Mark Smith and Lisa Davis finished top man and woman in the East Sussex CA 50-mile time trial on Sunday morning.

Mark Smith (Crawley Wheelers) added another tick to his tally for the season as he racked up his fifth win of the season and second just this month.

The 44-year-old veteran from Lindfield was the second-to-last rider to start the event and managed to pump in a time of 1-49-23 to take the win by the narrowest of margins.

The win led Smith to his second victory in the 50-mile ESCA event after winning last year’s running of the time trial.

A mere 11 seconds was all that separated Smith and second-placed Pete Morris (Team ASL) who were in a class of their own.

Morris has had a consistent 2018, finishing no lower than sixth but his time of 1-49-34 and the small gap of 11 seconds to Smith means that Morris will have to wait another race for his maiden win of the year.

Morris’s second place mirrored that of last year’s event but Mark Emsley improved on his fourth place from 2017 to finish on the podium this year.

Emsley (Crawley Wheelers) added to his five podium finishes of 2018 and held off Robert Rollings (Lewes Wanderers CC) to take third place by 34 seconds with a 1-54-25.

Lisa Davis (Lewes Wanderers CC) was the fastest female of the day ahead of team-mate Gina McGeever with a time of 2-07-31.

The 43-year-old’s form has been impressive with seven podiums out of eight previous events. Her win makes it two for the season, coming off the back of a victory in the Southborough & District Wheelers 25-mile event last week.

Second-place McGeever equalled her best finish from 2018, recording her third second-place of the season.

* All reports are copyright of Cycling Time Trials/Snowdon Sports. Not to be used without permission. This report by Jack Cudworth.

Results:

Mark Smith (Crawley Wheelers)        1:49.23

Pete Morris (Team ASL)        1:49.34

Mark Emsley (Crawley Wheelers)      1:54.25

Robert Rollings (Lewes Wanderers CC)        1:54.59

Michael Davey (Eastbourne Rovers CC)       1:55.04

Neil Couchman (Soutborough & District Wheelers)  1:55.06

Robert Drake (Addiscombe CC)        1:55.50

David Clements (Eastbourne Rovers CC)      1:56.14

Tom Hilder (Hastings & St Leonards CC)     1:56.30

Rob Pelham (Lewes Wanderers CC)  1:57.16

Women:

1.      Lisa Davis (Lewes Wanderers CC)    2:07.31

2.      Gina McGeever (Lewes Wanderers CC)        2:12.52

Veteran: Mark Smith