Saint Piran dominated the opening national road race of 2023, with Jack Rootkin-Gray leading home a 1-2-3 at the Perfs Pedal road race. 

Featured image: Ian Wrightson / The British Continental. Jack Rootkin-Gray (Saint Piran) wins the 58th Perfs Pedal road race.

Report

The Perfs Pedal road race is infamous for its torrid weather conditions, but it was a mild, overcast day that greeted the riders as they arrived at the D-Day Memorial Hall in Southwick to sign on for the 58th edition. Five laps of the lumpy Portsdown Hill circuit awaited the riders, before a half lap of the Hundred Acre circuit to the uphill drag to the finish line.

The early laps were cagey, but on lap three the first serious move had gone clear as the riders passed Fort Nelson at the top of Portsdown Hill.

The break was a youthful group of five consisting of juniors Angus Stoneham (17) and Matthew Cole (18, both Zappi Junior Race Team), Benjamin Bright (19) of the Wales Racing Academy, and the relatively experienced Jack Crook (23) and Conor McGoldrick (25, both Richardsons Trek DAS).

In pursuit of the quintet were the Saint Piran duo of Jack Rootkin-Gray and Harry Birchill, with Rowan Baker (London Dynamo) and Ollie Hurdle (Stolen Goat).

The moves ended up coming back together but then towards the end of the third lap, Birchill, Baker and Crook went clear again with a group of around six riders. Rootkin-Gray bridged across, as did his teammate Zeb Kyffin.

Rootkin-Gray then pressed on, whittling the group down to just him, Kyffin, Birchill, Baker and Crook. With three in the lead, it was advantage Saint Piran.

“We rode together hard into the winds,” Rootkin-Gray said of the move after the race. Behind, the Zappi Junior Racing Team were among those who tried to coordinate a chase, but were left frustrated by a lack of cooperation in the peloton.

As the lead group’s lead increased, the Saint Piran riders then sought to take advantage of their numerical superiority.

“As the race progressed we started to attack as a team, countering each other and making the other two work,” explained Rootkin-Gray. “In the end, we managed to engineer it that it was just us three away. First the London Dynamo guy got dropped. Then Jack Crook was pulling a long turn while Harry was solo after various attacks from all of us. Then Zeb and I jumped across to Harry just before the left turn to the finishing climb.”

It was clear at this stage that a Saint Piran rider would take the win, but who would it be?

“We hadn’t discussed who was going to win or anything. We just left it open to racing it down. Harry opened up the sprint first, and then I just came round him to take the win.”

Kyffin finished third to complete a 1-2-3 for Saint Piran, with Crook fourth and Baker fifth. Last year’s winner Damien Clayton (Embark Spirit BSS) took ninth, while Stoneham was the top-placed junior in tenth.

Talking points

• Jack Rootkin-Gray has started the season as he ended 2022: on fire. Last year he ended the season with 2nd at the Ryedale GP, a strong showing in the Tour of Britain, 2nd at the Ryedale GP, a win at the GP Eugeen Roggeman pro kermesse before capping it off with a victory at the Beaumont Trophy. If his performance at the Perfs Pedal is anything to go by then he could be one to watch in his first UCI road races of the year (Grand Prix Criquielion (1.1) and  Grand Prix de la Ville de Lillers Souvenir Bruno Comini (1.2).
• Rowan Baker (London Dynamo) was not a name we were familiar with before this race, but judging by his 5th place at Perfs, together with his 2022 performances, the 20-year-old could be one to watch in 2023. Like Rootkin-Gray, he ended 2022 strongly, with 5th at the Roy Hillman Memorial Road Race (won by Rootkin-Gray no less) and then 19th in his first National Road Series, the Beaumont Trophy. An excellent string of results for a club rider who only began racing in 2021.
• Perfs is often a race where junior riders can shine against some of the top domestic riders and the 2023 edition was no exception. Angus Stoneham and Matthew Cole – both second-year juniors – shone in the early break, with Stoneham bagging 10th in the end. But it was their teammate Finlay Hawker, still only 16, who perhaps stole the junior limelight with an impressive 11th place, crossing the line at the same time as Stoneham.

Results

Position	No	Name	Team	Junior	Time	Gap
1st	67	Jack Rootkin-Gray	Saint Piran		45:11.1	–
2nd	9	Harry Birchill	Saint Piran		45:14.6	+00:03.49
3rd	46	Zeb Kyffin	Saint Piran		45:18.2	+00:07.08
4th	19	Jack Crook	Richardsons Trek DAS		45:33.2	+00:22.14
5th	5	Rowan Baker	London Dynamo		45:39.1	+00:28.01
6th	82	George Wood	Cycling Sheffield		46:22.1	+01:11.02
7th	28	Jordan Giles	Primera-TeamJobs		46:23.8	+01:12.68
8th	11	Benjamin Bright	Wales Racing Academy		46:25.0	+01:13.86
9th	1	Damien Clayton	Embark Spirit BSS		46:30.8	+01:19.69
10th	73	Angus Stoneham	Zappi Junior Race Team	Y	46:52.9	+01:41.81
11th	32	Finlay Hawker	Zappi Junior Race Team	Y	46:53.4	+01:42.27
12th	49	Conor McGoldrick	Richardsons Trek DAS		46:56.2	+01:45.11
13th	22	Cai Davies	Kalas Motip Race Team		46:57.2	+01:46.08
14th	45	Seth Jones	Backstedt Bike Performance JRT	Y	46:57.4	+01:46.26
15th	55	Chris Opie	Le Col		46:57.6	+01:46.48
16th	8	James Bevan	trainSharp Elite		46:57.8	+01:46.75
17th	54	Cormac Nisbet	Zappi Junior Race Team	Y	46:58.1	+01:46.99
18th	33	Angus Hawkins	Ride Revolution Coaching		46:58.7	+01:47.61
19th	3	Will Auty			46:58.9	+01:47.79
20th	57	Samuel Painter	Embark Spirit BSS		46:59.0	+01:47.94
21st	64	Jack Rebours	trainSharp Elite		46:59.1	+01:47.97
22nd	25	Finn Dunton	trainSharp Development Team		46:59.2	+01:48.08
23rd	18	Matthew Cole	Beeston Cycling Club	Y	46:59.3	+01:48.22
24th	69	Sam Shepherd	05-Mar		46:59.5	+01:48.43
25th	90	Ben Barnett	Team Novo Disc Development		46:59.9	+01:48.77
26th	21	Spencer Davies	Wales Racing Academy		47:00.9	+01:49.80
27th	50	Fred Meredith	Wales Racing Academy		47:01.3	+01:50.25
28th	13	Huw Buck Jones	Wales Racing Academy		47:01.4	+01:50.29
29th	59	Marinus Peterson	Kalas Motip Race Team		47:01.7	+01:50.58
30th	4	Matt Bailey	Ride Revolution Coaching		47:02.2	+01:51.08
31st	83	Isaac Wright	Project 51		47:02.3	+01:51.20
32nd	53	Robin Mould	Foran CCC		47:02.9	+01:51.82
33rd	38	Sam Holwill	trainSharp Development Team		47:03.5	+01:52.46
34th	17	Harry Codd	Cero – Cycle Division Racing Team	Y	47:04.6	+01:53.47
35th	52	Calum Moir	Zappi Junior Race Team	Y	47:04.7	+01:53.57
36th	26	Max Fleming	LAKA Pedal Mafia RT		47:04.7	+01:53.61
37th	43	Will Jewitt	Kalas Motip Race Team		47:04.9	+01:53.81
38th	35	Benjamin Hellebo	Wheelsuckers		47:05.5	+01:54.45
39th	70	George Smith	Primera-TeamJobs		47:06.1	+01:54.99
40th	89	Edward Charles	Backstedt Bike Performance JRT	Y	47:06.2	+01:55.12
41st	20	Jack Cutsforth	SPATZWEAR		47:06.6	+01:55.53
42nd	81	Oliver Winwood Bratchell	Primera-TeamJobs		47:07.0	+01:55.93
43rd	60	Vaughn Pretorius	Team LDN – Brother UK		47:08.3	+01:57.24
44th	75	Rhys Thomas	Backstedt Bike Performance JRT	Y	47:09.7	+01:58.60
45th	71	James Somerfield	TRASH MILE		47:11.5	+02:00.37
46th	42	Dom Jackson	Foran CCC		47:11.8	+02:00.68
47th	29	Joe Griffiths	SCOTT Racing		47:12.3	+02:01.19
48th	85	Theo Anderson	Chippenham & District Whs	Y	47:13.9	+02:02.81
49th	78	Dean Watson	Embark Spirit BSS		47:15.9	+02:04.77
50th	68	Dave Roper	Kalas Motip Race Team		47:16.6	+02:05.53
51st	61	Thomas Price	Reflex Racing		47:20.4	+02:09.31
52nd	58	Alex Paton			47:41.2	+02:30.11
53rd	84	Irfan Zaman	Embark Spirit BSS		47:43.9	+02:32.78
54th	76	Benjamin Tuchner	TEKKERZ CC		48:18.4	+03:07.29
55th	74	Joseph Surmon	University of Bristol CC		52:32.1	+07:21.00
56th	79	Felix Whetter	Mid Devon CC		52:32.6	+07:21.49
57th	65	Daniel Rees	API-Metrow/Bodyby JR		52:34.4	+07:23.33
58th	7	Paul Barnard	Precise Performance RT		52:34.6	+07:23.53
59th	80	Conor Williams	trainSharp Development Team		52:35.5	+07:24.38
60th	47	Isaac Lawrence	05-Mar		52:36.5	+07:25.41
61st	24	Gabriel Dellar	StolenGoat Race Team		53:11.5	+08:00.36
DNF	56	Sebastian Ottley	Racing Club Ravenna		–	–
DNF	34	Danny Hedley	Royal Air Force CA		–	–
DNF	44	Harry Johnson	VC St Raphael		–	–
DNF	6	Luke Barfoot	Primera-TeamJobs		–	–
DNF	14	Max Bufton	Tofauti Everyone Active	Y	–	–
DNF	48	Olivier Mangham	TEKKERZ CC		–	–
DNF	36	Archie Hilder	London Dynamo		–	–
DNF	87	Oscar Pratt	Saint Piran Development		–	–
DNF	39	Matthew Houlberg	Embark Spirit BSS		–	–
DNF	27	Gary Freeman	Orwell Velo		–	–
DNF	2	Fletcher Adams	LAKA Pedal Mafia RT		–	–
DNF	72	Joe Staunton	Primera-TeamJobs		–	–
DNF	41	Oliver Hurdle	StolenGoat Race Team		–	–
DNF	91	Matt Thompson		Y	–	–
DNF	51	George Mitchell	Foran CCC		–	–
DNS	10	Alexander Bosley	CC Plancoet		–	–
DNS	15	Lucas Byam	Kalas Motip Race Team		–	–
DNS	66	Alexandar Richardson	Saint Piran		–	–
DNS	16	Thomas Charles	Team PB Performance		–	–
DNS	30	Zackary Hamon	Big Maggys		–	–
DNS	23	Thomas Day	Primera-TeamJobs		–	–
DNS	86	Richard Todd	Le Col		–	–
DNS	37	Joe Hill	Embark Spirit BSS		–	–
DNS	88	Oliver Masters	Southboro & District Whs	Y	–	–
DNS	40	Dylan Humber-Kelly	Yoeleo Test Team P/B 4MIND		–	–
DNS	77	Jacob Vaughan	Saint Piran		–	–
DNS	63	Thomas Quaid	Foran CCC		–	–
DNS	12	James Brown	University of Bristol CC		–	–
DNS	62	Milo Purvis	Paceline RT		–	–
DNS	31	Tyler Hannay	CC Etupes		–	–

Huge thanks to Anna McEwen for helping to convert the results into a format we could use for the website!