Long Swamp welcomed back Dave Rugendyke and Holly Harris who didn’t disappoint in a field of 26 riders under good warm and dry conditions with light-ish winds on the return legs of the 2-lap race.  With Col’s absence beginning to show, the handicapping went by the book except for Harrison Munday who slipped back out of scratch… something to do with his bike being too light for the gentle cross-breeze…

Things went fairly smoothly on the first lap except for Pete Creagan who had shed his two partners on the hills and found himself marooned between the 2m and 6m groups, ultimately being stuck there for most of the race.  Tad Davenport seemed to miss the start of his allotted 7m group and jumped on the back of the 9:30 boys, probably not a mistake he’ll make again for a while but he hung in gamely and finished up posting a very respectable 8th quickest time.

At the half-way mark Chris Stace and Theron King turned first having caught Dave Jenner and still had time in hand over the chasing Pete Creagan, still stuck in no mans land time-trialling away at 45s with the 6m group still over a minute behind.  Billy Mara startled the rabbits coming up the dump hill with an impressive rear tube explosion that signalled the end of his day but Sam Jenner and Dave Rugendyke looked to be pacing things perfectly having pulled a full minute back against the big block group with a charging 22:19 first lap, now just trailing them by 30s as they rounded the turn.

The 6m group continued to work well and while a larger bunch assembled itself behind them, they’d all but made it over Imboda before finally being caught with Holly Harris, Phil Thomas, Luke Milan and Dene Bourke working really well together especially given that they’d had that irritating Rob Hale in their midst who’d jumped across from the 7m group just after the half-way point.

So it all came down to the final run-in, Kirky bust himself across the flat to ensure the Jennerator and Ruges didn’t get across, bowing out at the bottom of the hill, and with Dave Munday feeling the effects of a pre-race Boorolong burst (when will he learn?) it was looking like it might be a close finish.  However Harrison had other ideas and impressively lit the afterburners on the final kick of the climb, recording the fastest time on lap 2 and comfortably winning by 4 seconds from Mick Hoult.  Sam Munday and Sam Jenner finished strongly, the latter recording the fastest time on the day – a 46:02 at an average speed of 39.10Kph*

Aside from Billy’s exploding tube moment, a few other riders went missing in action on the score-sheet so they’re marked down as ‘no data’ below – send through some details if you have them.  Thanks Hughey Munday for the timekeeping camera work and Johnny and Rob Tindale for signs and handicapping.

*Assumes the course was exactly 30K distance
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