3 out of 4 ain’t bad!
Recycling.co.uk/MG X-Power/Litespeed had 3 of the 4 riders
representing Great Britain in the Team Pursuit discipline at the Manchester round of the World Track Cup. Rob Hayles, Chris Newton & Paul Manning combined with Steve Cummings to qualify fastest with a time of 4mins 07.168secs for the 4km Team Pursuit.
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The trio of Recycling.co.uk/MG X-Power/Litespeed riders and Steve
Cummings met the Spanish team in the final. The Great Britain team
caught the Spanish Team on the 16th and final lap of the race. They recorded a mightily impressive time of 4mins 03.033secs.
Paul Manning commented, “that’s not bad at all really, we could of gone
a bit quicker but we were passing the Spaniards so it slowed us down a
bit – but overall I am happy with the time”
As ever the Downings gave it everything…
Recycling.co.uk/MG X-Power/Litespeed team captain, Russ Downing gave
everything he had in the 20km points race heat on Day Two of the
Manchester World Track Cup Competition.
Russ has still not fully recovered from the serious injuries he attained
whilst racing in Australia. The injuries have shown to be a lot worse
than first suspected. Being the true fighter that Russ is, he raced the
heat, but just failed to qualify despite showing a strong presence throughout the race.
“I haven’t felt like that in a race since I was a schoolboy I just couldn’t recover properly, I felt like I had lead in my legs.” Russ explained.
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Hayles on form
Recycling.co.uk/MG X-Power/Litespeed’s new signing for 2005, Rob
Hayles, made an excellent start to 2005 at the Manchester Track World Cup.
Rob qualified second fastest in the 4km Individual Pursuit, behind World
Champion Sergio Escobar.
In the Gold medal ride for the 4km Individual Pursuit Title, Rob was
narrowly defeated by the reigning World Champion. The time of Rob’s
final ride was 4mins 23.239secs, an average speed of 54.703km/h.
3 in a Madison, that’s cheating!
Recycling.co.uk/MG X-Power/Litespeed had 3 riders in the 40km
Madison Final at the Manchester Track World Cup. You may ask how the team managed to have 3 riders in the final? This was due to new team signing Rob Hayles riding for Great Britain alongside Steve Cummings. Russ & Dean Downing also rode the final.
In the first 20km heat the Downing Brothers showed the others how well
they can ride the track at Manchester by winning their heat and impressing
the large crowd who cheered them all the way.
The second heat had a worrying moment when Steve Cummings, partnering
Rob Hayles, hit the velodrome boards.
Into the final of the 40km Madison. Russell and Dean Downing, made a
large attack for the points up for grabs with 80 laps to go. The noise from
the crowd at this point was amazing, lifting the roof off of the Velodrome.
The Brothers achieved the maximum five points on offer and then settled back
into the high speed bunch.
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With forty two laps to go a heart stopping moment occurred when Rob
Hayles’ front wheel was taken from under him by another rider. Rob fell heavily and at great speed onto his left side. The fall was to serious for Rob to
continue in the final and he remained on the floor for five minutes whilst
the paramedics checked him over and in doing so removed a 5cm long
timber splinter from his arm. This meant the end of the race for Rob Hayles and partner Steve Cummings both of whom had a very large applause from the very warm crowd.
Russell & Dean finished safely in the bunch in 11th place and showed
great courage despite Russell’s ongoing injury from his nasty crash in
Australia.
Please check the team website for regular updates on the team.
