The fourth Welwyn Track league meeting last Friday meeting saw a good representation of West Suffolk Wheelers. Young Edward Ballam (14) made his season’s debut after a winter playing football and rugby and gained a fourth place in scratch race. James Carpenter from Isleham went well in the opening adult 10 lap scratch race with a six place, with Adrian Grimwood coming home mid-field. Steve Newman made the last six in the B group Devil (take the hindmost), with young Alan Trolove managing second, a position he matched in the block pursuit.

Andy Elderfield from Sudbury rode brilliantly to hold off a fast-finishing Tony Gibb in the A group scratch race, but the biggest surprise of the night was Trolove’s performance in the 35-lap allcomers 10-mile race. This event traditionally closes the meeting, and sees the B group riders start three-quarters of a lap ahead of the A group. Normally the two groups come together after about five laps, but on this occasion five of the B group bridged the gap across to the leading group to gain a lap! This has been achieved before, but usually the effort required means that the ‘escapees’ are normally ‘dropped’ as the race progresses and eventually lose the lap they had gained. Although the pace was high (under 21 minutes for the ten miles) the B group interlopers hung on in the pack, despite various efforts by Gibb and John Maclelland to dislodge them. At the finish Trolove was third overall ~ a result that demonstrates the potential that he is currently displaying.