Callister wins the battle for Battlefield glory

Held on the rollercoaster A49 between Prees and Battlefield the first bonus points were awarded for the longest distance in this Series as Dean Callister recorded a fabulous effort of 52 minutes 28 seconds to take the maximum 26 points on offer.

The Revolutions Racing rider said: “A very nice, warm evening gave great conditions. My legs felt good on the night, so I pushed hard on the return and was really pleased with my time. It was great to get a personal best.”

Callister pushed out a strong challenge from Wrekinsport’s Tomos Hales, setting the evening’s other personal best with 55:30 and heading to the top of the Series as a result, taking over from Jonathan Mills-Keeling by six points.

Hales was full of praise for Callister’s effort, saying: “Well done to Dean who flew around that course in a super impressive time.”

They were the only riders to beat the magical hour mark on a tough out and back course, with North Shropshire Wheelers’ James Neale taking the honours for the promoting club in third in 1:01:16.

Neale also took the win in the age-adjusted SB Veterans’ Series with a fine +5:16, pushing out club-mate Dave Drew by eight seconds.

Neale commented: “I really enjoyed the race. It feels like I have finally overcome some technical and fitness issues that have hampered some of my performances in recent weeks. Conditions were near perfect for once too. I’m still not maxing on the descents and this is reflected in the time, but hopefully there’s more to come. Well done to the guys ahead of me, they were flying. Thanks too to all the volunteers”.

In the Women’s, race it was a straight head-to-head between Oswestry Paragon’s Helen Tudor and North Shropshire Wheelers’ Kathryn Rossiter, making her debut in the SB Series.

Tudor took the win by 4:12 with a good effort of 1:12:04 – and headed back to the top of the Women’s standings after displacing Deb Hutson-Lumb.