Cornwall’s Saint Piran Pro Cycling are back on the race track on Thursday in Round Five of the Tour Series, at Clacton-on-Sea in Essex, writes Colin Bradbury.
After the first four rounds, Saint Piran’s men, on 26 points, lie in fourth place out of 13 in the team standings behind Wales Racing Academy (29), Ribble Weldtite (34) and Wiv Sungod (37).
Leon Mazzone is Saint Piran’s in-form rider, with 9th, 8th, 4th and 5th place finishes in the first four rounds. He will be on the start line in Essex tomorrow, the only rider to have featured in every round so far.
There are three changes to the starting five from the previous round, with Charles Page, Will Bjergfelt and Jake Crossley in for Tom Mazzone, Stephen Bradbury and Theo Obholzer. Apart from Leon Mazzone, Brad Symonds is the other rider to have participated in the last round.
Symonds is also riding well, and showed his form at the weekend with a win in Stage One of the prestigious two-day Totnes Vire event in Devon.
The 1.4km Clacton circuit should provide some exciting racing, with sharp turns and narrow section to liven up the proceedings. With a fifth-place team finish out of 10 in the last round, Saint Piran Women’s Race Team continue their steady improvement in their debut Tour Series, helped by a ninth place finish for Maddie Gammons.
Saint Piran Team Manager, Steve Lampier thinks the Clacton course could suit his riders:
“It’s a tight, twisty course, with narrow sections. We’re carrying on with the plan from the last two rounds, which is to hit it hard from the start and see what happens. The idea is to put our riders in the front group again.”
On the riders, Lampier says:
“Leon Mazzone is racing really well, and if he can get a good start, racing on a twisty course there’s no reason why he can’t get another good result. Brad Symonds is improving with every race as we saw with his win in Totnes last weekend. Charles Page is back after recovering from illness, while Local boy, Jake Crossley is racing in his first ever Tour Series. That will be a baptism of fire for him.”
Just two rounds will remain after tomorrow, with the series moving on to Barking on Saturday 21st May and finishing in Manchester on Tuesday 24th May.
Tomorrow’s races can be followed live here:
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheTourCycling
Highlights will also be shown on ITV4 on Friday at 7.00pm.