I felt sad driving up the A483 for the 5th time in just over a month. This was the final round of the Dolan series, and for a race I had never done before it was an experience in the U16 races. The sun was out again, the 3rd time we got lucky, and it wasn’t cold either. After watching a Salt Ayre rider crash in the warm up lap of the U14 race I was nervous going into the race, but by the time my race started the corner had dried up slightly. I got myself onto the second row and watched as a Sportcity rider was sent to the back after starting before the comissaire sad so.
Race 1
I clipped in quickly and sped off. My positioning was good, I was in about 7th or 8th position, and this meant that I avoided a crash on the hairpin near the beginning. The pace was really fast, as there was a break of 2 ahead, and Adam Bent attacked hoping to catch them up. I got on his wheel and we got a small lead on the peleton. I was desperately trying to keep up, as he was much faster at cornering than me, but we caught a Green Jersey rider who had been dropped. We passed and dropped him, and caught up to the Isle of Man rider in the lead.
All of us had a reason to try and stay away so we worked together well. After stretching out to 12 seconds, we had only 4 with 10 laps to go. It was looking like we were going to get caught, but then the peleton slowed. While they played cat-and-mouse, we were doing a 3-up TT, and we were slowly gaining on them. Another crash in the group slowed them down even more, and by 3 laps to go I realised we were going to stay away. The IOM rider attacked just before the final corner and caught me out, and I was in 3rd starting the sprint. And that’s where I stayed, and I came across the line absolutely delighted. This was one of my best ever results, and I had done it in a high standard race as a younger year.
Race 2
A short and fast way to end the Dolan, and once again I was towards the front. My positioning was awesome, I moved up when I needed to and was never really outside of the top 15. On the final lap I made sure I was towards the front, and was in 10th going around the final corner. Unfortunately 1 rider passed me leaving me in 11th, but the previous race more than made up for it!