Currie wins road race league as race season nears finale

There was a field of 22 riders and they went off in three groups, two minutes apart with an overall four minutes handicap. This year’s event saw the riders assemble at Glarryford from where they rode to the start at Dunminning.

They then raced up the Killycowan road, in the opposite direction to what has been the traditional route. At the top of the hill it was a left turn on to Carclinty road and then another left on to Duneoin road before another left and out on to Dunminning road and on to complete the circuit at Dunminning cross roads. The circuit distance was 5.2 miles per lap; four laps were to be completed with the riders going straight through at Dunminning on the final lap to finish at the “usual” finish line at Glarryford.

The scratch group made up their starting handicap on lap three and this big group then stayed together on the last lap. As the race approached Glarryford Ryan Shaw made a brave bid to break clear but he was re-caught. Another junior, Connor Young, also made a bid for victory but he too was re-caught.

It was veteran rider Chris Beattie who then emerged as the winner after he put in a late attack which saw him sprint from what seemed like an awful long way out. This was Chris’ second win in the club series; he also won the club’s road race championship, for the Sammy Connor cup, at Broughshane.

Chris explains his tactics “I had to close down Connor Young as he was only one point behind me in the league and I wanted to at least hold on to my second place. When I caught him I went straight past and kept in going for a long effort before the sprint started. I managed to hold off the group and maximised my points on the night. However Ryan Currie was there and finished strongly in fifth place to stay ahead of me in the league”

Results (1)Chris Beattie 62 minutes 32 seconds (2)Ryan Bankhead (3)Connor Young (4)Quinton McFall (5)Ryan Currie (6)Martin Ruddy (7)Michael Carroll (Bann Valley) (8)Tommy Wilson (9)Peter Smyth (10)Alan Blair (11) Karl Taylor (12) Brian Geddis (13)Liam O’Connor (Bann Valley) (14) Simon Taggart (15) J McCroary (Bann Wheelers) (16)Ryan Shaw all same time as winner (17) Stephen Smyth (18) Emma Smyth.

SANDY SPENCE CUP

The one lap, seven miles, youth race saw Breandan McCavana win his first race when he made the most of his starting handicap to stay clear of George Graham to win by 45 seconds in a time of 21 minutes 18 seconds. Emma Gordon was third at 3 minutes 20 seconds.

LEAGUE WIN FOR CURRIE

Ryan Currie has won the 2012 Ballymena Road Club road racing league series, for the William Smyth cup, following last Wednesday’s final round event at Glarryford.

Ryan, who won the Star Trophy GP of the glens road race and was second in three races, including, round one’s H&M Wilson cup race at Slaght; the A Bonar cup at Broughshane and the short circuit road race at Randalstown, amassed a winning total of 51 points. Chris Beattie, who won the final round’s Will Henry cup at Glarryford and the Sammy Connor cup at Broughshane was just two points behind on 49 points. Connor Young, who collected maximum points at Clough finished third on 46 points.

Nigel Kernohan won two rounds; The A Bonar cup and the Randalstown short circuit scored 34 points and finished fourth. Tommy Wilson, although without a win, also scored consistently and also amassed 34 points. (6) Clifford Grant 31 points (7) Quinton McFall 30 (8) Ryan Shaw 27 (9) Ryan Bankhead 25 (10) equal Alan Blair and Matthew Brennan 21 points each (12) Sean Wright 11 points (13) Peter Smyth 10 points (14) Richard Reid 9 points (15) Martin Ruddy 8 points. Twenty two riders registered a score during the series.