Clement wins Sandown – A grade

Clement Boydell had his first A grade win at Sandown a few weeks ago.  Here is what he had to say about his race:

At the start of the race I felt like I had some strong legs and with the windy and cold conditions it was ideal for an early move.  With some really strong sprinters at hand it was the best option for me, so coming to the end of the front straight, on the first lap, with the wind in our faces, I decided it would be a good idea to get off the front with Micky G.

As expected a few other riders joined us including Liam Dove, Connar Murtah, Jack Cummings and team mate (and brother), Munro Boydell. The early break was working well until about the 30minute mark riders started to get tired and stopped pulling through.  Eventually the bunch caught up with us after Nick Walker pulled us back solo.

After being caught I had a few laps recovery while other team mates Trent Moray, Micky Hale and James Cummings did the work up front trying to get into the next big move.

After a much needed recovery I headed back toward the front to do my share and just as I did so I saw Alex Smyth sneak away from the front of the bunch solo.  I followed him with another rider, Lee Deluca.  For the next 15 minutes we held a 15 second gap on the bunch.  At about two laps to go the bunch really started to close in on us.

Fortunately when we got the bell, a new bunch of strong riders bridged across to us containing Eric Sheppard, Paul Mason, Andrew Stalder and Tom Leaper.  This strong group of riders worked most of the last lap on the front while I was just able to pull a turn.  When we got to the bottom corner, Eric tried to make a move but Alex Smyth was straight onto his wheel.  Leaper got straight onto Smyth’s wheel, I was on Leaper and Stalder was right behind me.

Coming into the sprint, Alex Smyth jumped really early and Leaper stuck on him until around the 150m mark.  Because of the strong head winds I left it until around the 75m mark when I came off Leapers wheel to put almost a bike length into Leaper for the win.  Lucky I had my over-shoes on!!  Thanks to Macdonald Shaw, Walkinshaw Performance, Charter Mason, Fitzroy Cycles, all my team mates but most importantly thanks to the coaches.