Mills-Keeling eats into Hales' series lead
Jonathan Mills-Keeling made inroads into Tomos Hales' lead at the top of the SB Sports Injuries Series in the Bridgnorth 10 - round 13 of the series.
Held on the undulating Boningale-Shifnal course, the proximity to Wolverhampton of just eight miles saw a good contingent of Staffordshire riders in competition with a turnout of 30 in the mix – and posting some fast times due to familiarity with the course, which drags to the turn on the edge of Shifnal.
Mills-Keeling took the win in 22 minutes 58 seconds - a time reflecting the tricky nature of this course which saw more than a third of the veterans fail to beat their standard - with his closest challenges coming from Stourbridge CC’s Dave Meacham (23.07) and Wolverhampton Wheelers' Richard Sadler (23.14).
This narrowed the Aerologic rider’s gap to an absent Hales to 30 points, but with just three rounds remaining Mills-Keeling feels may be a bridge too far.
He said: “Nice to take the win on the Bridgnorth round of the SB Series; an interesting course. I always liked the rolling sections; it makes a change from other courses. I narrowed the gap to Tomos but feel his lead might be too much”.
Mills-Keeling also took the win in the SB Veterans Series too with +3:53, and ahead of the same two Staffordshire riders who pushed him close with +3:50 and +3:43 respectively. This saw Mills-Keeling inch away from the rider lying in the silver medal position by two points after Paramount’s John Westhead finished on +1:57.
The strength of Sadler was evident by him taking the overall Road Bike win in an adjusted 22:21 in this handicap competition, ahead of Rich Bradley (Albarosa), but taking the County points was the rare sight at a time trial of Bridgnorth’s Sam Morris, who took the maximum 20 points on offer to the Shropshire riders in 24:1
Gold and silver were also settled on the night in the Road Bike category after a season-long head-to-head between Colin Wells and 2024 champion Ashley Kirkham – with Wells winning his first cycling medal in 51 years.
Wells was encouraged to have a go by daughter Hayley - who clinched the Female Series gold in round 12, the Wrekinsport CC Gordon Davies 19 held over two laps of the Shawbirch-Cotwall Bank circuit.
“When Hayley suggested doing the SB Series on a road bike at the start of the season, I thought I’ll give it a go," said Colin. "To get a gold medal is both surprising and hugely pleasing, as the last one I won was when I raced 51 years ago!"
Two females went head-to-head in round 13, with unattached rider Lauren Turley taking the win from Bridgnorth’s Charlotte Hunt, while Alex Wilkes pipped Wolverhampton Wheelers team-mate Rhys Everall to the junior win.
