Neil White Memorial Pursuit RR
Mar-2000
| SCRATCH trio Chris Newton, Phil West and Ian Hellawell were firmly in control to pull off a Middridge CRT clean sweep of the top three places in Sunday's Neil White Memorial Pursuit on the Newby-Seamer circuit near Middlesbrough. The longmarkers were given 6-10 on Newton's group over the five laps of a nine-mile circuit, with the first and second-category riders going off 1-30 in front of the elite scratchmen. With Newton doing much of the driving on roads which he regularly uses for training, the back three were soon eating into the deficit as they covered the opening lap in 20 minutes. The first and second-category riders caught the big group of third and fourth cats just before the end of the second circuit, with first-category man Kevin Brennan (Dinnington RC), who now lives at Darlington, taking the prime at the start/finish line. It was not long after that the three backmarkers got up, and three miles into the third lap Newton rode clear by himself, never to, be seen again. First West and then Hellawell followed, and that was the finishing order as Newton stretched out his lead to 2-45 by the finish. Kevin Brennan took the sprint for fourth place from Ronnie Batey (VC Azzurri), Colin Ash (Knaresborough RT) and Richard King (Ferryhill Wheelers). A notable non-starter in the Hartlepool CC race was former professional Arthur Metcalfe, who had planned to make his comeback to racing at the age of 61. Metcalfe, who lives in Harrogate, suffered a broken hip when he crashed on a descent while out training near Pool-inWharfedale, Yorkshire. 1. Chris Newton (Middridge CRT) 72km in 1-42-45 |