Four on tour in Hull

This season it would seem that if if an event has a Team Sales Engine rider in it then there is a high chance it will be glowing a gale!

Four of the team made the ludicrous 6 hour round trip this weekend to ride the Tem Swift 10 on the hallowed V718 just outside Hull. The course has always been talked of as one of the quickest in the country, and from the results of the day there is no doubt it is rapid.

Sam Hayes was the first rider from the team to race in the morning, overcoming the 20 mph winds to come back with a storming 22:22. Rik Palmer was up next and returned with a fantastic 23:02, followed by Steve Robinson who clocked his 2nd fastest 10 in the last 10 years with 23:35 and finally Paul King with 24:31.

Given the strength of the wind on the day it suggests that all four riders can re-set their PB's on the right day, so no doubt there will be more trips to Hull in 2012.

Rik, David and Chris racing at Cambourne

Rik Palmer, Chris Hartley and David Ledgerton were in action at the Chronos RT 10 on the F2 on Saturday. Conditions were good but not outstanding and Rik managed to clock his second fastest time of the year with 23:13. David and Chris both clocked a 25 something, but that is all the info we have at the moment.

PB for Steve at Blenheim Palace

Sunday morning saw Steve Robinson competing in his favourite event of the season around the grounds of Blenheim Palace.

The lumpy and completely traffic free course presents a pretty unique challenge as there are fast descents on narrow roads with a high number of riders on the circuit placing an emphasis on bike handling as well as pure speed.

On the day Steve took advantage of the good conditions to take 21 seconds off his previous best time to record 33:43 for the 12.3 miles to finish 62nd out of the 165 competitors.

Victoria CC series - Salesengine have 3 in the top 10!

After three of the four rounds of the Victoria CC10.2 series on the E1 Team Salesengine have more riders in the top ten than any other team.

With one round to go Rik Palmer is in 5th place, Paul King is 7th and Steve Robinson is 9th.

All three will miss the final round at the end of August due to being in action at the Team Swift Charity event in Hull, but should all still be able to finish in the top fifteen overall. After the team win in the second round of the series it has been one of the best events for the team this year.

July results - so many top rides!

It's been a crazy month with members of the team racing all over the South East racking up some strong results. The wind has still been consistently strong so those PB days haven't quite arrived, but the palcings have been good.

On the 9th July Rik Palmer and Dave Wentworth competed in the Beds Road CC 10 on the F1. It wasn't the best of days but Rik grabbed a superb 19th place with 23:29 closely followed by Dave who recorded 24:00 to get into the top 30.

At the Verulam CC 25 Chris Hartley was in action and rode well to record 1:04:16 on a tough day.

Rik and Dave returned to the F1 for the Hitchin Nomads CC 10. Rik went slightly quicker than earlier in the month with 23:25 for 20th place while Dave slipped back slightly to 24:19 to finish 33rd.

At the end of the month we had five riders in action at the third round of the Victoria CC 10.2 on the E1. On the best day of the three so far Rik Palmer was again the teams quickest rider with 24:48 for 20th place. Ride of the day goes to Paul King who was just 12 seconds behind Rik to take 22nd spot. Steve Robinson was next with 25:38, David Ledgerton clocked 26:57 and Chris Parkes enjoyed his first outing on the tough course with 27:41.

Chris Hartley & Rik Palmer in action at the Whitewebbs CC

Chris and Rik both turned up to the F20/10 outside Hertford with high hopes of 10 mile PB's.

As it turned out the event wasn't quite as fast as hoped but Rik still managed to clock the fastest 10 time of any Team Salesengine rider this year with 22:05 and Chris clocked his 3rd fastest 10 ever with 23:33.

Top rides from both lads!

Dave Wentworth posts 3rd fastest 25 ever, Paul King just misses a PB

Dave Wentworth continued his battle for his 25 PB at the Icknield RC 25. A good, but not perfect, morning on the F1 greeted Dave and he stormed round the Tempsford F1 course in 59:06 to clock his 3rd fastest time ever at the distance.

Meanwhile Paul King had driven a total of in excess of 400 miles to try for his 10 mile PB on the Levens course in the Lakes District. War and dry conditions promised a good performance and PK managed a rapid 23:16, which was just 18 seconds off his lifetime best.

Sales Engine take a team win at the Victoria CC

Team Sales Engine pulled off their first team win of the year at the second round of the Victoria CC 10.2 mile series on the E1.

Rik Palmer led the team home with 24:50 and was closely followed by Paul King with 25:30 and Steve Robinson with 25:35.

Chris Parkes makes his debut, Sam bags a win!

What a weekend! Strong winds, torrential rain, hail and sunshine, it seems the team were out racing through all of it!

Chris Parkes made his debut for the team on Saturday in the Northampton & District 15 on the N1. Although he may not have been completely satisfied with his time of 41:59 it was a great start given the conditions, and he will no doubt be flying by August.

Sam Hayes was quickest of the team with 36:11 to take 19th place followed by Steve Robinson who clocked 37:30 to pip Rik Palmer by 5 seconds. They took 26th and 27th place.

This all meant that Sam has consolidated his 4th place in the overall for series and Steve has climbed up to 9th.

On the Sunday morning Sam then competed in the Beds Road Spoco 10, which he won in 23:59 to put him 30 seconds clear of the rest of the field. Top form Sam, well done!

Meanwhile, across in Cambridgeshire, Dave Wentworth and Chris Hartley were doing battle with the conditions on the (occasionally rapid, but mostly windy it seems) E2/25.

Chris was the quickest with a storming 1:00:57 (his 4th fastest 25 ever) whilst Dave was copping the full force of the wind and rain to record a soaked 1:02:30. Top times from both given that it was a long way from a good day out there.

Sure this wind will die down soon chaps :-)

Chris Hartley back on form

3 members of the team were in action on Saturday afternoon at the ECCA event on the E2. Once more it was a stupidly windy day, but it seems nobody told Chris Hartley this as he managed to blast round the course in 23:21 to get within 2 seconds of his lifetime best. A simply stunning ride given the conditions, and a sign that a PB is just a good day away.

Dave Wentworth was also in action, and managed to continue his run of strong form to lead the team home and pip Chris by a single second with 23:20.

Frustrated rider of the day award goes to Rik Palmer who was on for a short 21 minute ride which would have put him right up there in the results, only for a puncture to scupper him with a mile to go. Despite crusing in on a flat tyre he still recorded 23:23 to put all of the team within 3 seconds of each other!