Thirty plus riders meant three competitive grades of scratch racing yesterday on the Dangarsleigh course but a strong southwesterly resulted in an event that was more like a time trial for many. All the bunches split early on and despite some hard chasing, there were over 25 minutes between the finish times for the first and last riders.

In A grade, Dave Harris and newcomer Scott Green were left out in front for around 4km after the pair charged off the line. The bunch collected them and then Mick Harris drove strongly up the incline from the Monument resulting in numerous splits. Mick was ahead by the top, with a bunch of five chasing and the remains of the pack strung out behind. At the turn Mick had a 32s advantage with the chasing group down to four, mainly driven by a hard-riding Holly and Scott.

B grade was similar in pattern with riders being shelled on the telecom box incline but in this case a bigger bunch stayed up-front. Bourkey almost made it to the turn and Bryn Griffiths did, but both couldn’t quite stay with the hard pace being set down by Pat Ferris and Peter Hosking up-front. Alex Thomas, Rob Tindale and Lachie McPhie had these two pegged at about 40s for much of the return leg. Towards the end the gap was extended and ultimately it was down to the front pair to fight for line honours.

Jo Wauch bravely started in B grade but slotted back into C grade to spectate on an enthralling contest which saw Isabella Hosking and Emily Wooster go away early and hold their lead at over 90s by the turn. Michael Wooster was third with son Harry at this point, seemingly out of contention as they hit the head winds on the homeward leg but he gradually closed the gap until it was down to 30s at the bottom of the Monument. He fairly charged up the 1.5km climb and shortly after had the lead pair within range. He passed them on the climb up to Peterson’s and with no response, rode away to record a fine win with a margin of 47s over Isabella and Emily.

Just a few minutes earlier, the A grade contest had finished after some hard, but ultimately fruitless, chasing from the three riders that remained in pursuit of lone leader Mick Harris. Holly and Scott continued to give it their all with Jason hanging on to their wheels just 30s behind a tiring Mick. He toughed it out though and crossed the line for a well-deserved victory, 27s ahead of the best of the rest. With only half the A grade riders home, the lead pair from B grade appeared on the horizon. Pat Ferris and Peter Hosking had screamed home into the wind and extended their lead over the chasers to almost a minute and a half. Pat was the stronger rider in the sprint but both riders impressed with times that would have scored 7th place in A grade.

Many thanks to Wilf for being on sign duty and running the race including marshaling the turn, providing in-car encouragement for riders on the return leg, and somehow getting back to capture the finish. Congratulations to Mick, Pat and Michael and well done to everyone for yet another exciting, competitive and enjoyable Saturday afternoon of racing. With club members competing at the B2B, NSW Hill Climb Championships and MTB XC series in Townsville, next weekend we switch format for a 15k time trial. The race is open to all CA licence holders who can compete on conventional or specialist TT equipment. If you haven’t given it a go previously, it’s a great opportunity to pit yourself against the clock in the race of truth.

A-Grade

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B-Grade

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C-Grade

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