Clayton Spring Classic: report and results

Saint Piran continued their fine start to the season, with Tyler Hannay adding his name to the illustrious list of winners of the Clayton Spring Classic. 

Hannay attacked out of the then leading group halfway through the 15-lap race with fellow second category rider John Bardsley (360cycling). The pair built an advantage close to two minutes at one point, before being caught in the final kilometre by Logan Maclean (Project1) and Tom Martin (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli), who bridged across the gap late on, against the odds.  

20-year-old Hannay had enough left to power up the finishing straight to take victory, outpacing a tired Maclean and Martin, with Bardsley finishing 4th.

“It was really hard. It’s the first race of the season, it’s really nice to get a win under my belt. It’s been a long winter, it was just nice to see how the legs fared, it was great really,” Hannay told The British Continental at the finish. 

Fetaured Image: Joe Hudson

Report

Racing under a handicap format, Hannay, who won a time trial in the area the day before, was the star attraction in a large group of second category riders, who started four minutes ahead of a small group containing the first category and elites.  

The Manxman helped set a hard pace at the head of the race as they caught the groups that had started before them on the sixth lap, former winner Si Wilson (HUUB WattShop) one of the aggressors determined to whittle down the numbers. With the race settling down after some of the caught riders struggled to keep pace, rouleur Hannay made his move off the front on the 8th lap, Bardsley the only man to follow. 

Hannay and Bardsley dug in hard, and after 10 of the fifteen laps, the pair held an advantage of 1m40s to a small but dysfunctional chasing group, now composed of riders of all categories after the race had come together a lap previously. 

It was on the following tour Martin and Maclean made their move, shadowed by first year junior Isaac Oliver (Harrogate Nova Race Team), who had survived being caught by both groups starting behind to now play a leading role in proceedings. 

The win was looking increasingly like it would be coming from either Hannay or Bardsley; the pair working well together despite Hannay starting to show small signs of fatigue, the Saint Piran rider rocking his shoulders on the rolling uphills. The chase from the three riders behind was making ground, but it seemed an unlikely outcome for them to pull it off. 

Dylan Westley (USKIS Saint Piran) was unable to replicate his form from the Portsdown Classic two weeks ago and found himself jettisoned from the peloton as more riders tried their hand at going clear.

With the bell signalling the start of the final lap, the race was set for a showdown finish – no more than 20 seconds separated the leaders from a charging Logan Maclean and Tom Martin, the pair’s ferocious chase dropping the brave Isaac Oliver. Out of the peloton a group of four had gone clear including Alex Luhrs and Ben Etherington (Beeston Cycling Club).

Having completed the catch with just under one kilometre to race, it was a tactical battle for the win between Hannay, a suffering Bardsley, Maclean and Martin; the latter pair in the red after their terrific chase against the odds. Saint Piran’s Hannay kept the pace high, leading out the uphill sprint with a burst of power to take the victory from Maclean and Martin, with the impressive Bardsley slightly distanced in 4th. Luhrs won the sprint for 5th from the next group of four to cross the line.

“I backed myself in the sprint. I knew they would be redlined,” said Hannay reflecting on his win. “One lad followed me and it was just heads down. With 4 to go we had 40 seconds. From trying to win the race, it was just trying to stay away. I tried to hit out a couple of times, but that lad had a big engine, he kept hanging on to me.”

Second placed Logan Maclean, making his debut for the new Project1 Elite Development Team was pleased with his start to the season, if a little frustrated at the way the race panned out. 

He told The British Continental: “It was a hard race. It’s hard starting in that last group because inevitably after a few laps the boys stop working, so I knew I had to just go by myself or with others. 

“It’s frustrating because we had a lot of time to make up on Tyler [Hannay] and we couldn’t finish it off in the end. We [Maclean and Martin] worked really well together, just through and off because it had to be! We caught them with 800m to go, but it just wasn’t enough time to let my legs rest and go again for the sprint. It’s frustrating, but it was too big a gap, but I’m happy to take 2nd.”

Tom Martin, reflecting on the chase with Maclean, added: “There weren’t that many of us in the last group, maybe 8, it made it pretty difficult. We both said to each other: we’ll start racing when we get there. We caught the front of the race in the last kilometre, but we pretty much chased that four-minute gap on our own.”

Results

Position	Name		Team	Cat
1	Tyler Hannay		Saint Piran	2nd
2	Logan Maclean		PROJECT 1 Cycling Team	1st
3	Tom Martin		Wheelbase CabTech Castelli	1st
4	John Bardsley		360cycling	2nd
5	Alex Luhrs			1st
6	Ben Etherington		HUUB BCC Race Team	2nd
7	Huw Owen		Clwb Beicio Egni Eryri	2nd
8	Matthew Ellmore		Prologue Racing Team	3rd
9	Isaac Oliver		Harrogate Nova Race Team	3rd
10	Simon Wilson		HUUB WattShop	2nd
11	Aidan Holgate		The Green Jersey CC	3rd
12	Louis Herring		Harrogate Nova Race Team	3rd
13	Metheven Bond		Ribble Collective	3rd
14	Cai Curtis-Roberts		360cycling	2nd
15	Daniel Kemp		Clifton CC	3rd
16	Zack Miles		Otley CC	3rd
17	Matthew Morris		Wigan Wheelers CC	4th
18	James Beagley		Prologue Racing Team	3rd
19	Karl Smith			3rd
20	Corey Benfield		Spectrum Racing	2nd
21	Alex Hodgkins		Otley CC	3rd
22	Jonny Britton		Moonglu Race Team	2nd
23	Dylan Westley			Elite
24	William Taylor		Moonglu Race Team	2nd
25	Maxwell Hereward		360cycling	1st
26	Matti Dobbins		Wheelbase CabTech Castelli	1st
27	Ben Mewes		Moonglu Race Team	1st
28	Conor McKinnon		Dolan Ellesse Race Team	2nd
29	Matthew Jones		Spectrum Racing	2nd
30	Nathan Smith		Prologue Racing Team	2nd
31	Jack Lucas		A.Fawcett Racing	2nd
32	Sam Kettlewell		Spirit TBW Stuart Hall Cycling	1st
33	Joe Boothroyd		Giant Kendal-Sidas Uk	2nd
34	Tristan Pilling		360cycling	2nd
35	Sam Watson		Hope Factory Racing	3rd
36	Xavier Teece-Round		trainSharp Development Team	2nd
37	Damien Clayton		Le Col Race Team	Elite
38	Matilda McKibben		Doltcini – OShea	2nd
39	Megan Lloyd		Harry Middleton Cycling Club	3rd
40	Harry Hudson		Harrogate Nova Race Team	3rd
41	David Hill		Giant Kendal-Sidas UK	3rd
No position recorded	Dan Eastham		Cog Set Papyrus Racing Club	2nd
No position recorded	Lindsay Toy		Doltcini – Cycle Division	2nd
No position recorded	Zak Machin		HUUB BCC Race Team	1st
No position recorded	James Claydon		Tactic Sport UK Race Team	2nd
No position recorded	Harrison Dainty		Fensham Howes – MAS Design	2nd
No position recorded	Simon Deplitch		Tactic Sport UK Race Team	2nd
No position recorded	Ewan Dowes		Aerologic RT	2nd
No position recorded	Alexander Foster		Cycling Sheffield	2nd
No position recorded	Joshua Horsfield		Mud Dock Racing	2nd
No position recorded	Bryn Lawrence		U.C. Casano	2nd
No position recorded	James Luxton		Otley CC	2nd
No position recorded	Kevin Moore		Paceline Cycles North	2nd
No position recorded	Carl Potter		Tactic Sport UK Race Team	2nd
No position recorded	Tom Barras		SPATZWEAR	3rd
No position recorded	Steffan Hunt		Rhyl Cycling Club	3rd
No position recorded	Trayden Jarrett		Saxun-Extrusax-Primoti	3rd
No position recorded	Declan Oldham		Hope Tech Factory Racing	3rd
No position recorded	Alexander Sutton		360cycling	3rd
No position recorded	Aidan Worden		360cycling	3rd
No position recorded	Arthur Yates		Dolan Ellesse Race Team	4th
No position recorded	Robin Godden		Hope Factory Racing	3rd
No position recorded	Ben Huddart		Lancashire Road Club	3rd
No position recorded	Joseph Wright		Wolf Cycles	3rd
No position recorded	Daniel Kendall		Wolf Cycles	3rd
No position recorded	Craig Summersgill		Wolf Cycles	3rd
DNF	Hamish Graham			2nd
DNF	Harvey Stroh		TAAP Kalas	1st
DNF	Ben Pease		Moonglu Race Team	Elite
DNF	Ben Wiggins		Fensham Howes – MAS Design	Elite
DNF	Euan Cameron		A.Fawcett Racing	2nd
DNF	James Parkin		Wolf Cycles	2nd
DNF	Edgars Sisejevs		Spectrum Racing	2nd
DNF	Carl Stubbs		Moonglu Race Team	2nd
DNF	Will Thompson		A.Fawcett Racing	2nd
DNF	Sean McGovern			3rd
DNF	Adam Baines		Hoppers Rollers	3rd
DNF	Edward Moss		Giant Kendal-Sidas Uk	3rd
DNF	Grant Walder		Crawley Wheelers	3rd
DNF	Paul Thursfield		Graham Weigh Racing	3rd
DNF	Nicholas Pilling		Hope Tech Factory Racing	3rd