It looked like the skies had completely cleared on Saturday when the SMS went out to riders to confirm the race was definitely on, at which point the light rain that had been falling for the last 2 days promptly returned to the starting line on Dangarsleigh Road. The 14 riders that did roll up to the start line found dry roads on the edge of the town boundary and conditions were actually very good for racing although a brisk southeasterly made the going interesting at times on the meandering 30K course.

There was a warm welcome for the Hosking family duo of Pete and Bella who went off Go having traded their knobbly tyres for road ones due to the local MTB tracks being off-limits for the weekend. With numbers down a little, Col put riders into small groups of no more than three although scratch ended up with four when a returning Mick Sherwood somehow missed his start with block at 9 minutes.

Once racing was underway the Munday’s and Mick Harris quickly took up the chase in scratch, collecting two smaller groups ahead so that six riders made the turn in pursuit of the leaders on the road. Up ahead, Jeff had a mechanical problem with his chainrings which caused him to pull out of his group and Clint was having a tougher race this week having been moved up a notch riding solo. The on/off surges of the chasing pack combined with a brisk cross-wind meant riders struggled to stay in touch when they were picked up and a hard charge over the top of Monument left just four in the chase to catch the lead pair of Dene and Wilf who were well within reach by now. They were caught and briefly tagged-on before Peterson’s but another brutal and extended charge over the top shattered the group once again and it was down to the Munday’s and Mick to fight it out for victory as the trio quickly took out a lead of 200M on the road.

Approaching the crest before the finish line, Harrison punched clear and drove hard to the line to win with a comfortable margin of 6 seconds over Dave and Mick with the remaining riders strung out with some quite large time gaps between them.

Thanks to Dave Jenner for setting the signs out and making a good call to go ahead with the race and well done to all riders and supporters for turning out and competing in what turned out to be quite good conditions in the end. Next week we’re back at the crit track for some high-paced circuit work before the Autumn Festival which will be just 2 weeks away.

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