Neil Campbell of Port Sunlight Wheelers has won the Dudley GP after beating Brooks Cycles/Velodrome.org.uk rider Steve Hill in a
dramatic final at Halesowen Track
The original meeting back in August was cancelled due to extreme weather conditions flooding the track, but despite
the threat of rain the meeting was successfully completed
The Floods hit Halesowen, Photo by Martin Bridgwood
After qualifing fastest in a time of 11.73s Campbell
easily progressed to the final to met second fastest qualifier Hill (11.94s) who beat World Masters Champion Ben Elliot in his Semi
The final was controversial from the gun with the riders involved in a
lengthly track-stand on the first bend, which is forbidden under UCI rules. However for some reason the riders were allowed to continue long enough
for Campbell to repeatedly lean on the fence in order to maintain balance, whereas Hill bounced his back wheel to remain stationary
Unluckily for Steve he then punctured forcing the final to be re-run where despite the riders coming together in the home straight Campbell just did
enough to take the victory
Hill was also celebrating his 17th Birthday yesterday
In the Women's Omnium Janet Birkmyre easily took victory from local youngsters
Jess Booth and Helen Scott
The Planet-X/She Cycles rider easily claimed victory in the opening 500m TT in a time of 38.36s
ahead of Halesowen's Jess Booth with 39.30s. Booth then caused havoc in the 8km Scratch as she repeatedly tried in
vain to breakaway from the bunch
However each time Birkmyre responded quickly
and despite a strong sprint from Helen Scott she was able to take the victory with ease
Unstoppable Birkmyre wins again
Next up was the 2k Pursuit, Brooks Cycles/Velodrome.org.uk rider
Debbie Capewell put five seconds into Yasumitsu Schlaap rider Jo Harmon in the first heat, with U16 Pursuit champion
Booth recording a time of 2m 47.04s to beat Siobhan Mullen (Team Chance)by nine seconds.
Next up was Birkmyre v Scott and yet again
Janet showed her greater experience in the event recording a time of 2m 44.61s to Scotty's 2m 57.39s
The organisers then changed the format of the
sprint giving the riders a Semi-Final as well as Heats. In the final Birkmyre was again paired with Scott
and despite the young rider attempting to pin Janet to the fence the Planet-X/She Cycles rider won convincingly
With the overall competition decided the 8km Points race was a formality and yet again it was Birkmyre who took the honours, rounding
off her third successive Omnium Series Title
The Dudley GP Mile was fiercely contested by the sprinters with victory
going to New Tredegar Nomads rider Luc Jones, who showed experience beyond his years to take the victory from Jack Hibberd and Ben Elliot
The Endurance events were again dominated by PCA's James McCallum who took victory in both the CDP and 10 Mile events
