear of Danny Axford to win
the 42nd edition of Clarencourt's 103 mile Fred Cowley Memorial Trophy road race in West
Sussex on Sunday. They were
the two leading survivors of a 13 man break which formed within the first ten miles. At
the end of the first lap of the Alfold circuit this group had a lead of 40 seconds over a
similar sized pack of chasers with the bunch already over a minute adrift. Both lead
groups were working very well, Colin Roshier said that the front group was one of the best
groups he had been in for years, and the pursuit continued for some 50 miles. The race had
now switched to the smaller Dunsfold circuit and the pursuers closed to within 15 seconds
but only Rory Wyley and Nigel Williams of Thames Velo were able to get across the gap to
join the leaders. The bunch was now at 4 minutes.
Not until the race entered the
final four laps of the Kirdford circuit did the cohesion in the leading group falter as
with 20 miles to go attacks occured. Splits began to appear all over the place in all the
groups and with 80 miles covered the race was spread over 10 minutes. With two laps to go
five riders Axford, McCaffrey, Roshier, Swettenham and Spence formed the leading group.
On the final climb into Plaistow
with 6 miles to go even these split apart after an attack from Axford and five individuals
crested the hill with yards separating each from the other. McCaffrey closed on Axford and
they sped off to the finish. Roshier waited for Swettenham and Spence but the dynamic duo
had fled. Spence fell away in the last few miles leaving McCaffrey to beat Axford by a
couple of lengths at the line and Swettenham to take come-back man Roshier by a length.
Spence held on to fifth place as previous winner Paul Crook beat veteran Ian Hallam in the
sprint from the breaks survivors.
Meanwhile minor battles were being
fought further back in the field with various escapees from the bunch coming in clear of
the main bunch from which Gary Dodd won the sprint 8 minutes down on the winner.
Altogether an excellent race made exceptional by very competitive riding from the
competitors. |
