www.cyclingbargains.com Racing Team Press Release 30-Mar-09

Four top ten places indicate a good year is to come

East Midlands based cycle racing team www.cyclingbargains.com - Infinis - Metaltek RT were in action in a number of races this weekend.

The fourth round of the Northants Cycle Racing Association Race Series was held in the village of Old in Northamptonshire on Saturday. Michael Cowland, Carl Dyson and David Palmer were all placed in the scratch group alongside 2008 Ras de Cymru winner Tim Carter, 2008 Race Series NCRA champion Matt Barratt and current overall leader Brett Harwood. The scratch group worked hard to catch the groups ahead before Michael launched an attack and was joined by Matt and Brett who caught the remainder of the field before contesting the sprint, which saw Brett pip Michael into second, with Matt a tyre width behind in 3rd. Michael now lies second overall with one round to go.

At the same time Loughborough based Will Fox made it into an early break at Hillingdon Circuit race before securing 4th place on the line. In a change of tactic for Will he worked hard to drive the break rather than waiting the sprint at the end of the race, where so far this year he has secured a number of top 10 positions.

Will was less fortunate on Sunday in the Peter Young Memorial Race when he suffered a wheel problem and was unable to rejoin the main race after a change of wheel.

Meanwhile Martin Booth and Andy Swain travelled to Essex for the Tour of Dengie Marsh, a partly off road race in exposed and windy conditions.

On Sunday Matthew Fostun and Michael Cowland rode the 63 mile Bill Jinks Memorial Road Race in Staffordshire. Both riders went clear of the bunch with seven others after only three miles. The group of nine worked well together but were joined midway through the race by four others, which included former Elite rider Adrian Bird and a former Lincoln Grand Prix and Milk Race Stage winner Neil Martin. The thirteen riders stayed clear of the bunch and despite a number of attacks in the final miles the thirteen remained together until the finish, where Michael sprinted to 5th place with Matthew in 7th behind overall winner Adrian Bird.

Mathew Jennings, Dan Booth and Raphael Deinhart headed 230 miles north on Saturday evening supported by the team to ride the Tour of the Reservoir. The hilly 90 mile race in Northumberland was the second round of the British Cycling Premier Calendar event and was ran to perfection, on totally closed roads. An early group of 7 riders attacked and built up a lead of almost 50 seconds before Dan Booth managed to escape the main pack along with two other riders, in an attempt to join the break. The main field was in no mood to see small groups attack this early on, as a number of the main contenders, from some of the UK's top professional teams remained in the main bunch. After some 12 miles Booth was caught and a larger group slipped clear of the field to split the race. At this point the majority of the top names were in the front group of 23 riders and a lead of over 2 minutes quickly developed. However in the closing stages of the race the chasing pack, still containing Dan, Matt and Raph began to split with Matt making the front of the group. After over 3.5 hours of racing Matt was the best placed rider in 39th position with Dan 44th and Raph 50th. The race was won by Halfords Andy Tennant.

Michael Cowland said, "It's still only March and the results have started to improve, we are all looking forward to what should be a very entertaining summer of races."

A spokes person for the teams initial sponsor www.cyclingbargains.com, who retail cycle parts and accessories said, "We are delighted to see so many riders doing well at the early stage of the season. 2009 is already proving a busy and growing year for cycle racing and we have seen business increase as more people are turning to their bikes."