West Drayton trio produce a clean sweep

MOUNTAIN BIKING

WEST Drayton Mountain Bike Club’s oldest racers stole the show at the Exposure Night of the Knobbly Tread recently.

The host club’s trio of Simon Slater, Clive Evans and Richard Nash produced a podium clean sweep in the Grand Vets race at the annual event staged at the ever popular Black Park.

Slater escaped the clutches of his club-mates to record his first race win of the year, leaving Evans to pip Nash for the runners-up spot.

West Drayton also came close to top prize in the night’s main event too, where Paul Miller and Sam Edwards duelled at the front with Simon Ernest from the Rendale/ Cannondale club.

This trio pulled clear of the rest, constantly passing and re-passing throughout the five-lap race, but at the end it was Ernest by a whisker from Miller and Edwards in a blanket finish.

In the women’s open, West Drayton’s Charlotte Cumming was hoping familiarity with the track would give her the edge over Southdown Velo’s Fay Cripps, but the latter pulled away a little on each lap, meaning Cumming had to settle for second.

And it was a similar story for Sean Scott in the men’s vets as he lost out to regular Black Park racer Matt Craner of Beyond MTB by just three seconds in the race to the line.

Meanwhile, in the fun categories, West Drayton scored a one-two in the ladies event with Gosia McPherson taking the honours ahead of Sue Tebbs, while the men’s race saw Marcin Kunecki having to finally give way to Marco Jardim of Demo CCL.