World Cup rider Ian Field made a winning return to UK racing, taking victory from Hargroves Cycles team-mate Jody Crawforth in the fourth round of the National Trophy Cyclo-Cross Series in Hampshire.
The duo led a superb day for the Hargroves Cycles team on their home patch of Southampton Sports Centre, with Field crossing the line nine seconds ahead of Crawforth who retains the overall series lead.
Previously just one point ahead of rival Paul Oldham, the Hope Factory Racing rider from Colne in Lancashire, Crawforth is now five points clear after Oldham settled for third spot.
The Southampton course is always fast, but with the ground frozen solid (but snow free) it proved to be even quicker than usual.
The top three were stuck like glue for the first few laps as they figured out the best lines to take, but after about 25 minutes’ racing Field caught them by surprise and attacked, establishing a gap of around five seconds.
Not wishing to chase his team-mate too hard, Crawforth concentrated on making sure Oldham remained behind, and Field held his advantage to the line.
“It was a tough race,” said 29-year-old Crawforth afterwards. “It was really cold and frozen. Everybody normally expects a mud-bath at Southampton.
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“My main aim was to beat Paul Oldham and maintain the overall lead. It’s always nice to win a race, but I had to think of the overall.
“When Ian [Field] attacked it caught me out, and I chased for a bit, but it’s not really good to chase down your team-mate, so I concentrated on making sure Paul was behind me.
“He was chasing hard to catch me but with three laps to go I put in a big effort and I think that was enough to stay clear.”
With continental riders normally high up the placings at National Trophy events, it was a rare all-British podium, although Belgian riders Steven De Deker and Floris De Tier were fourth and fifth respectively.
Hannah Barnes (Motorpoint) was best of the women, crossing the line 34 seconds ahead of Stourbridge CC’s Hannah Payton, while Team Corridori rider Corinne Hall was just five seconds further back.
After former British champion Chris Young (Wheelbase) had won the previous round, normal service was resumed with Darren Atkins (Coventry Road Club) winning by 30 seconds over his Yorkshire rival to make it three wins out of four in the over-40s category.
Endura-MI Racing rider Steve Davies won the over-50s by a similar margin to Atkins, with Raleigh RT’s Ian Wright second and Evans Cycles Dave MacMullen third.
And in the junior race newcomer Jack Clarkson, the Pedalsport rider from Halifax who has been riding for less than a year, put in a superb ride to win the junior category by 41 seconds from Hargroves rival Alistair Slater, while Taylor Johnstone of Team De Ver was third, another 1-09 back.
The series now moves north to Peel Park in Bradford, where Ian Field will be aiming to make it two wins out of two before heading back to his Belgium base for more continental racing to prepare for the British Championships in January.
