CYCLING: Helen turns the tables with controlled victory.

Byline: By JOHN WILKINSON 

EXACTLY a year after scoring her first National Trophy cyclo-cross win at the same venue, Helen Wyman turned in a repeat performance at Mallory Park to take the lead in this season's competition with one round to go.

The difference was that this time the Rugby-based rider controlled the five-lap race from the start to finish 1-21 clear of British champion Louise Robinson (Stourbridge CC), with Victoria Wilkinson (Science In Sport.com) a further 17 seconds down and losing the leader's jersey to Wyman.

"It was really hard, but I knew I had to go from the gun and get a bit of confidence," said Wyman (Team Bottecchia) who was hanging on to Wilkinson's wheel for most of last year's race until the final lap.

Wilkinson, who is also based in Rugby, suffered a first-lap fall in the cold and slippery conditions which dropped her into fourth place, but after a hard chase she overhauled Gabriella Day (Team Bottecchia) to secure third place.

It leaves her four points behind Wyman going into the final race at Dudley on December 12 with six the difference between first and second places on the day.

Coventry-based MI Racing-Fuji Bikes had three finishers in the top eleven in the veterans race.

Defending champion Andy Key extended his unbeaten run in this year's series with a winning margin of 2-07 over David Stevens (Leeds Premier) and Andy Barnard (VC Linclon), with Andy Shaw another nine seconds down in fourth spot and Adrian Jackson 11th.

Rugby's Martin Eadon (Evans Cycles RT) finished eighth with Rugby Velo pair Gary Hipwell 27th and Phil Roach 31st. Mick Ives (MI RAcing) was tenth over-50.

Belgian amateur champion David Willemsens left the home riders trailing to win the elite mens race, skimming across the mud in effortless fashion to finish 45 seconds clear of nearest challenger Jody Crawforth (Evans Cycles RT).

Steve Knight (MI Racing) never recovered from a slow start and finished 19th, while Lewis Harris (Rugby Velo) took 11th in the juniors.

Former Midlands champion Darren Atkins was forced to miss the event after cracking two ribs in a heavy fall a week earlier.

The Coventry rider, who returned to racing after a ten-month break, came to grief at a stream crossing in Royal Sutton CC's West Midlands League event .

CAPTION(S):

OVERHAULED: Previous leader Victoria Wilkinson