The Pearl Izumi Tour Series caravan continued its journey around the country stopping off for round two in the Cumbrian town of Barrow-in-Furness
The Pearl Izumi Tour Series caravan continued its journey around the country stopping off for round two in the Cumbrian town of Barrow-in-Furness. As a debut venue for the Tour Series it was fantastic to see the number of enthusiastic spectators lining the 1.1km long circuit and really getting behind the event. With a one hour plus five laps criterium, there was plenty of opportunity to see the riders, with action from the very first minute. It is always interesting to see the new circuits and how they are raced, on paper Barrow looked a simple loop with very little elevation and the majority of the circuit wide and flowing. However, as the riders found out, it also meant there was very little opportunity to recover under the barrage of attacks.
At the midway point it was still status quo, with none of the high-speed attacks able to create a gap big enough to last more than one lap. It was clear by the gaps forming at the back of the group that the speed was beginning to take its toll though - cueing the perfect time to launch. With a blistering lap that only Graham Briggs could follow, Tom Scully formed the first decisive break of the day. The duo weren't to have it all their own way though; NFTO, perfectly policed by the rest of the Madison Genesis team (Tennant, Horton, Peters and Northey) chased hard eventually catching the leaders with 10 minutes of racing to go, only to see Tom and Graham immediately attack again, this time riding to the finish. A last lap attack by Tom for the individual win on the night looked good as he stormed passed the pits for the final time, however the long finishing straight was just a little too long with Graham catching Tom in the last metres to take the win.
In the remainder of the bunch, the rest of the team timed their run perfectly starting their sprint from the last corner en-mass. With Mike Northey 6th, Tobyn Horton 7th, Andy Tennant 10th and Alex Peters rounding the team off in 15th on the night, Madison Genesis took the team prize once again.
Team Manager – Roger Hammond
"On a circuit that looked fairly innocuous, the race was blown to pieces and the team put in another fantastic performance. It was great to see Tom back to his incredible powerful self, equally important in this series though is how that individual is backed by his team mates. With the entire team in the top 15 the answer to that question is in the results!"
