LINCOLN GRAND PRIX

Optimum's storming performance

Only 10 riders finished a gale-hit Lincoln GP, where Optimum Performance's Kevin Dawson took his first Premier Calendar success in a race dominated by his team.

OPTIMUM Performance RT scored a tactical triumph in Sunday's Lincoln Grand Prix. Only 10 riders completed the 102 wind-lashed miles, and four of them were in Optimum colours.

Former British best all-rounder Kevin Dawson led the Optimum charge, gaining his first Premier Calendar victory after a late lone attack from the leading break.

Second across the hill-top fin-ish line in the shadow of Lincoln Castle was his team-mate and tactical mastermind Paul Curran, who relegated Joe Bayfield (Controlware RT) to third place.

US-based Brian Smith (Team Plymouth) - who had shared the decisive breakaway with Dawson, Curran and Bayfield - came home fourth, despite suffering with a chest infection.

Best of the rest was Ben Wilson (Irish Heritage CC), who claimed fifth place after starting the may-hem that had ripped the field apart some four hours earlier, and went away for a short while mid-race. Optimum's Mark Lovatt completed the top six, finishing at 3-43. Lovatt was the last rider in contention, for the other four survivors were a massive 14-23 in arrears.

The 41st VC Lincoln promo-tion, supported by Lincoln City Council, was hit by date clashes with the Peace Race, the MTB Tour of Britain and national 10-mile time trial championship. There was also a depressingly long list of non-starters. The 21 who failed to appear included Malcolm Elliott - no reason given - and Rod Ellingworth, who was ill, also former winner John Charlesworth, Wayne Randle, Gary Speight and Gary Baker.

It was a depleted peloton of 61 riders that rolled out of Yarborough Sports Centre to tackle 13 laps of the 8.5-mile circuit. In addition to the usual hazards of the one-in-six cobbled climb of Michaelgate and the precipitous descent through Burton village, the riders faced gale-force winds that raked most of the course. The flat but exposed A57 was almost as tough a trial as Michaelgate thanks to the gale that intensified as the day wore on.

After only 10 miles, three-quarters of the field was already out of contention. Ben Wilson did the damage. Second time up Castle Hill he attacked, splitting the pelo-ton. Fifteen riders went clear, and although the bunch split apart under the pressure of the pursuit, the 15 were destined to stay away.

Optimum Performance domi-nated the break with Dawson, Curran, Lovatt and Drew Wilson all in there. Also in the decisive move were Bayfield, Craig Gillman (Mid-Devon CC), Smith, Ben Wilson, Rob Holden (Gill Airways-Peugeot), Tim Hall (Ambrosia), Mark Wordsworth (Dinnington RC), Jim Eyre (Maltby CC), Martin Ford (Team Stonefield), Scott Gamble (Ashfield RC) and Steve Higgins (CC Giro).

With Optimum Performance driving the break, the race was soon spread over five minutes and by half distance only 36 were still riding, as 16 riders were pulled out by commissaires when more than two minutes down on what remained of the bunch.

The sixth climb of Castle Hill was the signal for Holden and Wilson to turn on the pressure at the front. Through the old city and then the main road descent to Burton they stayed clear. Optimum missed the move but Dawson quickly crossed to the two leaders, together with Bayfield and Smith.

Curran and Lovatt were deter-mined to join the five escapees and the speed of their chase caused Gamble, Wordsworth and Eyre to slip off the back.

Finally, with 60 miles covered, Curran, Lovatt and Gillman bridged the gap to the leaders, completing an eight-man group that contained three Optimum men.

The eighth ascent to Castle Square proved too much for Holden who dropped back to the second group on the road, some 90 seconds down.

With three laps to go Curran went on the attack with the aim of blunting Bayfield's sprint. The ex-Commonwealth champion was irrepressible, forcing Bayfield to chase him down time and again.

And still the race of attrition continued. The 10th climb of Castle Hill saw Dawson, Smith and Bayfield go clear, soon to be joined by Curran. These were the four who would contest the finish. Next time up the climb Curran, chasing his fifth Lincoln win, stormed clear. But as they passed under Newport Arch he realised that sprinter Bayfield was on his wheel and eased allow-ing the quartet to come together again.

Another 15 tail-enders were black-flagged for being too far in arrears, leading commissaire Willi Tarran to point out, 'Now we've got more officials than rid-ers in this race!'

With rain adding to the riders' troubles, the leaders hit the exposed A57 for the last time. There were around

four miles to go when Dawson eased his way off the front. Looking back he saw he had opened a 20-yard gap, and decided to make an all-out attack.

Smith couldn't react, Curran wouldn't and Bayfield declined to tow the others up to the flying Dawson. Off the main road and into the sheltered run-in to Lincoln, Dawson had 20 seconds' lead and was virtually uncatchable as Bayfield and Smith conceded defeat.

While Dawson romped up the Michaelgate cobbles for the 13th and last time, to be greeted by the warm applause of the frozen crowd, Smith was tailed off by Curran and Bayfield.

Bayfield later complained that his gears slipped on the hill, leav-ing the way clear for Curran to claim a brilliant Optimum one-two.

It had been a long day. The juniors had started at 10am and the Grand Prix finished well after five o'clock. The riders were not the only heroes; spare a thought for the dozens of police and volunteer marshals who manned every junction, side road and potential haz-ard, braving cold, wind, rain and even the occasional snow flurry to ensure a safe and successful event.

What they said

Kevin Dawson, winner of the BBAR in 1992 and 1993, is the quiet man of the Optimum squad. At race finishes he usually slips quietly away, happy to leave the limelight to others.

But in Lincoln's Castle Square on Sunday, the man from nearby Doncaster savoured his victory to the full. Smiling broadly, he said: 'About time too - it was all down to team-work.

'We kept attacking Joe (Bayfield), and he was responding quite well, but when it got hard into the head-wind, we had him. As soon as I looked back I knew this was it.

'I just had to keep plugging away, and if they had caught me Paul would have won it. I was struggling to get my tyres to grip on the climb, espe-cially when it was wet. On the second to last lap I had really bad wheelspin, but soon pegged them back when I got over the top. I've been trying to win a big one for a few years now - I'm well chuffed!'

Paul Curran said: 'Kevin was strong today. I slipped back at one point and he got me back on. I could see he was the strongest of us, so with four or five laps to go I told him to ease off and ride his own race.

Joe Bayfield was left wonder-ing what might have been: 'They were attacking me one by one. Looking back, I should have put in some hard attacks of my own and tried to get it. But with so many Optimum riders up there it was very difficult for me.'

Brian Smith, Lincoln GP winner in 1990, was impressed by Bayfield's ability, but added: 'He still has a lot to learn.'

Smith, who was racing for the first time since the Tour DuPont fin-ished on May 12, said: 'I wasn't going to start. I've had a chest infection since the DuPont, but Ian Emmerson puts on a good race here and I feel riders should make an effort to sup-port him.

'I'll be riding the Tour of the Kingdom next weekend, after which I'll go back to America for the Corestates events early in June. After that my programme will depend on whether I'm selected for the Olympics.'

RESULTS

1. Kevin Dawson (Optimum Performance RT) 102m in 4-16-07
2. P. Curran (Optimum Performance RT) at 45sec
3. J. Bayfield (Controlware RT) st
4. B. Smith (Team Plymouth) at 1-02
5. B. Wilson (Irish Heritage CC) at 3-33
6. M. Lovatt (Optimum Performance RT) at 3-33
7. M. Ford (Team Stonefield) at 14-23
8. D. Wilson (Optimum Performance RT)
9. C. Gillman (Mid-Devon CC)
10. T. Hall (Ambrosia) all st.