Dexter Leeming-Sykes completed his recovery almost a year on from breaking his back as he took victory in the North West, North East, and Yorkshire Regional Road Race Championship for Wheelbase CabTech Castelli, edging out Kendal Cycle Club’s Henry Hunter in an almost dead heat.
Report
Appropriately for the second day of Summer, rain blowing in across from the nearby Lake District gave the Calthwaite circuit a decent covering of water but with the temperatures relatively high the road dried out pretty quickly aside from patches covered in the shade of the numerous overhanging trees.
Into that, add in a strong cross-wind that was blowing riders towards the left-hand edge on the start/finish straight and then to the opposite side on the long run from Calthwaite village up the back straight that shadowed the parallel M6.
No wonder, then, that the peloton just took it cautiously for the first two of 10 laps as the peloton felt out their competition and spy any potential weaknesses in their opposition.
It wasn’t long before 360 Cycling’s pre-race plan of attacking from the front started to play out. First, Daniel Saba launched a solo break, but as the race ticked down to seven laps to go he was reeled back into an active peloton.
Things didn’t stay static for long, as one 360 Cycling rider swapped for another. Heading down the rapid descend into Calthwaite, Xavier Teece-Round launched an audacious attack of his own – stringing out the chasing peloton behind.
His move lasted for a lap – stretching out a lead of 15 seconds at its peak – before getting pulled back into the group. No surprise, though, that yet another of the squad punched out at the front along the rolling back-straight at the halfway point of the race.
This rider was Jake Edwards and having gone solo initially, he found himself in some handy company with four laps remaining as he was joined by teammate Maxwell Hereward and Henry Hunter – using a bit of local knowledge to his advantage.
With the break growing to 21 seconds, the effort of pulling in the gap fell to Moonglu SpatzWear. The team were the best represented in the race, but never managed to get a member of the pink-and-black squad into a break throughout the race. Instead, they were stuck in chase duty.
Three laps to go and, thanks in large part to Moonglu’s efforts, the race came back together. But the team were still not able to launch a move and instead yet another trio of three went up the road. Heading into the last lap, the move – featuring Oliver Sergeant (Prologue Racing Team), Elliot Bain (Team PB Performance), and Oliver Halliday (Private Member) – was more out of hope than anything else.
The peloton was active behind and it was no surprise that the three out front found themselves reeled back in as the field rounded the fourth and final corner and headed into the long final straight.
Having that long, winding, road to the finish allowed you to see the sprint unfold without any obstruction. Breaking clear of the front, Leeming-Sykes and Hunter launched so early, but with energy levels dipping their attack had few followers. The one rider who ran them relatively close was George Safranauskas (360 Cycling) but he didn’t have the legs to make the two-up sprint into a three-up.
Closing in on the chequered flag it was too close to call, only a video replay on the officials’ finish line cameras could confirm that the Wheelbase rider capped a rollercoaster 12 months since breaking his back last July with a victory and the Yorkshire title.
Hunter was desperately unlucky to only be second but did take the North West regional crown, while Halliday – eventually seventh – claimed the glory in the North East division.
Results
| Pos | Rider | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dexter Leeming-Sykes | Wheelbase CabTech Castelli | +60 |
| 2 | Henry Hunter | Kendal Cycle Club | +52 |
| 3 | George Safranauskas | 360 cycling | +45 |
| 4 | Oliver Sergeant | Prologue Racing Team | +40 |
| 5 | Elliot Bain | Team PB Performance | +35 |
| 6 | Maxwell Hereward | 360 cycling | +31 |
| 7 | Oliver Halliday | Private Member | +27 |
| 8 | Jack Hartley | Moonglu SpatzWear | +23 |
| 9 | Jake Edwards | 360 cycling | +20 |
| 10 | Sam Kettlewell | TAAP Kalas | +17 |
| 11 | Sam Barbour | Cycling Sheffield | +15 |
| 12 | Joseph Beckingsale | Spectra Racing | +13 |
| 13 | Alexander Foster | Cycling Sheffield | +11 |
| 14 | Jack Lucas | Spectrum Racing | +9 |
| 15 | James Sawyers | Cycling Sheffield | +7 |
| 16 | Matthew Webster | Dolan Factory Racing | +6 |
| 17 | Ben Mewes | Moonglu SpatzWear | +5 |
| 18 | John Bardsley | 360 cycling | +3 |
| 19 | Jonny Britton | Moonglu SpatzWear | +2 |
| 20 | Joel Hurt | Moonglu SpatzWear | +1 |
| 21 | Joseph Wright | Wolf Cycles | +0 |
| 22 | Andrew Hawdon | Private Member | +0 |
| 23 | Ed Hindmarsh | Wolf Cycles | +0 |
| 24 | Archie Fletcher | 360 cycling | +0 |
| 25 | Euan Cameron | Optimum Coaching | +0 |
| 26 | Tom Lowe | Spectrum Racing | +0 |
| 27 | Nathan Smith | Cycling Sheffield | +0 |
| 28 | Ben Gibson | Team PB Performance | +0 |
| 29 | Conor McKinnon | Moonglu SpatzWear | +0 |
| 30 | Michael Chadwick | Doncaster Wheelers CC | +0 |
| 31 | William Taylor | Moonglu SpatzWear | +0 |
| 32 | Oliver Dawson | Team Hopplà | +0 |
| 33 | Xavier Teece-Round | 360 cycling | +0 |
| 34 | William Dykes | Vanelli-Project Go | +0 |
| 35 | Will Thompson | Spectrum Racing | +0 |
| 🚫 DNS | Ross Birrell | Moonglu SpatzWear | 0 |
| ⚠️ DNF | Richard Butler | Giant Kendal-Sidas Uk | 0 |
| 🚫 DNS | Borey Cenfield | Spectrum Racing | 0 |
| 🚫 DNS | Tyler Clare | Torvelo Racing | 0 |
| ⚠️ DNF | James Claydon | Tactic Sport UK Race Team | 0 |
| ⚠️ DNF | Russell Crowley | Addform-Vive Le Velo | 0 |
| ⚠️ DNF | Jude Davison | Cog Set Papyrus Racing Club | 0 |
| ⚠️ DNF | Denholm Edwards | Cycling Sheffield | 0 |
| ⚠️ DNF | Blain Ewing | Velo Club Cumbria | 0 |
| ⚠️ DNF | Alexander Foster | Wolf Cycles | 0 |
| ⚠️ DNF | Michael Fowler | Team Ciara Cycling | 0 |
| 🚫 DNS | Elliot Fraser | 360 cycling | 0 |
| ⚠️ DNF | Ben Harrison | Spectrum Racing | 0 |
| 🚫 DNS | Charles Harrison | Private Member | 0 |
| ⚠️ DNF | Matthew Jones | Spectrum Racing | 0 |
| ⚠️ DNF | Daniel Kendall | Wolf Cycles | 0 |
| ⚠️ DNF | James Parkin | Wolf Cycles | 0 |
| 🚫 DNS | Chris Peareth | Zurbaran Racing | 0 |
| ⚠️ DNF | Ben Pease | Moonglu SpatzWear | 0 |
| ⚠️ DNF | Emil Petrov | Border City Wheelers CC | 0 |
| ⚠️ DNF | Bryan Pool | Border City Wheelers CC | 0 |
| ⚠️ DNF | Daniel Saba | 360 cycling | 0 |
| 🚫 DNS | Liam Scott Douglas | JG Cycles CC | 0 |
| ⚠️ DNF | Aaron Shepherd | Manchester Bicycle Club | 0 |
| ⚠️ DNF | Chris Sherriffs | Shibden Cycling Club | 0 |
| 🚫 DNS | Harvey Stroh | TAAP Kalas | 0 |
| ⚠️ DNF | Craig Summersgill | Wolf Cycles | 0 |
| 🚫 DNS | Jem Tokdemir | Spectrum Racing | 0 |
| ⚠️ DNF | Reuben Trotter | Private Member | 0 |
| ⚠️ DNF | Jack Unsworth | Giant Kendal-Sidas Uk | 0 |
| 🚫 DNS | Matthew Warhurst | Defined Cycling Team | 0 |
| ⚠️ DNF | Robert Watson | Paceline Cycles North | 0 |
| ⚠️ DNF | Rafe Williams | Team Judge Tyrekey | 0 |
| ⚠️ DNF | Jonathan Wilson | Velo Club Cumbria | 0 |
| ⚠️ DNF | Louie Wilson | Reifen Racing | 0 |
