Another top ten for James as Bann pair impress in British series

When they arrived at the race HQ on Saturday and completed a lap of the course it was clear to see that it would be completely different to Round One - there were two main climbs on the course which were super steep with gradients of up to 17%, but what goes up must come down and the down hills where well worth it.

It was the Elite men off first with Gareth starting in 28th place on the grid. He didn’t waste any time getting to the front of the race, going round the outside on the first corner and taking the lead into first technical section.

This clear ground avoided the bottle neck effect but once the top riders came to the hill they were able to get a bit of a gap. After a tough first lap, Gareth settled into a good rhythm in the top 10 but with a lot of big international names getting caught up in the start, it was going to be tough to hold this position.

Gradually riders were starting to get past but with a long six lap race it was all about pacing it correctly. In the last two laps, he was able to pick up a few more places and had a sprint finish for 16th position - Gareth had to settle for 17th which was an improvement on 21st at Round One.

James Curry, riding for the Cycling Ulster team but sporting his Irish National Champions jersey, was next off in the Junior race.

After a fantastic start to the series with a sixth place finish in Round One, he was on the front row of the grid, and went into the first technical section in third position.

James lost a few places in the first lap but didn’t give up and kept a good pace for the next few laps, slowly picking riders off as the rest of the field started to tire on the final lap.

James dug deep setting his fastest lap on his last, moving him back into the top 10 eventually finishing ninth.

This was a great start to the series with two top 10 results setting James up for strong overall series position.

The next round is in Wales at Forest Fields on 16th May.