Hales and Roberts hit top form to stun champions

The duo took a fine win by 46 seconds – from Series champions Chris Riley and Rob McGregor – in their second ever pairing in this format, stopping the watch on 21 minutes 50 seconds.

Sadly the 10 mile event at Shawbirch was marred by a nasty post-race crash that left Angela Boycott with a broken collarbone.

Boycott unfortunately caught the wheel of her partner 20 metres beyond the finish line resulting in a heavy fall and a trip to hospital.

Hales was pleased with the way the pair worked together despite being 14 seconds slower than in 2021, with Roberts’ height a big advantage to hide behind, acting as a wind break in the breezy conditions, meaning Hales could put the power own on his turns at the front.

“Very happy with the win in the 2-Up with Phil,” said Hales. “We were a lot smoother than last year, and Phil is an awesome wind block for a quicker breather behind him. Hopefully next year we can go even quicker.”

oberts meanwhile was already looking forward to one of the highlights of the calendar, the Coaching Revolutions Shropshire Championship 4-Up adding: “A really great event, and super enjoyable to ride with Tomos at such high speeds. A major tailwind on the back straight meant some serious speed. Two years in a row riding with him in the 2-Up, so we were confident of who would take turns where and the plan was well executed. Looking forward to the next team at the 4-Up, thanks for organising as always”.

Riley and McGregor had to be content with runner-up spot for once, but still registered a fine effort of 22:36, beating Sarah Grant and Mark Milton into third place by 16 seconds.

Riley has enjoyed the Series and was full of praise for the winners, commenting: “Rob and I were racing on some high spirits after being informed that we had an unassailable lead in the Series. However, despite us having a good run on a breezy evening around the Cotwall circuit, the Hales/Roberts express train was way out of our league and they whooped us by 46 seconds – respect.”

The Mower Mec Series has been a lot of fun, and both Rob and I have enjoyed the events promoted by the different clubs; thanks to all the organisers and the SCCA”.

Grant and Milton did enough to not only be crowned 2-Up Mixed Team champions, they also took overall silver thanks to a fine 22:52. This saw them beat Hafren CC’s Emma Serjeant and Mark Hill as they also took double bubble, capturing overall bronze and Mixed Team silver to push Oswestry Paragon’s Adam Riley and Vikki Jones into the mixed bronze position.

Grant was happy with the performance on a very different evening to that encountered in Round 5: “What a difference a day makes! Cool and very windy meant a challenging trip round the Wrekinsport course. I was pleased with our performance following on from the Ludlow event. A great event by Wrekinsport with lots of their riders”! Milton added: “What a big change in conditions overnight from a heat wave in Ludlow to 18 degrees and a stiff headwind to make things choppy. Sarah and I worked hard to gain another great result. However, our thoughts are with Angela who had a nasty fall at the finish of her run. We wish her a speedy recovery. Thanks again to the organisers especially with the care they gave to Angela”.

The women’s championship saw an unusual result with the same rider, Olivia Hughes, taking both gold and silver after riding with a different partner and having to be split on countback rules. Hughes shared the trophies with Jan Davies, while she took silver with Karen Proctor.