This victory took place among a large turnout of 40 riders for the Inverse Winter series at Hillingdon on Saturday, to be greeted by a drying track, light wind and some rays of sunshine breaking through the clouds. Redhill's Cat 3 team consisted of... well, just the two guys above again... Ryan and Brian.
With a larger field, the RCC race tactics were relatively simple; cover any breaks through the race and then work hard into the last few laps to set Ryan up for the sprint. After last week's performance, Brian was on great form and looking to put more hard work in for the club. Ryan, on the back of two SERRL league wins, was looking for the hatrick and ten more points to make Cat 2.
The race would be ridden on the clockwise loop, categorised with two short climbs and a pan flat, boulevard style finishing straight of around 350 metres in length. From the gun, attacks were going off left right and centre, as riders tried to form some breaks or to test their legs. After a few attempts to form a break, the Redhill team decided that nothing was going to get away from the pack so early on, so they focused on controlling the pace to keep the bunch together; all according to plan.
As the race progressed, Ryan and Brian were called on to pull back some dangerous looking breaks, but nothing was strong enough to build a decent gap, so after a few more attempts from opposition riders, the 5 laps to go board went up and the team began to put their plan into action.
Sitting mid-pack, Ryan safely on Brian's wheel, the pace started to go up as riders made some last ditch attempts to get away. Going into the last lap, the pack started to vortex around the redhill boys,with riders trying to move up. Brian saw what needed to be done, and put in a big effort to pilot Ryan to the front of the field. With half a lap left, Brian hit the gas, lifting the pace to over 50kph to string the bunch out. coming around the last bend, Brian's legs finally began to tire. From 350 metres out, a rider attacked from Ryan's wheel, forcing him to start his sprint early. with a strong kick, the pace ramped up, with Mssr Visser hitting some 60kph as he crossed the line a bike length ahead of the second place rider and four bike lengths ahead of the chasing pack.
Another great win for Redhill CC, three in a row, and another great example of teamwork and solid race planning, backed up with a superb performance from Brian H and another long sprint from Ryan.
Ryan going for three in three