Brief lap by lap for Lincoln Grand Prix 2008

In the glorious May sunshine and with the Cathedral bell chiming out ten o’clock the 53^rd Lincoln Grand Prix got off to a hitch free start with a total of one hundred and forty six riders taking the line. The bunch rolled out of the Yarborough Leisure centre and got off to a good natured start, enjoying the almost perfect conditions, before the real racing got under way on Burton road. The were several prizes up for grabs in this years race, along with the overall winners prize, the judges were keeping a close eye on the most meritorious rider, that is the rider who in their opinion had shown the most aggression and tenacity though out the race, also the best performance by an East Midlands rider would win the EMDA award. A new competition was also added this year. The Michaelgate trophy, in tribute to Brian Cossavella, sponsored by the Universal Cycle Centre from Rotherham. This would be awarded to the rider who amassed the most points over the finish line in Castle Square each lap, 3,2,1 respectively.

The spectators were out early with a good crowd building in the castle square and on the notorious Michaelgate climb to watch the riders come through on the first lap. With blaring of horns and cries of encouragement the bunch swept past the castle and Cathedral. Road cycle racing is a colourful spectacle to watch when it is in full flow and today in the sunshine, charging through the very heart of Lincoln it was nothing short of fantastic.

Action on the first lap found the early escapes by various riders as the tested the resilience of the bunch. A small group formed off the front establishing a few seconds lead but pulled back in by the hard working peleton.

First across the line to pick up points in the King of Michaelgate were Russell Downing and Dean Downing, the brothers who had both won the event in previous years, they were in company with Chris Newton another previous winner back in 2000, showing that they meant business and were going to take the whole field on.

Towards the steep decent of Burton village a bad crash as some of the newer riders to the event misjudged a corner, meant that the medics where called and they swiftly arrived on the scene and treated the fallen riders who were later taken to hospital, both riders were fine but for a few of the usual cuts and scrapes. Lap two saw the riders heading into a slight crosswind with the peleton all together some great echelons formed on the A57 inbound as the riders fought to gain some shelter from the slight headwind. With the riders completing a circuit in just under twenty minutes it was warming up to be the fastest race so far. Lap three saw a number of riders climb off, as the fast past set at the front by the teams of Rapha-Condor Recycling, Pinarello and Plowman Craven, caused many riders to decide that it was not their day and they would be better off cheering on their fellow competitors and urging them up the notorious cobbled climb of Michaelgate. The race had calmed down by now and a steady but swift tempo had kept the pace high and the action, fast, fantastic crowds formed in Burton village and elsewhere on the circuit as the convoy of some one hundred surviving riders various team cars, official vehicle, service cars and police and NEG motorbikes roared past. Halfway through the race a strong but small group of some fourteen riders made the split. They quickly gained a lead of thirty seconds over the hard chasing peleton. Notable names who had made the group were the Dowing brothers, Chris Newton, Rob Hales and Christian House to name but a few.

The King of Michealgate competiton now stood like this The Downing brothers through there constant vigilance at the front had put themselves in first and third place with Kristian House and Mathew Higgins also collecting points. By lap five it was left to the big guns to try and rally the chasing bunch. Malcolm Elliot back again to Lincoln after winning the event before led the pack through closely followed by Matt Stevens, Irish Olympic hopeful Dave McCann, Simon Gaywood and Tom Barras. The next few laps saw the bunch keeping the front runners on a piece of elastic and it saw the lead go up and down from some 17secs to over 40seconds.

The gap started to steady down at about the 30second mark with Stephen Adams and Mathew Higgins showing good strength at the front with Kit Gilham the one time American based rider making a good show on the roads of Lincoln. Several tried to bridge the gap, Simon Gaywood made a notable effort to join the front group with a quartet of Malcolm Elliott, Mark Lovatt, Evan Oliphant and Graham Briggs hard on his wheels but it was in vain as the hard working bunch brought those escapees back into the bunch.

With three laps to go splits started to develop all through the lead group and six riders going clear. Dean and Russell Downing, Chris Newton, Tom Southam who seems to coming back to good form, Kit Gilham and Simon Richardson. Three more chasers, Matt Higgins Stephen Adams and Marcin Bialoblocki strived to keep in contact and were just twenty five seconds behind. Several smaller groups formed at some fifty five seconds back but it looked like it was too little too late. With one lap to go out of the original one hundred and forty six starters it was down to six men to decide the honours between them. In a few moment of the climb up Michaelgate it was down to three men, Russell Downing, Dean Downing and the somewhat surprising Simon Richardson. With the other three only seconds behind. The rest of the field had been picked up by the now exhausted peleton.

As they started the climb for the last time Russell once again put down the power and left the others in his wake, it had hardly looked in doubt from lap one and Russell, cheered on by a huge crowd in Castle square rode home victorious for a second time. Dean came in second just a few seconds down with Simon Richardson coming in a valiant third. Chris Newton picked up a forth place and the Jackson Building Centre Most Meritorious award for his efforts throughout.

Other notables were David Clark who picked up the award for best performance for a East Midlands Division based rider and Rob Hales who picked up the EMDA award for an excellent ride, hopefully we’ll see him later in the year at the Olympics.

The Brian Cossavella Michaelgate Award was decided on the final lap, going to Russell Downing who took away this new magnificent trophy back to Rotherham.