JASON Tonge has been rewarded for a hard-working start to the season by riding his way to the top of Lancashire Road Club’s Road Race Trophy rankings.

The Horwich cyclist and his Worsley-based team-mate Andy French have been claiming regular top 10 finishes in their weekly rides in the Preston Critirium Series.

But it is a measure of the Horwich club’s strength in depth that a number of their riders have racked up a number of impressive performances in road races and time trials in some of the region’s big events.

Jason Wiltshire from Adlington followed up his runner-up ride on a fast course at Calthwaite by finishing an impressive fourth on the Pimbo circuit at Skelmersdale.

Kearsley’s Adrian Lawrence led a trio of LRC riders home in the Horwich Carnival Races, finishing in the top 10 with team-mates Tony Workman and Tonge close behind Workman and Tonge had previously ridden seventh and 11th respectively on a hilly course in extremely hot conditions at Hull.

Another Horwich rider, Craig Battersby, finished a respectable fourth in the Lancaster Critirium and Bury’s John Bamford claimed his first points of the season when he finished seventh in the Barnesbury Road Race.

Bolton’s Danny Drake came off the back of two weeks of hard racing in the FBD Ras international stage race in Ireland by claiming runner-up spot with his first ride in the Preston Critiriums.

Drake finished mid-bunch in the Ireland event but was in the best of company in a race which included Tour De France stage winners and yellow jersey riders — further illustrating the quality the Horwich-based LRC now boasts.