Ahead of the Regional Australia Bank Autumn Festival Criterium tomorrow there was some social racing at the TEC this afternoon. 20 riders rolled their legs over in two races and although most were saving their legs for the next day, the racing was still competitive and too tough for some.

Ray Phillips had a first lap pit-stop but was soon back underway and chasing the B/C bunch. Peter Wilkinson hung back for him and the two lapped together just behind B initially and then slotting in and out of contention using the short-cut through the middle of the course to the point where it became impossible to work out what lap they were on but they were certainly working.

Despite only having half a lung in operation, Johnny was going well in the early stages of B/C and found himself doing lots on the front which was good to see. Tom Simmonds dropped off after 4 laps with some kind of mechanical that had the support crews scrambling into the shipping container for some perished spares. He was back in contention after a little while and seemed to be going well.

After 12 minutes in A-Grade Mick Harris hit reasonably hard at the top of the straight with Holly, Jason and Cookie well placed but Houlty and Rob had to chase hard to get back on. Swanny, Dave Harris and Tinny had too much to do on their own and lost contact at this point.

B-Grade now comprised 7 riders and A-Grade just 5 as Rob was the next to lose contact there. He hooked up with Swanny and the pair continued to lap on their own until the end, managing to avoid being lapped by A-Grade or caught by B/C for the first time in a few weeks.

In B Grade Ben Livings had a crack off the front and then a couple of laps later Tom Simmonds, back from his mechanical problems, took up the attack. Both were reeled in and things looked set for a bunch finish once again.

Back in A-Grade, while B/C were into their last 3 circuits, Mick Harris had another jump with the four others chasing hard. Then Cookie had a red-hot go, pulling out a gap of 8s in a single lap but he couldn’t stay away and was back in the bunch the next time round.

2 laps to go and it was Joel Barker from Coffs Harbour who pulled out a gap in B/C with Johnny and Ben Livings scrambling to stay in contention. Barker still had a lead with 1 lap to go and it looked like he might have the legs to finish the job but ultimately it was Armidale’s Patrick Ferris who won comfortably from Tom Simmonds and Richard Wilkinson.

Mick Harris opened the taps on the home straight and cruised over the line to win A-Grade from David Cook and Jason Simmonds capped off another strong ride to finish with the bunch in third while others drifted in, perhaps saving their legs for the CBD circuit in the morning.

Well done Patrick and Mick and thanks to Holly (well Mum Lisa really) for running the race with help as ever from Col. Good luck to everyone racing tomorrow and a reminder that assistance with the setup (from 7:15 am) and take-down (around noon) from club members is greatly appreciated.

A-Grade (30 mins + 3 Laps)

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Combined B/C-Grade (20 mins + 3 Laps)

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