The ASDA StreetVelodrome Series reached the south coast resort of Worthing for Round 5. It was greeted by huge crowds, the biggest so far this year, sunshine and a festival atmosphere.

 

Taking full advantage of the natural ampitheatre within Beach House Grounds, the crowds grew in large numbers as they first watched the morning Amateur Rider Qualification sessions and then the build up to the main feature races.

 

And what sensational races they were. On what was the longest track so far this Series, all expectation was on a Craig Maclean victory. Adding to his advantage was the increased rolling resistence of the SupaTrak surface, used whenever StreetVelodrome is laid on grass. His superior leg strength would surely enabling the Team Velotec rider to power his way along those two extended straights whilst the other less powerful technical riders would struggle.

 

But it was not to be. Craig got eliminated in round 1 by Super Mario Presi for Team ProCook. Rock The Cotswold's Patrick Robertson was eliminated by Cycleguard's Jack Ravenscroft, whilst Quella's Dave Johnson dispatched guest team ASL360's Mark Emsley in his first appearance in the ASDA StreetVelodrome Series.

 

The finals saw an incredible close battle, once again, between Dave and Mario. But on this occasion, against the form book, Dave came through by just a fraction of a second to beat his nemisis this series Mario.

 

In the women's category Jess Stone for Cycleguard continued her winning ways by beating all her opponents. But the longer track prevented her from dominating quite as much as she failed to score the much needed Catches Cycleguard need to overhaul Team Quella in the Catch Trophy.

 

With just two events to go Team Quella lead the Catch Trophy with 24 Catches to Cycleguard's 20 and ProCook's 19.

 

Improving upon her bronze medal in the previous round, ProCook's Kelli Salone had to settle for silver when faced with a determined Jess Stone in the gold medal race. But this was a major fillip for Kelli as she managed to beat Quella's Anna Glowinski into the Bronze position. 

 

This was Anna's lowest ever finishing position in StreetVelodrome. And she had a battle to contend with in her bronze medal race against locally qualifying amateur Rowena Price who really impressed on the day.

 

The overall team medal table has Quella on top with 4 Golds, 4 Silvers and now 2 Bronze medals. Behind is Cycleguard with 3 Golds, 2 Silvers and a collection of 4 bronzes. ProCook lost ground remaining on 2 golds but improving their tally of silvers to 4. This means they could still leapfrog Cycleguard in Ealing if Jess fails to win.

 

The teams remain in the same ranking positions going into Round 6, Ealing on Saturday 8th August. Their rankings will determine the draw for the SuperFinals on 13th August in Broadgate, City of London. So topping the medal table going into the climax of the Series will be a great boost. So Ealing will become the last gasp scramble for those all important golds.

 

The ASDA StreetVelodrome Kids Series continues to be led by Team Sharks but now with a reduced points lead. They have 15 points to the 11 points scored by Team Tigers. Ealing will see the final of the Kids Series and with a maximum of 10 points still available either team could still win.