Numbers were up on the weekend for a 30km scratch race held in ideal conditions, with ten riders in each of the three grades.
A grade was a race with a number of attacks, mostly initiated by Andrew Kirk. The decisive move however came from Col Maciver, who with the tempo steadily increasing up the hill from the monument on the return trip, launched a blistering attack over the top of Knobs Hill taking two riders with him, including former Armidale club member Gil Burgess.
The trio worked well together and for a while looked as though they would make it to the finish alone. But Andrew Kirk and John Scott-Hamilton weren’t giving up easily, and after a big effort bridged across to the leaders at the winery. The group of five then stayed together until just before the finish when Gil the Inverell turncoat made his move, too early as it turned out. John Scott-Hamilton overtook him for the win, closely followed by Kirkie in second with Col just pipping Gil on the line for third.
A strong field in B grade also put on an attacking display, driven mainly by Nick Myhill, with Lachie McPhie riding strongly to cover many of the breaks. In the end the race come down to a bunch finish featuring most of the field. First and second places were filled by two rapidly improving riders, Mark Haydon and Roger Munday, with Dave Jenner third.
C grade produced a similar finish, with Mick Sozou first ahead of Dave Boundy and Sam Jenner. Like Haydo and Roger, these riders are also improving rapidly and looking to move up in the grades.
Just trying to avoid the attention of the handicapper Col 🙂
Andrew is too modest in his writing of the race reports. He was the other rider in the A Grade group of 3 over over Knob Hill, worked hard with us in our efforts to stay away and finished with the front 5. Good ride Andrew Swan.