Record fourth win for Curran

FORMER Commonwealth gold medallist Paul Curran maintained his impressive record with a fourth consecutive victory in the On the Edge two-day race promoted by Concorde RCC at Shuttington, Warwickshire.

The Concorde event, sponsored by local motorcycle accessory business On the Edge, carried a prize list of more than £1,100. Ramsbottom won the Apex Cycles King of the Sprints competition from Curran and Lovatt, but Lovatt picked up the most aggressive rider award and the best second category rider prize went to Jonny Towers (Tunstall Wheelers), the only second cat to finish.

Stage 1 TT

The Optimum Performance RT rider has been the only overall winner of the event since its inception in 1992, but he did not quite have it all his own way this year, being beaten for the first time in the 1.8-mile prologue time trial.

However, honours were kept in the Optimum camp when Wayne Randle was fastest in 3-45, leaving Jeff Wright (North East RT) and Paul Manning (North Wirral Velo) to share second place, five seconds down.

1. Wayne Randle (Optimum Performance RT-Power Bar) 3 45
2. J. Wright (North East RT) 3 50
3. R Manning (N Wirral Velo) 3 50
4. S. Dangerfield (Leo RC) 3 51
5. P. Curran (Optimum Performance RT) 3 52
6. J. Ramsbottom (N Wirral Velo) 3 52

Stage 2

Paul Spencer (East Midlands Centre of Excellence) won the opening 50-mile road stage when he outsprinted Curran and Randle, with Roy Chamberlain (De Montfort University) leading in fellow chasers Lee Davis (Team Energy) and Phil Wilkins (East Midlands Centre), 26 seconds down.

The stage started with a flurry of activity with Spencer, Curran and Randle going virtually from the gun.

Pressure from North Wirral Velo caused the bunch to split at half distance, with Pete Longbottom and Julian Ramsbottom doing much of the damage and Jeff Wright, Gary Thomas (Leek CC) and Ian Gilkes (Wembley RC) also prominent.

Ramsbottom, after narrowly avoiding being brought down in a crash, was unlucky to puncture with just over a lap to go.

Randle was clearly beginning to suffer over the last 15-mile lap but managed to stay with Curran and Spencer, and in the final uphill sprint, in torrential rain, Spencer outwitted the two Optimum riders for a well-judged stage win.

Randle kept his overall lead by five seconds from Curran.

1. Paul Spencer (E Midlands Centre of Exc) 50m in 2-14-30
2. P. Curran
3. W. Randle both st
4. R. Chamberlain (De Montfort Univ) at 26sec
5. L. Davis (Team Energy)
6. P Wilkins (E Midlands Centre of Exc) both st.

Stage 3

Jeff Wright won the final 82-mile stage in a four-up sprint from Ramsbottom, Mark Lovatt (Optimum Performance) and Curran.

Lovatt and Ramsbottom were active in a break of six which gained 1-40 within the first 15 miles. This again split the bunch, with Randle caught napping in the wrong half but Curran using all his experience to move forward to join a chasing group containing Wright, Longbottom, Davis and Gilkes.

Randle, realising he was fighting a lost cause, climbed off at half distance, and the break was caught by the Curran group with three laps to go.

The race winning move came from this group, with Ramsbottom and Optimum pair Kevin Dawson and Mark Lovatt moving ahead to be joined by Curran and Wright.

Dawson was dropped with a lap to go, and Curran, safe in the knowledge that overall victory was his, was content to come in at the back of the leading quartet.

Curran ended with 59 seconds to spare over Wright, with Lovatt in third place a further 14 seconds down.

1. Jeff Wright (North East RT-Hardisty) 82m in 3-10-46
2. J. Ramsbottom (N Wirral Velo)
3. M. Lovatt (Optimum Performance RT)
4. P. Curran (Optimum Performance RT) all st
5. I. Gilkes (Wembley RC) at 56sec
6. P Wilkins at 1-05.

Final Overall

1. Paul Curran (Optimum Performance RT-Power Bar) 5-29-05
2. Wright at 59sec
3. Lovatt at 1-13
4. Wilkins at 1-44
5. Davis at 1-53
6. D. Williams at 2-23
7. Gilkes at 3-09
8. P. Longbottom (N Wirral Velo) at 3-10
9. K. Dawson (Optimum Performance RT) at 5-11
10. Ramsbottom at 7-24.