TWO of the region's top time trialists have been delayed by punctures several times already this season but the annoying delays have had different results for the riders.

While flat tyres have put Glenn Longland (Antelope RS Holdings RT) out of contention in two of his races the same problem hasn't stopped Rowan Horner (VC St Raphael Waite Contracts) from winning on two occasions.

After escaping without a time penalty when he punctured immediately before starting Hampshire RC's Harting "hardriders" race which he won last month, Horner ended a run of second placings by returning to winning ways on Sunday. This was despite puncturing again, and he repeated the feat a few hours later to end a hectic weekend on two wheels.

His first success came a day after he and clubmates, Simon Berogna and Steve Walkling, were narrowly beaten into second place in a team time trial organised by Longland's club in Oxfordshire, after passing the half-way point holding an 11 second lead over a Liphook Cycles RT.

The latter, comprising Lee Day, Peter Kench and Paul Pickup, turned that slender deficit into a winning margin of 25 seconds to take the honours with a time of 1h 8m 34s for the 50 kilometre race, to leave VC St Raphael with the opportunity to make amends in the A3 CRG 25-mile team time trial near Petersfield the following morning.

Paul Haggerty took Horner's place in the St Raphael squad for this event but the new trio were beaten into second place again, this time by a well drilled API Resprays team of Sam Barker, Zak Carr and Simon Wright. These three clocked 62-42 to win by just over a minute while a puncture-free Longdland accompanied by Matt Parton and Steve Wood took 57-17 to fill third spot.

Horner was one of 46 entrants in this event who opted for the two-up race, paired with his ex-clubmate and national 100 mile tandem record holder, Chris Birch (Evans Cycles RT).

This renewed partnership proved to be a winning combination, even though the pair lost time when Horner punctured approaching 20 miles, for their finishing time of 52-2 was still too quick for all their rivals.

The Andover Wheelers pair, Phil Bowley and Jake Prior, beat last year's winners, Paul Flight and Brian Greensmith (Primera Bournemouth) by 13 seconds to finish second, but while this race was enough for most of its competitors Horner dashed off to Goodwood, West Sussex, for the first Surrey League circuit meeting at Goodwood, where he won again, in the 60-mile race for the highest racing category.

RESULTS:

Antelope RT team tt Thame: 1 Liphook Cycles RTX 50km in 1-8-34, 2 VC St Raphael in 1-8-59, 3 Long Eaton CC in 1-9-16.

A3 CRG team tt Liss: 1 API Bikes, 25 miles in 52-42, 2 VC St Raphael 53-45, 3 Antelope RT 57-12, 4 Bournemouth Arrow CC 58-54, 5 Oxonian CC 59-29, 6 Charlotteville CC 1-0-30. Duo Race: 1 VC St R Evans Cycles RT 54-2, 2 Andover Wheelers 54-47, 3 Primera Bournemouth 55-0, 4 A3 CRG 55-3, 5 Primera Bournemouth 56-27, 6 Prestige VC 57-15, 7 Northovers Veterans RT 57-20, 8 Off the Record Velocity 57-44, 9 Northovers Veterans RT 59-20, 10 Liphook Cycles RT) 59-20, 16 New Forest CC/Salisbury RC 1-4-2, 19 Antelope RT 1-12-47.