The 40K long Dangarsleigh course was the scene for a cracking handicap event on Saturday afternoon with a challenging outward leg into a slight headwind that seemed to pick up as the race progressed. We had some welcome visitors from Rockhampton – Jay Callaghan and Belinda Cowen added to the mix of 26 riders who attacked the course hard from the start. With ever-increasing form over recent weeks Luke (San Remo) Milan found himself with an extended 13 minutes to warm up, and fresh from his medal-winning exploits at Bathurst, Swanny was firmly stuck in the scratch group with Harrison and Dave Munday and Mr Mystery, Jay Callaghan. Col and the Parker family were doing their incredible Mr Bean impersonations again and popped up regularly throughout the race at the most surprising locations, including the turn giving us time splits at 4 locations for most riders which was really revealing although it’s taken a while to process the resulting 186 photos and do the time calculations!
It’s not just San Remo who is romping up the form ladder. Go rider, Dave Jenner turned after a 20K solo outward leg still with a lead of over 2 minutes on Theron King and Wilf who had pulled out a 15 second lead on the other 3 riders in their group who’d combined with Bathurst WMAS6 winner Jo Wauch. Now just 1:30 behind them though was a big group of 12 that formed when the hard-charging 13m group had swept up the road predominantly under the steam of Johnny, President Tindale and Kirky leaving a long trail behind them.
The turn was tight and there was a gap of 11 seconds between the first rider and the last by the time everyone had navigated the cone. Jeff demonstrated a very interesting inside-line turning technique (see photos on Gallery pages) causing Peter Hoskings to call on his mountain bike skills to remain upright and in contention, but they all made it safely round and headed home with a slight tail-wind. The scratch group barreled down to the turn still 1m:52s adrift of the first rider from the 13 minute group indicating they’d only made a 38s dent on the outward leg and down to 3 riders (Jay, Dave Munday and Swanny) they would have to work pretty hard to pull back the remaining time.
The group of 12 were rolling well until the climb out from the bridge at Salisbury Waters which was taken up by Jeff Flatt followed by the two Rob’s and Kirky at a good pace that fractured the bunch with a group of 4 forming at the top and two further groups behind. The lead group took a 20s advantage over the top which then became 30s from the chasers which were Johnny, AC and our off-roader, Peter Hoskings. On the way over towards the Monument the four riders picked off the remaining race leaders on the road but couldn’t shake Theron who dug in gamely. Meanwhile, back up the road Jay Callaghan, Dave Munday and Swanny were making inroads on their deficit and by the time they approached Peterson’s they’d all but caught the second-placed group of 4 led by Johnny and San Remo but were still 30s adrift of the leaders who’d got into a great rhythm and were working well. Giving it everything, they kept their lead and on the line it was Theron King who took the win and collected 10 RROTY points, from Rob Tindale in second place and Kirky. Just 10 seconds later the front of the chasing scratch group came in having averaged a shade over the magic 40kph for the race with Dave Munday and Jay Callaghan claiming fastest time.
Kudos to Theron for a fantastic ride, also to Dave Jenner who Phil “Keglegs” Thomas couldn’t shake off his wheel. A big thanks to the Parker Family for running the race and taking all those photos and also to Col for handicapping and keeping tabs on the riders throughout.
At the top of the RROTY League there is no change with no bonus points being won by any rider in the Top 10. Mick Hoult drops from 5th to 8th as he didn’t race, Kirky has snuck into 10th spot and Theron has charged up to 13th place courtesy of his 10 point victory. Next RROTY race is in 2 weeks time with a triple lap Long Swamp special. Clashing with the Tour de Rocks and John Dewhurst weekend there will be a few absentees so there’s a chance of a shake up at the top.
Results
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