Connor in Command of Interclub League

Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Ballymena Road Club – Chain Reaction Cycles – rider Connor Young extended his lead in the 2013 inter club road racing league series after last Wednesday night’s second round event at Broughshane.
Connor, who won round one at Ballyronan, finished third this time out and now has a total of 21 points for a comfortable eight points lead over Nigel Quigley (Bann Wheelers) who won on Wednesday.
BRC team co-ordinator Hall Booth reports on the Broughshane event.
"Round two of the Interclub series saw Ballymena Road Club as hosts running the race over three laps of a 10 miles circuit at Broughshane.
It was a challenging race for those involved with the riders tackling the Knockan road climb four times, which gave a combined total of 1300 feet ascending.
The riders were set off in four groups separated by 5 minutes from the first group to the scratch.
The second, third and scratch groups amalgamated quickly on the first lap with a fast and furious pace set by those in the scratch bunch.
The Knockan hill then split the race each lap with numerous riders dropping back. 
However as the race started the last lap, Nigel Quigley (Bann Wheelers) who had started scratch, had broken away from the field and held a 35 seconds lead with Ballymena riders working hard to limit his advantage.
Quigley proved too strong to close down and crossed the line, on the Knockan road climb, for a great win with team mate Bobby Kane second.
Ballymena’s Connor Young was third with comeback rider Ryan Connor 5th, Mickey Carroll and Tommy Wilson also finished in the top 10, earning valuable points for BRC in the league.
The ladies had a fantastic 1-2-3 result for BRC with Claire Gillespie winning from Eileen Burns and Emma Smyth.
Connor Young holds a strong lead in the series after two rounds with Ballymoney holding the lead in the team standings. Next round is this Wednesday when Ballymoney host on a circuit based around the Vow road.”
Race two
 Ballymena Road Club
 
 
1
 Nigel Quigley 
Bann Wheelers
2
 Bobby Kane 
Bann Wheelers
3
 Connor Young 
Ballymena Road Club
4
 Ryan Orr 
Ballymoney Cycling Club
5
 Uel Cunningham 
Ballymoney Cycling Club
6
 Stevie McAllister 
Ballymoney Cycling Club
7
 Michael Carroll 
Ballymena Road Club
8
 Ryan Connor 
Ballymena Road Club
9
 Philip McKeown 
Ballymoney Cycling Club
10
 Tommy Wilson 
Ballymena Road Club

Ladies
 
 
1
 Claire Gillespie 
Ballymena Road Club
2
 Eileen Burns 
Ballymena Road Club
3
 Emma Smyth 
Ballymena Road Club
4
 Mary Angela Taylor 
Carn Wheelers
5
 Mairead McGurk 
Carn Wheelers
6
 Catherine Martin 
Spires Cycling Club
 
The provisional league standings after two rounds are.
Men (1) Connor Young (BRC) 21 points (2) Nigel Quigley (Bann Wheelers) 13 (3) Bobby Kane (Bann Wheelers) 11 points equal (4) and (5) Charlie Wright (Bann Wheelers) and Willie Loughridge (Ballymoney) Michael Carroll is next for BRC in eleventh place with 6 points.
Male Teams (1) Ballymoney 61 points (2) Ballymena 31 points (3) Spires 11 points.
Ladies (1) Mary Angela Taylor 20 points (2) Mairead McGurk 17 points (3) Claire Gillespie 12 (4) Eileen Burns 10. Equal (5) and (6) Emma Smyth and Jane Millar (Bann Wheelers) 9 points each.
Ladies teams (1) Carn 37 (2) BRC 31 (3) Spires 11
Ballymena Road Club didn’t have a club race last week because of the league race although the youth riders were in action on Monday night at Broughshane.
Their event had been scheduled as the Ballymena schools championship but this was changed at the eleventh hour because many potential entrants were engaged with revision for exams. The event which did take place saw Shay McTaggart win the two laps 6.2 miles event in 18 minutes 20 seconds (2) Breandan McCavana at 56 seconds (3) Hayden Ritchie at 2 minutes 34 seconds.
Many thanks to all those who turned up to organise the race and assist with the marshalling. The next youth race is scheduled for 17th June when a 9 miles road race is on the calendar for the Craig’s circuit.