Riders leave MUD mark on junior series

JUNIOR Club MUD mountain bike racers have left their tyre marks on Black Hill, in Shepparton and Narbethong, as the inaugural Joyride Rookie Cup downhill series concludes.

Quinn Moore and Lachy Roberts respectively placed first overall in the girls and boys under 17 categories, Claire Matthews won the under 13s, and Chloe Matthews came out on top in the under 15s.

Chloe placed second in each of the three rounds, accumulating enough points to win her age group overall.

“At round one at Black Hill, the tracks were not too hard to cope with but when we got to Shepparton, the tracks were very rocky,” she said.

“There were rocks floating around in the middle of the track, so I had to watch out for them a lot, but transitioning to Narbethong was definitely the biggest transition.

“Narbey is a very slippery track. It’s clay technically, so when it gets wet, you’re sliding around if you pull the breaks.

“I was very happy to win. Standing up on the podium with my friends was a good moment.”

Claire won every round of the series in her age group and said she found Shepparton to be most challenging.

“It was one of my first races away from Black Hill, so that was a bit frightening,” she said.

“It was such different terrain to Black Hill because it was so rocky and out of control.

“I felt proud of myself because I hadn’t really had much experience on tracks like those, and when we got there, we had to do it straight away with a little bit of practice, but it was fun.”

Piper Tippens and Amelia Freeman placed second overall in the respective under 15 and under 17 girls’ categories, and Ahna Spokevicius placed third in the under 13 girls.

Tamas Spokevicius placed third overall in the under 15 boys, while Deakan Burton placed tenth in the under 13 boys, and Ewan Govan placed ninth in the under 11 boys.

Club MUD hosted the first ever round of the series at Black Hill Reserve.