TIME in every meaning of the word will tell if the new 25-mile course chosen by A3 CRG for its team time trial on the Petersfield bypass will match the speed potential of one used in the past.

But the individual record of 52min 42sec set by the Scot, Russell Anderson, winning the British junior championship three years ago, was eclipsed by Simon Berogna, Aran Stanton and Steve Walkling, writes Chris Davies.

The formidable VC St Raphael Waite Contracts trio took over four minutes out of their nearest rivals as they covered the revised route in 51.42 on a day when the wind was not helping speed.

The breeze blew against all the teams over the longest section.

The supporting race for teams of two was a more even contest, but Paul Flight and Brian Greensmith (Primera Bournemouth) were over a minute faster to beat Simon Ambrosini and Dave Dent (SP Systems Wightlink RT) from the Isle of Wight.

Several veteran combinations took part - and another 60 were on parade on Beaulieu Heath where Bournemouth Arrow Fircroft Hotel staged two races under League of Veteran Racing Cyclists rules.

Barry Mitchell (MI Racing) treated the 37-mile race for the over-55s like a time trial by breaking away on his own to win by six minutes from 63-year-old Mick Ives. Younger clubmate Rob O'Connor was one of three who contested the uphill sprint which decided the 44-mile race for the 40 to 54 year-olds, but had to settle for second as Paul Connelly (VC Meudon) got his front wheel across the line first.

A3 CRC team 25, Liss: 1 VC St Raphael (S Berogna, A Stanton & S Walkling) 51-42, 2 GS Stella (A Payne, P Wise & S Woodbridge) 55-53, 3 Northovers Veterans RT (T Cox, P Pickers & J Williams) 56-31, 4 Off the Record Velocity (S Damen, R Robinson & M Wickham) 56-56, 5 Antelope RT (M Parton, N Stroud & S Wood) 57-17, 6 Sotonia CC (R Burch, G Harman & J Legg) 58-24.

Two-up Race: 1 P Flight & B Greensmith (Primera Bournemouth) 53-16, 2 S Ambrosini & D Dent (S P Systems Wightlink RT) 54-25, 3 S Geran & J Limpus (GS Stella) 54-36, 4 M Edwards & P Younghusband (Tri UK) 54-57, 5 R Berogna & G Buckett (Off the Record Velocity) 55-14, 6 P Haggerty & G Kristensen (Army CU) 55-17, 7 R Hartnell & J Prior (Andover Wheelers) 57-1, 9 M Hayward & T Jefferies (Salisbury RC) 1-0-26.

Tandems: 1 S Brown & P Foxwell (Bournemouth Jubilee Wheelers) 52-54, 2 A Weller & R Allen (Farnham RC) 56-11.

Bournemouth Arrow Veterans road race, Beaulieu Heath: 1 P Connelly (VC Meudon), 2 R O'Connor (M I Racing), 3 A Green (private member), 4 R Cranstone (VC Meudon), 5 W Butterworth (Twickenham CC), 6 S Moss (Bournemouth Arrow CC).

Over-55s race: 1 B Mitchell (M I Racing), 2 M Ives (M I Racing), 3 J Garner (Newbury RC), 4 T McCall (Thornton Heath RC), 5 T Woollard (Northovers RT), 6 P Foster (South Western RC).