A NUMBER of Colchester Rovers' road racing protagonists have been in action, picking up points with strong performances at a range of circuits.

The Suffolk Cycle Race Series has been continuing at Ipswich's Trinity Park.

In a race for fourth category riders only there was a mix of stop-start racing and sometimes questionable racing lines, with riders battling to stay out of trouble as the bunch sprinted repeatedly out of the corners.

Among them was Rovers' Paul Goldsmith, who only needed a top ten finish to secure the points needed for elevation to his third category licence.

Goldsmith had the racing nous to know the safest place among these riders was to be found at the front of the group, and he had the legs to achieve it.

Staying in the front few riders throughout, Goldsmith worked hard to position himself well coming into the final lap. Knowing that he didn't need to contest the sprint finish, he safely rolled in in eighth place, giving him the necessary points to move up to third category.

Rovers' Martin Hunter and Terry Smith raced in the category three and four race on the road circuit at London's Lee Valley Velopark and on the fast, smooth circuit, both showed they are currently going well.

After a short while with the peloton sticking together, two riders managed to slip off the front and worked well together to stay away for the rest of the race.

This left the bunch nervously gearing up for the sprint finish to secure the remaining podium spot.

Hunter has fearsome power in a bunch kick and got his position just right into the finishing straight before putting the power down to clinch third place by some margin.

That has put him within a point of gaining his second category licence.

Behind him, Smith had a good outing to come 20th after an average speed for the race well over 26mph and the last lap at nearly 28mph.

Meanwhile, a sunny Wednesday evening saw the latest edition of Colchester Rovers' midweek time trial series, raced over the Langham course.

Rovers' Stuart Weatherly went quickest in the pleasant conditions, clocking a very fast 22 minutes 36 seconds.

This put him 30 seconds up on second-placed Matthew Bond, who was 20 seconds quicker than Amis Velo's Keith Randle.

There was an excellent ride from Rovers youngster Oli Partner, who had borrowed his dad's TT bike to clock a 25m 38s personal best (PB).

This represented something of a passing of the baton between the generations as, in the process, Partner junior beat Partner senior's PB on the course by 23 seconds!

With the changes to the road layout and roundabout at the top of Nayland Road, cars now seem not to slow as they used to at the junction, which forms the mid-course turning point for the riders.

In reviewing this development after the race, the Rovers time trial committee decided that the risk to riders was markedly increased and, with some sadness, declared that the Langham course would not be used again.