TWO riders with winning reputations raced to success on Hampshire courses last weekend.

A third travelled north in search of a higher level of competition - and clocked top ten placings in two cyclo-cross meetings.

He was Stuart Bowers (Hargroves Cycles RT) who "warmed up" for the second National Trophy race of the season by finishing third, 1min 20sec behind winner Dave Collins (Science in Sport) in the 15-mile East Midlands premier race at Misterton in Leicestershire - on his way to Matlock, Derbyshire for the major race of the weekend.

Bowers repeated his seventh place in the opening round of the series at Cheltenham a fortnight ago to earn more points in his quest for international selection this winter.

Teammate Tim Dunford, runner-up behind him in the Wessex League last winter, chose Salisbury RC's Wessex League meeting at Timsbury in the Test Valley to make a start in the current campaign, but his hopes of a win after a successful summer on the road were dashed by Paul Lloyd (Didcot, Phoenix).

Putting relatively low key performances behind him, Lloyd adapted to the extremely fast conditions of the farmland course better than Dunford to record his first league win of the season with over a minute to spare, but the battle for third place behind these two was much closer. Veterans champion Andy MacDonald (GA Cycles) held out to cross the line four seconds ahead of his squad's new signing, Tom Rudd, the winning junior.

Veterans, led by Ray Hughes (Clarence Wheelers), filled the top three places in the New Forest CC autumn ten-mile time trial between Ringwood and Sopley. He won in style too, equalling the course record of 21min 47sec set by the Isle of Wight's Mark Armstrong the year he competed in the World Junior Championships 13 years ago.

This was Hughes's 26th success of the season and, like most of the previous 25, he won with comparative ease. There was a much closer scrap between the next five for second place, won by Glenn Longland (Antelope RS Holdings RT) who also led the winning team.

Rowan Horner (VC St Raphael Waite Contracts), runner-up in the 28-mile Goodwood Classic time trial in West Sussex, also finished as a team leader, backed up by clubmates Simon Berogna (last year's winner) and Malcolm Cox.

That was not the only surprising outcome in this Bognor Regis CC promotion. More fancied entrants were upstaged by Mike Coyle (VC Etoile) a 41 year-old school teacher from Brighton making his first appearance in the 35th edition of this popular time trial.