National Series reaches halfway with McCrystal in charge

The revised Cycling Ireland National Road Series has reached its halfway point with the Tom Bourke Spring Classic in Connacht at the weekend. The series takes a break this weekend, before resuming next Sunday with the Leinster classic Shay Elliott memorial event.

Taking stock at the halfway mark, and the Series seems to be a success, with riders regularly crossing the country to compete in major events outside their home province.

The first eight counters for the series have thrown up seven different winners, with Ulster the only province to not yet chalk up a win.

Interestingly the first four places on the draft points table shows one rider from each of the four Provinces holding the top four places; further evidence that the format seems to be popular with riders from all corners of the country.

One figure looms large at the top of that table; the only rider to have won two rounds of the series – Team Asea rider Bryan McCrystal. Not only has he, and the mighty boys in blue dominated domestic racing, but they also found time to take part in a one-day Europe Tour UCI event in England last weekend, where one of their number, Roger Aiken was up there sprinting for the win.

McCrystal has already `ticked all boxes` for the National series, by recording scores in three provinces and also recording scores in five counting events, so his points tally will only increase by dropping off scores.

Not all front runners have yet scored points in five events, so the table below shows their best scores in 3 Provinces – one of the pre-requisites for the Series.

It is most likely not until towards the end of the Series, which now concludes with the re-scheduled North Down GP on Sunday 23rd August, that a full picture is likely to emerge.

The full table of points to date is available here -
http://www.cyclingireland.ie/page/events/national-road-series-2015/overall-rankings

National Series after 8 rounds, showing riders best 3 scores across 3 provinces.

Pos

Name

Team

Points

Prov

1

Bryan McCrystal

Team Asea

174

L

2

Sean Lacey

Team Aquablue

137

M

3

Fraser Duncan

Team Asea

117

U

4

Patrick Clarke

Liquidworx Fitscience

112

C

5

Simon Ryan

Mego Racing Team

106

M

6

Christopher Reilly

Team Asea

103

L

7

Angus Fyffe

Omagh Wheelers CC

99

U

8

David Brennan

Castlebar CC

84

C

9

Ian Richardson

UCD CC

70

L

10

Daire Feeley

Team iTap

78

C

Counting event winners

Round 1.              Simon Ryan.                     Mego Racing Team          (Munster)
 Round 2.              Bryan McCrystal.              Team Asea                                          (Leinster)
 Round 3.              Mark Dowling.                   Dunboyne CC.                   (Leinster)
 Round 4.              Bryan McCrystal               Team Asea                                          (Leinster)
 Round 5.              Dermot Radford.              Tipp Whs                                   (Munster)
 Round 6               Martyn Irvine                    Madison Genesis                     (Leinster)
 Round 7.              Paidi O`Brien                    Osborne Meats                (Munster)
 Round 8.              Patrick Clarke                   Liquidworx Fitscience     (Connacht)

 

Remaining rounds

Round 9.              Sun 10th May.     Shay Elliott Memorial.      Leinster
Round 10.            Sat 13th June.     Bobby Crilly Classic.        Ulster*
Round 11.            Sun 14th June.    Donamon GP.                  Connacht
Round 12.            Sun 5th July.        Eddie Tobin Mem.           Leinster
Round 13.            Sun 12th July.      Tralee Manor West GP.  Munster
Round 14.            Sun 9th August.    Dan O`Donovan Mem.   Munster
Round 15.            Sat 15th August.   John Beggs Memorial.   Ulster*
Round 16.            Sun 23rd August.  North Down GP.             Ulster*

*Riders reminded of the number limits for Ulster events, and details of on-line entries opening dates will be published on cyclingireland.ie

A Mitchell April 2015.