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Barras narrowly misses win
10th June 2008
Travelling north after the weekends races in London, Team Plowman Craven competed in the 4th round of the circuit series in Brighouse in Yorkshire on Tuesday evening.
The riders were introduced to the crowd and the flag was dropped at 8 o'clock. Plowman Craven massed at the front of the peleton as they flew down the start finish straight, only a few riders from the front James Millard wheels slipped from under him and he landed heavily, remounting he crashed out again a few laps later and was unable to continue. The pace set at the front caused a split and 9 riders went clear represented by Team Plowman Craven's Tom Barras and Simon Richardson.
With all of the major teams represented in the move, it never looked like being brought back as they lapped the town centre every minute or so. With three quarters distance covered Simon Holt (Rapha Condor) attacked on the fast start finish straight and was quickly marked by Tom Murray (Pinarello RT) the pair formed a dangerous combination as behind Richardson moved to the front of the chase group and increased the speed as lap after lap he reeled in the leaders.
Behind the peleton was being controlled by Tony Gibb and Simon Gaywood despite Gibb being involved in a crash earlier in the race leaving him clearly injured. Back at the head of affairs Richardson had singlehandedly brought the leaders back to the group. As soon as the two had been captured Dean Downing made his bid for freedom with only minutes remaining. Former winner Tom Barras realised the danger and set off in pursuit of Downing, it took the Plowman Craven rider 2 laps to catch Downing, but a reaction from the other members of the group saw this last ditch effort being caught just laps from the finish.
As the group entered the final lap Pearl Izumi's Liam Holohan held a tiny advantage. The pace was fierce as they entered the final metres, as the riders fought to be in the first few riders into the last corner. In the melee Barras and Richardson lost vital metres in the last corner and finished the race in 7th and 9th respectively, with Simon Gaywood leading the peleton in for 10th place just ahead of team mate Gibb.
Tom Barras was philosophical "I was feeling a little stiff tonight following my crashes in Ireland and a few days ago at Brentwood, Simon did a great job of containing the riders in the break tonight. When Dean went I knew I had to follow, it took a big effort to get up to him but when we were caught so close to the finish I was spent."
Results
1. Malcolm Elliott, Pinarello
2. Tom Murray, Pinarello
3. Ian Wilkinson, Science in Sport
4. Simon Holt, Rapha Condor/Recycling
5. Liam Holohan, Pearl Izumi/PlanetX
6. Dean Downing, Rapha Condor/Recycling
7. Tom Barras, Plowman Craven
8. Wouter Sybrandy, Sigma Sport
9. Simon Richardson, Plowman Craven
10. Simon Gaywood, Plowman Craven
11. Russell Downing, Pinarello
12. Tony Gibb, Plowman Craven
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