GARETH OWEN of VS Cycles was the best-placed Huddersfield finisher in the Eddie Soens Memorial Handicap race at Aintree.

Owen finished 13th of the 160 riders, while teammates Ashley Marshall and Ben Kellett were 23rd and 28th respectively.

It wasn’t a good day for the Elite riders, who included Huddersfield duo Ed Clancy (Motorpoint-Marshalls Pasta), Tom Murray (Sigmasport Specialized) and Ben Swift (Team Sky), as the junior group succeeded in gaining a lap early on in the 30-lap race.

Joshua Edmondson (Motorpoint-Marshalls Pasta) claimed victory in the resulting bunch sprint.

The first round of the CDNW Youth series took place in Victoria Park, Southport, and two Huddersfield riders did well.

Jacob Scott (Holme Valley Wheelers) and Jake Womersley (Sowerby Bros) raced in the Under 16s and, over the two races, Womersley finished sixth and Scott eighth. Overall winner was Chris Latham (Sportcity Velo).

Huddersfield Star Wheelers’ Andy Pearson took part in round one of the Paramount Circuit Race Series in Shrewsbury and just missed out on the top-10 points placings.

The one-hour race for third and fourth Cat riders took place on a very tight but flat 1km circuit.

Pearson narrowly avoided a couple of early crashes but struggled to get a decent position for the finishing sprint and ended up outside the top 10.

Pearson is competing in the next two events in the series where he hopes to learn from his experience of the first round and pick up points.