Hales and Wells are record breakers in cycling series

Both the overall and female course records were shattered on a memorable evening in round 12 of the SB Sports Injuries Series, as Tomos Hales and Hayley Wells lowered their own benchmarks in the Wrekinsport CC Gordon Davis 18.

Hales knocked 51 seconds off the previous best as he stopped the clock 37 minutes, 17 seconds on the 18 mile Eyton-Hodnet ‘out and back’ course.

Wells lopped 40 seconds off her own record to reset the female target to 41:44.

Hales knew he had to put in a performance with the first-time presence in SB Series this year from Kirk Vickers, who was revealed to be targeting the course record pre-race.

But in the end, reigning SB Series champion Hales did more than enough.

He said: “The night had the potential for a quick time due to the wind blowing you up the slight up hill drag from Shawbirch to Hodnet.

“My main aim was to hold a good speed on the way out and push on the way back. But it was a very taxing night and I was happy to take a big chunk off my old course record."

Vickers finished 23 seconds behind the Aerologic rider, beating the old record by 28 seconds.

Despite holding the female course record set in April, Wells surprising thought she had more left in the tank in her round four effort.

Here, though, she left it all on the road, potentially helped by Vickers overtaking her within the last 500 metres as a carrot to try to pull back.

Wells’ 41:44 took fourth overall in a powerhouse performance as she edged Chris Riley out by two seconds and narrowed the gap to Evie Fletcher at the top of the SB Female standings to 26 points after Fletcher finished as runner-up in 48:55.

In the Veterans' category, Paramount team-mates John Westhead and Riley pushed each other to the limit in a closely-fought battle that saw Westhead claim victory by four seconds.

But the ride of the evening came from 16-year-old Newport rider Ben Bramford-Hale, who not only finished third overall in 40:40, but also took a maiden win in the SB Road Bike Series and the Junior win to move to joint lead of that Series.

Round 11 of the Series - the Ludlow CC Scenic 10 - has seen Riley crowned Veterans' champion after finishing three seconds behind Fletcher.

Richard Simpson was also celebrating after clinching the SB Road Bike Series.

He took the maximum 20 points on offer with a handicap adjusted 25:05.

“I loved the Ludlow Scenic 10 course which seemed to favour power more than aero and, as the name suggests, was set in some beautiful countryside," he said.

"I was really pleased to take Road Bike maximum points, especially as there were some strong road bike riders competing. Winning the SB Road Bike gold was also fantastic, especially as this was my first season competing seriously after only taking part in the final couple of events in last year’s Autumn Series.

"Competing in the SB Series has been a really enjoyable experience. Thank you to all those who turn up to compete; and especially thanks to all those who put so much effort into putting these events on."