Palmer springs a surprise as he powers his way to victory

For the second time this series the handicap format played into the hands of the slower riders with the first 20 finishers outfoxing those starting behind.

The 37-year-old, from Dudley, whose best finish in the series had been 16th, grasped his opportunity and flew up the finishing climb near Bridgnorth.

Ross Davies finished second and James Gibney (West Mercia Police) third, some six seconds behind.

“It’s my first year racing and after picking up a good result in a winter series event I got a buzz for it,” said Palmer.

“I had done the finishing hill two weeks ago so knew to get to the front and used my momentum to get up it. Ross was in front of me so I drafted him for a little bit and then smashed at the finish.

“Originally I aimed to do time trials this year but got a buzz for road racing. I’m still buzzing from the win but had to go back to work which has brought me back down a little.”

Junior rider Charlie Fisher (Newport Shropshire CC) took advantage of the handicap format to finish fourth.

The women riders also performed exceptionally well on the lumpy “rabbit run” circuit with three riders finishing in the top 12 places.

Fastest of those was Steph Clayton (Mammoth Lifestyle RT) who finished in sixth ahead of Mellissa Brand (Team Ford Ecoboost) in 10th and Annie Stanford (Paramount CRT) in 12th.

First of the ‘scratch’ fastest group to finish was the previous week’s winner Charles Walker (Catford CC/Equipe Banks) who had to settle for 20th on this occasion, one minute and 17 seconds behind the winner.

Overall leader Ben Joughin (Pro Vision RT) was absent from this round while second-placed Matthew Morris (Wolverhampton Whls)