Well fortunately we had no real race plan and arriving just in time for the official under 10’s signing-on was not planned either.

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The one plan we did have was to try and peak on the day.  The two weeks leading up to the race Caelan ratcheted up his work rate. He also raced twice taking two second places behind the up and coming 2nd year racer Mitchell Lacey (Barking and Dagenham CC) having his sprint nullified with his line blocked… I informed him that even Andre Greipel has his line taken and unfortunately it isn’t an athletic track with drawn out lanes.  Yeah, he’d had a couple of things not go his way but was determined to take another top ten in his rookie year.

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Anyway, we arrived just in time and luckily just before his race they were given a sighting lap, so at least he knew where he was going unlike the sat nav.

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The start line was well away from the finish and it took a few minutes going anti-clockwise around the Milton Keynes Bowl before they came into the main viewing area. Thankfully CJ looked comfortable in the bunch that had already strung out and dropped near 50% of the 30+ racers.

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Danger Caelan Miller – Danger… As they went into lap three there was cause for concern as the makings of a split in the group started to materialise as they crossed the line and left the viewing arena. The next few minutes were again tense, but as they came back into view CJ had bridged the gap to the front runners which was now down to about 11 racers. Unfortunately, yet again that group consisted of Joe Kiely and Tom Davies (Welwyn Wheelers), Joshua Tarling (West Wales CC), Bevan Smith (Maindy Flyers CC) and Ben Askey (Lichfield City CC) who all gave him a ride for his money at his home circuit Hog Hill.

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They all pushed the pace, especially Ben Askey along with Max Poole (Lincsquad) and CJ just held in hovering between 6th and 9th waiting for the bell.

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On the final lap and on entering the arena, CJ was near the rear of the pack at the entry of the final bend where he pulled off some passes taking him to sixth, just behind the group of four who were already contesting the win. From there he launched his sprint taking him past Joe Kiely and giving him a second fifth placing in a British Cycling Nationals Series event.

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The standings were as follows: Ben Askey (1), Bevan Smith (2) and Joshua Tarling (3)      Full Results

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When he debriefed the race with the Welwyn and Hillingdon lads they stated that there was a lot of cutting up in the pack, though CJ credited Bevan Smith with good group riding and communication.

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Lastly, I asked who impressed him and he went for Joe Kiely, who throughout the race constantly kept touch with the front runners especially being his first year on the road.

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A great race and the next day for a warm down CJ raced the Hillingdon GP taking a first boy from Kye Lewis (Willesden CC) where the next round will be held.

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Ciao for now…