A welcome return to points racing was on the menu this weekend across the hilly Long Swamp course and in spite of the continued heat there were enough riders to allow 3 separate graded races.  The format was the same as the previous points race on the same course last month with 4 sprints up for grabs with points for the first 5 places in each grade.  This time however with Dave Munday in charge of the cones, the placement of the sprints had changed slightly to good effect.

A-Grade went off first with B and C following in rapid succession.  With Harrison Munday in the mix, the rest of A-Grade was reluctant to lend a helping hand initially so H found himself up at the business end for the first few K’s but it quickly became clear that over 30K’s it wasn’t really going to make too much difference so the group rolled turns at a steady pace without any fireworks towards the turn but somehow managed to lose Col along the way.  B-Grade went a similar way with the group staying well-formed and not far behind the first bunch, taking note of the cone placement and readying themselves for the quicker return leg on which 2 sprints awaited.

This week it was the turn of C-Grade to fall foul of the rapid-fire start sequence.  While the other 5 riders rolled away from the start line on time, Billy No Mates Mara was out of sight busily enquiring about the cost of mulch at the council recycling depot.  The usual yelling and arm-waving prompted a ride that will go down in the history books with records eclipsed as he rode from the other side of Armidale and back into contention within the first outbound leg.

And so to the first sprint, co-inciding with the love-it-or-hate-it Imbota climb.  H had a quick crack at it half-way up but found a couple of annoyingly sticky riders on his wheel so backed off and then had a proper go closer to the line which Dave had cunningly placed just over the top.  As Kirky later reflected, contesting that sprint was the first mistake of the day as his core temperature went up about 10 degrees in the space of 30 seconds and we’d only travelled 10.5 K’s.  Everyone regrouped and bowled down to Sprint 2 which was a flat-chat one less than 3 K’s down the road which H also grabbed, this time from Kirky and Phil Hess who was fresh from his strong showing in the Hell of the West the previous weekend and clearly favouring the flat sprints.  Just a side note: Check out Phil’s performance in that event here – he finished the day in 90th spot out of 428 in the individual competition including a ridiculously fast time in the run.  Great effort.

Just back up the road a few hundred metres, Phil Thomas was also looking dangerous and also back from the Hell of the West last week where his Tri all Day team grabbed 6th out of 23 in their Masters team group with Keg Legs’ ride showing as the 4th fastest in his category and 22nd fastest overall out of 143!  Phil didn’t have the best time on the Imbota climb where Ben Harris showed his 3 Peaks training is paying off by taking first spot, however the Keg Legs did their thing on the flat with 5 points in the bag.  Meanwhile Dene Burke and Brendon Cole were far from out of it, both having taken a 2nd place and with 3 riders jointly in first place with points, it was anyone’s race at the half-way point.

C-Grade were still in shock from Billy No Mates amazing first leg during which he not only caught the bunch, but trounced them up the hill taking 2nd spot on the first sprint.  He then found even more power and took line honours on the second one much to Wilko’s disgust.  Jo Wauch stuck bravely to the task and took third in both sprints and Dave Jenner gave it his all to ensure he got on the points board with a 5th on Imbota.

The third sprint was just before the three-quarter point in the race, challengingly placed at the 22K mark half-way up the long straight drag before the turn.  A-Grade tactics to take the points from H were being worked out with lots of mutterings and secret codes and signals.  Unfortunately no one had any idea what they meant however it almost came together on the road with every rider going flat chat in a lead-out, then rolling across.  Despite hitting 50kph on the 3% gradient it was not to be, the riders regrouped and the final turn was made with Kirky noting that last sprint as mistake number two.

At this point your writer diverted all remaining oxygen to the legs and consequently there is little available information on what happened next.  Suffice to say Harrison powered home to a very strong and well deserved victory from Kirky who still found the strength to contest the final climb of Dump Hill for 2nd spot.  Col came in 6th on the road following an excellent solo time-trial during which B-Grade didn’t once make contact with him.  B-Grade was a strongly contested race, with just 4 points separating the first 3 riders which were Ben Harris, Phil Thomas and Dene Bourke.  Miraculous Billy Mara continued to defy the odds and swept up the remaining sprints in C-Grade taking first spot in all of them despite strong rides from Wilko and Jo.

Thanks to all the riders for participating in tough conditions and to Dave Munday for organising and running the race, ably assisted by Hughey and Sam.  Next week we are back in action on Dangarsleigh with  Round 2 of RROTY

A-Grade
[table id=21 /]

B-Grade
[table id=22 /]

C-Grade
[table id=23 /]