STEVE WALKLING came agonisingly close to claiming his first race win of the season around the New Forest circuit in New Milton with an impressive time of 1hr 16min 41sec.

Walkling, from the Portsmouth-based VC St Raphael Waite Contracts team looked to have done enough after beating last year's winner and clubmate Simon Brooks over the 32-mile circuit. Unfortunately for Walkling, Paul Pickup of Liphook Cycles R.T, was in top form and able to follow up his victory in the previous week's Rother Valley CC 25 at Petersfield by knocking 16 seconds off the course record set by Clive Brooks (VC Camelot) five years ago to win again, in 1.14:16.

Former winners Malcolm Cox (third this time) and Glenn Longland (fifth) and fellow elite category roadmen Henry Lodge and David Barclay were also beaten by the impressive Pickup.

Walkling did have the satisfaction of leading the winning team with Cox and Simon Berogna, but he returned home wondering if he is going to win a race outright this season after finishing second again for the second day running.

Last week's Bournemouth Arrow 25-mile winner, Aron Stanton, took the place of Malcolm Cox to help the St Raphael squad win the team honours in the Hampshire RC's Phil Smith Memorial 10 race near Chichester. Walkling was 13 seconds off the pace of race winner Jon Sharples (In Gear RT).

The prospects of a local rider winning the Vectis Off-Shore Sports CC series of time trials came a step closer on the final day when Dave Dent (SP Systems Wightlink RT) beat defending champion Ray Hughes (Clarence Wheelers) by 42 seconds in the 46-mile race.

Dent narrowly missed out on winning overall after failing to restore the 22-second deficit which separated him from Hughes - after Hughes had won the nine and 24-mile events held earlier.

Island riders were outnumbered by mainland cyclists in the annual 100-kilometre randonnee, which has been staged by Wayfarers CTC since 1985. Many of the 1,159 participants took a day trip from Southampton to take part in the annual event. Results:

New Forest CC Circuit of the Forest TT, New Milton: 1 Paul Pickup (Liphook Cycles RT) 32 miles in 1.14:16, 2 S Walkling (VC St Raphael) 1.16:41, 3 MCox (VC St Raphael) 1.16:42; 4 G Longland (Antelope RT) 1.17:33, 5 P Foxwell (Bournemouth Jubilee Wheelers) 1.17:58, 6 H Lodge (RDM Flanders) 1.18:9, 7 S Berogna (VC St Raphael) and S Brooks (VC St Raphael) 1.18:37, 9 R Robinson (Off the Record VeloCity) 1.20:30, 10 A Stanton (VC St Raphael) 1.20:39, 15 I Bishop (New Forest CC) 1.23:09.

Hampshire R.C. Phil Smith Memorial 10, Fontwell: 1 Jon Sharples (In Gear RT) 20:48, 2 S Walkling (VC St Raphael) 21:01, 3 J Dear (IGRT) 21:21, 4 A Stanton (VC St Raphael) & P Woodman (Eastbourne Rovers) 21:23, 6 L Myers (Portsmouth North End CC) 21:31, 7 S Emmerson (Epsom CC) 21:40, 8 S Berogna (VC St Raphael) 21:44, 9 M Davey (ER) 21:50, 10 A Dawson (Northovers Veterans RT) 22:05.

Vectis Off-Shore Sports CC 9, Godshill: 1 Ray Hughes (Clarence Wheelers) 21:27, 2 D Dent (SP Systems Wightlink RT) 21:40, 3 E Perry (Vectis Off-Shore Sports CC) 22:14, 4 D Perkins (VOSSCC) 22:23, 5 G Stirzaker (Anglia Sport Condor) 22:26, 6 S William (VOSSCC) 22:55.

Vectis 24: 1 Ray Hughes, 57:39, 2 D Dent, 58:30, 3 G Stirzaker, 58:57, 4 D Perkins, 58:58, 5 E Perry, 1.0:12, 6 D Spragg (VOSSCC) 1.02:36.

Vectis 46: 1 D Dent, 2.0:42, 2 R Hughes, 2.01:0, 3 D Perkins, 2.03:50, 4 G Stirzaker, 2.04:53, 5 D Spragg, 2.08:0, 6 S Williams, 2.08:08.

Overall: 1 Ray Hughes, 3hr 20min 6sec, 2 D Dent, at 22sec, 3 D Perkins, at 5min 5sec, 4 G Stirzaker, at 6min 10sec, D Spragg, at 14min 9sec. 6 S Williams, at 14min 28sec.