Primavera 2024

IT’S ALWAYS sweet when a well-laid plan comes to fruition, and that was certainly the case on a
memorable day for the Okehampton Cycling Club on ‘home’ territory at the Primavera Road Race.

Oke CC duo Jon Hobbs and Lloyd Copp and Exeter Wheelers training mate Tristan Kelsall-Spurr were all seeded in the first group away in the annual curtain-raising 44-mile Mid-Devon CC promotion based at nearby Hatherleigh. They had an eight-minute start on the ‘scratch’ group, and Copp revealed: “We thought if we really worked together, we might stay away.
“It’s something we talked about for weeks, but saying it is one thing, doing it is another.
“Luckily, each of us was strong at the right times, and we managed to pull it off.”

Hobbs pipped Copp on the line in one hour 44mins 45secs, with Kelsall-Spurr three seconds away in third place. The mild conditions saw them finish more than five minutes faster than the 2023 edition. The trio were just over a minute clear of a 14-man chasing group which included former national junior hill climb and British Universities RR champion George Kimber (Spirit TBW Stuart Hall Racing) and ex-Team Raleigh and Saint Piran star Steve Lampier (Kernow RT).
Fourth was Tom Bowden (Reflex Racing), the first Junior was 5th-placed Nick Makin of MDCC and
Kimber was sixth. Eve Newton (Army CU) was the first Lady (2.05.13).

The MDCC’s next major promotion is the 50th Anniversary Totnes-Vire 2-Day stage race over the May 25/26 weekend. The four stages include what promises to be a short, sharp and spectacular half-mile Sunday morning TT up Torquay’s Oddicombe Hill as Stage Three.

Position	Rider Number	First Name	Last Name	Club	Time	Junior
1	5	Jonathan	Hobbs	Okehampton Cycle Club	01:44:45
2	3	Lloyd	Copp	Okehampton Cycle Club	st
3	6	Tristan	Kelsall-Spurr	Exeter Wheelers	@ + 3secs
4	61	Thomas	Bowden	Reflex Racing	@ 1 min 5 secs
5	65	Nick	Makin	Mid Devon CC	st	J
6	83	George	Kimber	Spirit TBW Stuart Hall Cycling	st
7	60	Dylan	Sage	Cannibal B Victorious	st
8	41	Ewan	Dix	trainSharp Development Team	st	J
9	67	Oscar	Pratt	05/03	st
10	31	Ian	Cullen	Mid Devon CC	st
11	50	George	Watch	Mid Devon CC	st	J
12	44	Thomas	Gardner	University of Exeter Cycling Club	st
13	66	Ben	Meek	Mid Devon CC	st	J
14	68	Mathys	Venter	Cardiff Ajax CC	st	J
15	40	Matty	Beecher	05/03	st
16	28	Shaun	Davey	Mid Devon CC	st
17	47	Abraham	Reid	Durham University Cycling Club	st
17	62	Iwan	Clark	Team Pau	@ 1 min 7 secs	J
18	64	Piers	Mahn	Halesowen A & CC	@ 1min 30 secs
19	81	Alistair	Gardner	Velo Club Venta	@ 1min 58 secs	J
20	88	Jack	Southcott	05/03	st
21	89	Oliver	Wade	KSV Deerlijk VZW	@ 2 mins 3 secs	J
22	80	Travis	Bramley	Plymouth Corinthian CC	st
23	84	Steve	Lampier	Kernow Racing Team	@ 2 mins 24 secs
24	49	Harvey	Thomas	Steele Davis Via Roma	@ 2 mins 31 secs
25	30	Corey	Bale	BGE	@ 3mins 30 secs
26	48	Joseph	Staddon	Army Cycling Union	st
27	20	Ed	Ayres	Reflex Racing	st
28	91	Luke	Wyatt	Cardif Ajax CC	st
29	87	Ryu	Roberts Hayamizu	Halesowen A & CC	st	J
30	25	Nigel	Polkinghorne	Duchy Velo	@ 3mins 38 secs
31	82	Reuben	Heal	Team Tor 2000 Kalas	@ 3mins 44 secs
32	42	Thomas	Dobson	Army Cycling Union	@ 3mins 54 secs
33	17	James	Kelly	–	@ 5 mins 7 secs
34	18	Hamish	Johnstone	Swansea Uni	@ 7 mins 22 secs
35	69	James	Williams	Reflex Racing	@ 9 mins 2 secs
36	13	Jason	Shortland	–	st
37	45	Michael	Hooper	05/03	@ 9 mins 20 secs
38	12	William	Scaplehorn	–	@ 15 mins 5 secs
39	26	Michael	Smith	Plymouth Corinthian CC	st
40	23	Ian	Gaffney	Mid Devon CC	st
41	29	Andrew	Hitchens	Mid Devon CC	@ 20 mins 28 secs
42	9	Eve	Newton	Army Cycling Union	st
43	63	Jason	Kettle	Mid Devon CC	@ 21 mins 54 secs
44	16	Ben	Zissimos	–	@ 23 mins 14 secs
45	1	Paul	Broom	Somerset Road Club	st
46	10	Claire	Pile	05/03	st
47	11	Catriona	Ross	Bridport CC	st
48	21	Chun Yin	Choi	–	st