Brothers’ best to seal double gold
The Askey family were toasting a double success in the West Midlands Cyclo-Cross Championships.
Cannock siblings Lewis and Ben both tasted victory in their respective categories in the first staging of the event.
Lewis, 16, took the main prize on the day when he held off Lichfield City rider Toby Barnes to claim the spoils in the senior men’s race.
And Ben (RST Racing Team) followed in his brother’s footsteps when powering to glory in the final two laps of the under-14s race.
Team Backstedt/Hotchillee rider Lewis was delighted with his victory after edging out fellow junior rider Barnes on the fast Top Barn circuit, near Worcester.
From the outset, the two traded blows as their rivals behind faded away. With three laps of the nine remaining, Lewis attacked and pulled out an 11-second lead as he looked bound to take the victory.
However, Barnes responded on the final two laps and reeled cut the deficit back to five seconds by the finish.
“It was a tough course with a strong wind going straight across and there was no covering with trees on anything,” said Lewis.
“It was brutal, I didn’t feel great and Toby was going well so I thought I would have to push on in the mid-part which is when I got that break.
“Normally Toby drops off then, but on this occasion he was clawing me back and it was tough all the way to the finish.
“I was sprinting all the way to the finish line but it’s good for pushing you and making me get better.”
Lewis had suffered bad luck in his previous outing in the fourth round of the National Trophy after a crash while in the leading group dashed his chances of victory.
He added: “It was frustrating as I had really good legs, was in the right position and the course suited me. Then coming into the steps I was hopping too fast and managed to write off a frame, so it wasn’t the best.”
An exciting day’s racing saw Stourbridge CC’s Amanda Whitehouse take third place in the women’s veterans race behind Isla Rowntree and Karen Summers.
One of the closest races came in the youth event, with Lichfield City CC trio Daniel Barnes, Emile Alexander and Matthew Kingston grouped together on the fast course.
With two of the five laps remaining, Barnes edged out a gap which grew to seven seconds by the finish ahead of Alexander and Kingston in third.
After taking victory in the National Trophy, under-14 rider Grace Lister (Wolverhampton Wheelers) was crowned West Midlands champion after winning the girls’ race.
She managed to gap first under-16 Lucy Hart (Mid Shropshire Wheelers) in the latter stages of the race.
Halesowen A&CC rider Rose Lewis took the honours in the girls’ under-10 contest.
