Brilliant Mildenhall Results for Phil - Soph's Rally Report

The Bank Holiday weekend saw Phil Lisher and Simon Layfield in action for Team Welwyn at the famous Mildenhall Cycling Rally in Suffolk. With Phil having already secured the overall win in the season-long National 800M Grass Track Series and lying second in the National 8km Grass Track Series, Mildenhall hosted the last rounds of each and gave an opportunity for Phil to cement podium finishes in his first successes at National level.

The Sunday events commenced with a Keirin race for senior Group B riders, in which Layfield, now coming back to form after a year of below par performances following a back injury, won his heat with ease. Lisher followed with a heat win, executed with the same aplomb in the A Keirin. The finals proved to be a somewhat tougher nut to crack with Simon finishing fifth and Phil going one better with fourth in their respective events.

In the Senior B Devil take the Hindmost Simon was a good sixth, while Phil crossed the line in fourth place in the Senior A Points Devil but with the overall result rather unclear. The Senior B 3KM Scratch followed after some rain breaks and into the teeth of a strong and cold wind, which was making going tough in the back-straight, riding strongly Simon finished in seventh place after an attack by Alex Avery, Spalding CC, split the field.

In the final round of the 8KM Scratch Series Phil was up against the strong Cottingham Coureurs duo of Richard Lambert and Matthew Fenton. Lambert had already secured the Series win and could not be overtaken, however Phil, lying second overall, was potentially vulnerable with Fenton capable of overtaking him for the silver medal position if he could put a few places between the two contenders, taking maximum points and finishing at least three places above Phil.

Aware of the danger Phil rode towards the front of the race from the start and cannily covered an excellent early move by Simon Daw, CC Sudbury, knowing Daw’s strength from previous encounters throughout the season. Followed up by Fenton there was soon a good move going smoothly away from the bunch and as the pace piled on at the front Daw dropped back toward the bunch, leaving Philo and Matthew Fenton at the head of affairs. As the gap lengthened and they started to lap some of the back-markers, Lambert realised the danger and took off in pursuit but could make little impression on the flying duo, in spite of riding the remainder of the bunch off his wheel.

As Phil and Matthew lapped the flagging field, Phil attacked and opened a gap on his rival which gradually widened as the race progressed. Lambert also made contact with the bunch and picked up and dropped his team mate to take second place behind a very dominant, tactically astute and stylish ride from Phil. Second place in the 8km National Series secure Phil could relish a job well done and look forward to Monday’s final round of the 800M Series.

With Monday proving to be somewhat warmer and drier than Sunday, the track was in top form for the shorter, faster effort required in the 800M Series. With Simon Layfield having other commitments for the Bank Holiday, Phil was Team Welwyn’s sole representative but he certainly made his mark.

Starting with heats Phil took the front from the start and completely dominated to take a good solid win and make his intentions clear. The semi-final was a similarly dominant performance in spite of the fact that the seeding for the event put the Series second placed rider and former World Speedway Champion, Tim Snook of Ipswich BC in the same semi-final as Phil. Going into the Final there was a superb field of Grass Track experts assembled, including 2010 National 400M Champion Rowan Elliott, VC St. Raphael, a daunting line-up and with the Series already in the bag, would Phil rise to the challenge? Not really a question that needed asking as it turned out, after seeing off an early challenge from Rowan Elliott Phil took the front and dominated the final, in complete control as he took a superb win.

Thanks are due to expert volunteer pusher Ian Clarke of Fenland Clarion, who ably assisted Phil through all the 800M rounds.

Editor's note: check some photos from the Mildenhal Rally on Flickr here.