Report by Julian Freeman
Warm, sunny but windy conditions greeted the riders as five of the Rocko road race team comprising Pete Bradshaw, Ben Spiers, Sam Woodfield, Peter Kucak, Julian Freeman, took to the start line for ten laps of a circuit that included 11 times up the hard but fast climb to Southwick water tower.
With good conditions and a motivated field it was a quick race from the start with laps being run off at around 25.5 mph, over the course of the race a few attempts were made to get breaks going including a strong group including Pete Bradshaw which stayed away for over half a lap. Eventually two riders sneaked away and as the bunch struggled to get a chase organised another rider surged away. These three riders did well to stay away to the finish given the windy conditions.
With just 7 top 10 places left up for grabs the bunch exploded up the final ascent of the hill to the finish line with Pete Bradshaw in the mix at the line taking a great 8th place, with Sam Woodfield and Julian Freeman not far behind in 12th and 18th places respectively. Ben Spiers and Peter Kucak both finished strongly and well inside the top 30 after working hard all race.
With good conditions and a motivated field it was a quick race from the start with laps being run off at around 25.5 mph, over the course of the race a few attempts were made to get breaks going including a strong group including Pete Bradshaw which stayed away for over half a lap. Eventually two riders sneaked away and as the bunch struggled to get a chase organised another rider surged away. These three riders did well to stay away to the finish given the windy conditions.
With just 7 top 10 places left up for grabs the bunch exploded up the final ascent of the hill to the finish line with Pete Bradshaw in the mix at the line taking a great 8th place, with Sam Woodfield and Julian Freeman not far behind in 12th and 18th places respectively. Ben Spiers and Peter Kucak both finished strongly and well inside the top 30 after working hard all race.