Second in last weekend’s Norma Bains Memorial road race, Matt Cronshaw (IG-Sigma Sport) went one better to open his account for the season with victory in the feature race of the Lewis Balyckyi Memorial Crits on the Palatine Circuit in Blackpool.
Cronshaw got the better of Dillon Byrne (Champion Systems-Maxgear-Base) in a hard-fought sprint with a gap of 24 seconds to Richard Hepworth (Node4 Giordana Racing), who led in a four-man group battling for third place with the rest of the field a lap down.
“It’s the first win of the year for me and I’m really happy to have done it remembering an awesome guy,” said 25-year-old Cronshaw.
The supporting senior race ended in a bunch sprint won by Dan Spashett (Team Wheelguru).
James Ellmore (Mid Shropshire Wheelers) soloed to a 17-second victory in the Youth A race, while the other age group races were split between Bolton Hot Wheels CC, with wins for Theo Hartley and Benjamin Peatfield, and Mossley CRT who landed a double through brothers Robert and James Donaldson.
The event was run in memory of late age-group champion Lewis Balyckyi who died, aged 18, two years ago in an accident while training.
