Craig Anderson wins the 2012 North East Trophy at the Croft Racing Circuit in North Yorkshire
Local Black Hawk rider Craig Anderson was a surprise but worthy winner of Saturday’s Velo29 North East Trophy.
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The winning break of 4 riders including defending champion Matt Kipling, now with Velo29 Elite Racing Team, Herbal life riders Kit Gillham and Tom Bustard and of course event winner Craig Anderson broke free after 10 laps. All 4 handicap groups had just come together, a natural time to attack and spice up the racing!
The move was started by Matt Kipling with some very aggressive riding. Kit and Tom were soon on his wheel with Craig taking a little longer to react but riding strongly to get involved. “It was a huge field and dangerous in the bends, I wanted to split things up as soon is it all came together†Matt quoted after the race.
The 4 riders, all hard workers soon opened a big gap and the field behind was strung to pieces! Lots of move’s followed but is was a group of 5 including Velo29 riders Alex Bottemley and Anthony Moye who made the next significant attack.
This group of 5 worked hard in the rising wind to close the gap on the Kipling group but it wasn’t until the last lap that they really made a significant impact.
However, the 4 were never going to be caught and with 1 lap to go the Herbal Life pair started to put the famous “1 – 2†on favourite Matt. The Velo29 rider had to follow every move, Gillham and Bustard were unable to shake him but all the time, Matt was using vital energy. Anderson played a very clever race and as underdog, simply followed the other 3.
With 400m to go, Kit opened the sprint, Matt reacted and came past Kit with Craig on his wheel. Bustard was out of the running, and as Matt pasted kit with 200m to go Anderson was still on his wheel. We thought Matt would retain his crown but it wasn’t to be and 100m from the line, Craig galloped past to win by 2 bike lengths.
The win was obviously sweet to Craig, his first major result and as he crossed the line, shouting with joy, it was clear what the victory meant to him.
A worthy winner of the 2nd running of this great event. There were 148 riders taking part, all abilities from Elite down to new comers, converting to racing through the popular Velo29 Winter Series.
We are back in the Summer with the Stockton Cycling Festival which this year includes the National Crit Series and the Premier Calendar!
Thanks for all the support in the this year’s events.
Result
1 Craig Anderson – Black Hawk Bikes
2 Matthew Kippling – Velo 29
3 Kit Gilham – Herbalife Leisure Lakes Bikes.com
4 Tommy Bustard – Herbalife Leisure Lakes Bikes.com
5 Jamie Caldwell – Cycle Premier
6 Will Haines – Black Hawk Bikes
7 Anthony Moyes – Velo 29
8 James Gullen – Metaltek
9 Alex Bottomley – Velo 29
10 Duncan Moralee – BBM Bikes
Intermediate Sprints
1 Conor Swift – Bike Box
2 Tommy McCullough – Ashbourne Wealth
3 Elliot Gowland – Infinity
Prime 1 Kit Gilham – Herbalife Leisure Lakes Bikes.com
Prime 2 Tommy Arnstein – Velo 29
Most Aggresive Rider – Tommy Bustard Herbalife Leisure Lakes Bikes.com
