Josh Williams reigns under the rain

The Team Bottrill rider smashed his own 25-mile county record in testing conditions in round eight of the Friction Hydraulics Series, lopping 16 seconds off the time he set in April in round three.

Williams stormed around the course with a fabulous effort of 49 minutes 21 seconds despite having to ease off at times due to slippery roads, with driving rain putting off a third of the field from starting.

Williams said: “Conditions were not ideal to be honest, but you just have to get on with it and get your head down. I took the roundabouts with extra caution.”

Bryn Davies took the county win with a top ride of 54:41 to stretch his series lead over Victor Chetta, beating the Mid Shropshire Wheeler by 54 seconds.

But Davies wasn’t finished there, helping himself to the runner-up spot in the Veterans’ Series with an excellent +11:58.

Chetta saw off a strong challenge from Revolutions Racing’s Stuart Proctor to take county runner-up by 20 seconds with a personal best 55:35 ride, although Proctor narrowed the gap to Davies in the Veterans’ Series with a fine win of +14:26.

If Williams put in one of the rides of the evening, Becky Lewis put in the other with an incredible five-and-a-half minute win in the Ladies’ Series.

Lewis finished sixth overall, clearly showing her strength with a fantastic effort of 58:07.

Ladies’ Series leader Pauline Hughes took second in a very respectable 1:03:34.

Hughes extended her lead at the top of the standings as a result of her ride and has a huge 135-point advantage over Charlotte Chapman, though Lewis, who made a late entry to the series, is charging up the rankings with three wins from three events.