L a t e s t  n e w s ..... Kelly Sage comes out of retirement to win British Indoor ahead of Alessia Thomas Jackson, Joe Ogden pushes James Foster into second in the men ... Ogden also wins final round of Salomon Xscape Indoor Series, Emily Whitelock wins girls race

'The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams' (Eleanor Roosevelt).

Bank Holiday Sunday and it must be racing on the South Coast.  A record entry for the Southampton Race did not look likely a few weeks ago yet the day of the race saw over a hundred and ten racers of all ages take to the ramp and down the slope!  The men's race was proof that plastic racing is vibrant and exciting: a strong field coming from all over the country assembled and although the outstanding favourite was Georgie Hunt (Hemel), he did not have it all his own way!  Hot on his tails were Dan Wyatt, rising talent from Wessex Jai Geyer and leading Welsh Team racer David Hatcher.  Although David Ryding was watching,  his younger sister made sure that the Ryding family took home more silverware for the mantelpiece.  Jo Ryding won the women's race ahead of a surprised but delighted Colette Carpenter and Charlotte Evans.  Charlotte Evans has leapt to prominence this summer with some thought provoking results up and down the country.  Winner of the Sunderland Grand Prix, Rachel Adcock, slipped to fourth after the third run.

The enterprising course, set by Gloucester's Nigel Street, was at first deemed to be too tight at the dog leg for many of the novice racers and after a slight reset, the course was set.  The race saw a high number of crashes lower down the course as many exited the verticale near the finish and sitting back to get maximum speed, they were unable to bring their bodies forward in time to deftly move their feet round the last few gates!  This made for exciting viewing for the crowd but upset the faster racers who had been hoping to get good results in ahead of the Grand Prix in Norwich next week.

The men's race saw Dan Wyatt grab the lead after the first run just ahead of Georgie Hunt.  Wyatt, determined to make amends for having been "crushed" by David Ryding in the North West Championships the day before, was delighted with his first run and hoped this was the way forward.  Having beaten Hunt only once before, Wyatt was keen to post faster times.  For Hunt, the ignominy of having finished third in the first Grand Prix of the season at his home slope, spurred him on and he went half a second faster for the second run.  While the fight between these two raged, Jai Geyer showed that he is starting to be a force to be reckoned with.  Not since the Brown brothers dominated dry slope racing in the early nineties has Wessex had something to shout about with conviction.  Geyer made the fourth fastest run of the day with his second run but sadly crashed out on the final run.  One to watch for the future!

The Women's run saw back to business for Jo Ryding: The disappointment of straddling at Sunderland in the Grand Prix has been laid to rest and Jo was comfortably fastest on all three runs.  Her combined time would have placed her 7th in the men's race!  Colette Carpenter from Christchurch took the runners up spot.  Carpenter does not race that often on the dry slopes and this result showed that she is a force to be reckoned with.  Trained by her father, Carpenter was delighted with this result and gave some of the regular racers something to think about!  Last season Charlotte Evans saw her younger sister picking up all the plaudits in the mini age group.  This season the roles have been reversed as Charlotte has got the bit between her teeth and is showing everyone that she too can race.  At the top of the Children 2 age group, Evans is now not just challenging for age group honours but has now realised that she can go for overall success as well!  This time was third overall but ahead of the likes of Rachel Adcock, winner in the Sunderland Grand Prix.

The age groups panned out as follows: Emily Evans (13th) made it a double family age group victory in winning the Children 1 girls ahead of Jordan Moss (20th) and Mollie Dendle (24th).  The Children 2 girls were won by Charlotte Evans ahead of Alexandra Askew (9th) and Kirsty Hatcher (10th). Children 1 in the boys was won by David Askew (17th) ahead of Graham Weston (29th) and Tom Walsh (30th).  In children 2 the boys ended up with Gerard Flahive winning (12th overall) with Ed Gardner second (20th) and Edward Akister third (25th).

The Junior 1 age group saw Colette Carpenter (2nd) take the spoils ahead of Stacey Luck (7th) and Danielle Freeze (8th).  In Junior 2, Jo Ryding won with Rachel Adcock (4th) ahead of Christina Pennock (5th).  The Junior men's race saw Lloyd Papantoniou (5th) just pip home town favourite Mike Colyer (6th) and Norfolk's Simon Beckett (7th).

In the Senior race, Lucy Newman won ahead of Janet Payne and Sarah Thornton.  Georgie Hunt took the men's race ahead of Pete Thelwell (4th) and Andrew du Plessis (14th).  Phil Brown proved that age is no stumbling block in beating your trainees in taking 9th overall and the Master's age group.  Sheila Driscoll won the ladies equivalent.

For full results click here

If you would like to see the thumbnails of the racers please click here