UK cycling round-up: Matt Bottrill returns in style

After the disappointment of being disqualified for alleged drafting in the British Time Trial Championship last weekend, I-Ride Racing Team ace Matt Bottrill hit back in style this weekend, securing two wins from two events in the Midlands.

The Leicestershire rider was left disappointed after being discounted from the result, with a podium place within his grasp. But this weekend he proved his class and let his wheels do the talking.

He was the only rider to go under the 20-minute mark in the Central District LCA 10-mile event at Long Bennington, his time of 19:40 being 29 seconds quicker than his nearest rival, Leicestershire RC’s Matt Sinclair.

And the following day he proved a convincing victor in the Association of Notts and Derbys CC 25-mile event at Granby. Bottrill clocked 52:23 to take the win by 3:45 from Fit For RT’s Lee Tunnicliffe, while Bottrill’s colleague Scott Walker took third, another 33 seconds off the pace.

The event was also the Lighthouse Trophy, an annual five-rider team competition open to clubs in Nottinghamshire or Derbyshire. This year’s win went to the North Notts Olympic, who proved fastest by around five minutes.

McCulloch beats quality field in Staffordshire

Charles McCulloch mastered the fast J5/8 course in Staffordshire on Saturday, clocking 49:02 to win the Stone Wheelers 25-mile event by more than a minute-and-a-half in a field full of quality.

The Shorter Rochford RT rider was the only rider under the 50-minute mark for the course from Stoke to Uttoxeter, with his nearest rival – KUK Kinesis’s Richard Handley – 1-36 slower.

Lyme RC’s Barry Charlton was one of many who took advantage of dry, sunny and still conditions, Charlton clocking 50:59 to hold off API Metrow’s fast man Nino Piccoli by just three seconds.

Saint is national tricycle champ

West Yorkshire’s Carl Saint was crowned the Tricycle Association National 10-mile champion after a convincing victory in the title race in Warwickshire on Saturday.

Saint, the Yorkshire Road Club rider from Slaithwaite, clocked 22:53 for the course along the A5 to Lutterworth, beating South Pennine Road Club’s Nick Wood into second by almost two minutes.

Antelope Racing Team’s Ralph Dadswell, who broke two Road Record Association records on a London-to-Edinburgh run two weeks ago, took third spot.

Brooking sets the pace in Derbyshire hill-climb

Buxton Cycling Club duo Laurie Brooking and Lee Baldwin secured a 1-2 in the Trevor Yeoman Memorial hill-climb in Derbyshire on Saturday, promoted by their own club on a 4.5-mile course from WhaleyBridge.

Brooking won the event with a comfortable time of 13min 48.7sec, more than 20 seconds quicker than his clubmate Baldwin, while third spot went to Sheffrec CC’s Neil Bentley, another 13 seconds off the pace.

The course takes riders to the turning of the GoytValley near Buxton, and has been chosen to host the 2011 National Hill-Climb Championship.

Doyle takes cyclo-cross win in Gloucester

Swindon Road Club’s Crispen Doyle drew first blood in this season’s Western Cyclo-Cross League event when he took victory in the event at GloucesterBoatingLake on Sunday.

Last year’s Western League winner Scott Chalmers was the early leader on the opening lap, but Doyle was not far behind, and by the second of 12 circuits the Swindon RC rider was at the front.

Chasing hard to stay with Doyle, Chalmers paid the price when he hit the bottom of a gulley too hard, buckled his front wheel and was then run over, leaving him winded and out of the race.

Doyle made no such mistakes, and went on to win by 48 seconds from Hargroves Cycles rider Luke Gray who was also the first junior, while VC Walcot’s Barry Holley salvaged third, 1:58 off the pace.

Oldham takes spoils in North Yorkshire

Lancashire raider Paul Oldham took the spoils in the John Stevenson Memorial Cyclo-Cross event in North Yorkshire, the second consecutive weekend he has won events over the border.

Oldham, who is preparing to defend his crown as National Trophy Series winner in 2008, scored a convincing victory in the event at the Hambleton Leisure Centre at Northallerton.

He was around a minute faster than Bishop Auckland’s Stuart Wearmouth, while Mark Thwaites from Burley-in-Wharfedale was third – the same 1-2-3 as in the previous week’s North East CCA League event at Hawes.

Last tops ‘cross podium in Derbyshire

After settling for second last week, Sigma Sport’s Under-23 ace Tom Last stepped up to the top spot of the podium with a good performance in the second round of the Notts and Derbys Cyclo-Cross League at Thornbridge Activity Centre in Derbyshire.

Last was 34 seconds faster than his nearest rival, Rob Friel of Raleigh Avanti, while his team-mate Matt Barrett was nine seconds further back in third.

Top junior was Team Wallis CHH rider Tom Moses, who took sixth spot in Saturday’s event before moving on to the Yorkshire event the following day.

Miller beats reigning champ in Essex

Second in the 2008 Eastern League standings, Lotto Olympia’s Nathan Miller drew first blood in the 2009 series when he beat reigning champion Shaun Aldous (Extreme Sports Therapy) by 17 seconds in the opening round of the league in Essex.

Miller covered the 11-lap course at Brickwall Farm near Sible Hedingham in 56:07, 17 seconds quicker than runaway 2008 league winner Aldous, while a further minute off the pace was David Nichols (unattached) in third.