UK time trialling: Gough sets Hinton Hill record

Kevin Dawson won the Nottingham Clarion 25-mile event. (Brian Jones/Kimroy Photography)

Reigning national hill-climb champion James Dobbin had to settle for second place in the Severn Road club event at Hinton Hill in Somerset as John’s Bikes RT rider Robert Gough smashed the course record to win by nine seconds.

Gough has obviously improved dramatically since last year when he was only 14th in the national championship, more than 40 seconds slower than Dobbin, but he looks set to be a real force in the 2008 season.

His time of 1min 51.8sec sliced almost two seconds from his own old course record from last year, but what was perhaps more remarkable was the 8.5 second gap between him and second-placed Dobbin (Arctic Premier).

Gough’s team-mate Robin Coomber was third, less than a second behind Dobbin, but in the absence of a third man the team prize went to the promoting Severn Road Club with Simon Haward, Rob Adams and Simon Burgess finishing fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.

Clinton dominates in Yorkshire

Elsewhere, riders in the North tackled the Otley Cycling Club two-stage hill-climb event over the 1,500-yard climb of East Chevin and the one-mile Norwood Edge in West Yorkshire.

It was 2007 national championship bronze medallist Matt Clinton (Mike Vaughan Cycles) who dominated, taking victory in both stages as well as the overall.

The Coventry rider covered the opening stage on East Chevin in 3min 51.5 seconds to win by around six seconds from GS Metro rival Alex Coutts, while multiple national title winner Jim Henderson (Southport CC) was third, just half a second further back.

And in the afternoon’s final climb the positions were the same, with Clinton winning by 5.4 seconds from Coutts, while Henderson was 10.7 seconds off the pace.

Dawson takes Tuxford honours

Kevin Dawson warmed up for the final round of the Rudy Project National Time Trial Series with a convincing victory in the Nottingham Clarion 25-mile event at Tuxford, Nottinghamshire, on Saturday.

Sportscover.com rider Dawson, who is leading the series but needs to do a good ride next weekend to secure the title, looked in a different class as he powered through strong winds to win by more than one minute from Julian Ramsbottom (De Rosa RT).

While Dawson’s team-mate Brad Johnston took third, more than a minute further off the pace, the rest of the field were at least two minutes further back with just eight riders going under the hour.

Pinder takes maiden victory

Fourth in both stages at Otley, Blackburn & District CTC rider Adam Pinder finally tasted victory in Sunday’s Lancaster CC Jubilee Towers hill-climb in Lancashire.

The reigning national junior champion won last year’s Lancaster event, and although he was 24.1 seconds faster this time he was still 4.7 seconds shy of Ben Greenwood’s course record.

He clocked 7min 27.6sec to push Preston Wheelers’ Jimmy Wright into second spot by 26.3 seconds, while his team-mate Ian Stott was third, another 17 seconds off the pace.

And fastest woman for the second year running was Lynn Hamel (The Green Room Group.com) with 8min 25sec.

King Kit rules again 

In Derbyshire, Kinesis UK’s top road-racing ace proved he is equally adept in hill-climbs when he won the Birdwell Wheelers event on the 1,796-yard climb on Curbar Edge.

Kit Gilham, who was crowned King of the Mountains in the FBD Insurance Ras in Ireland earlier this season, reached the top of the climb in 5min 39sec to win by four seconds from Team Milton Keynes’ Michael Smith, while Charles Taylor (South Pennine RC) was another two seconds back in third.

Veteran Chris Storer (Ashfield RC) was seventh overall with 6min 25sec, while best junior was 16-year-old Jamie Raven (Rutland CC) who clocked a superb 6min 52sec for the course, which was dry but battered by a strong wind.

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