Youngster hangs on for victory

THE 5th race in the Mt Gambier Cycling Club’s Summer Series was held out at Glencoe with a 19km flat ride out and back along Overland Track, before a right turn onto Range Hill Rd for the hilltop finish.

A couple of late scratchings before the race required a shuffle from the original handicaps, but soon the 11 signed-on riders were ready to test themselves.

The first riders away were Amelia Milne, with Troy Mustey as company, followed four minutes later by Miles Kroon with Liam Fielding as his chaperone.

Club officials are very grateful for the older riders who choose to ride as coaches, encouraging the younger Academy riders and ensuring their safety on the rides as they learn the craft of road racing.

A further six minutes elapsed before Chris Neave, Tegan Kuhl and Dan Whitehead began their chase, followed one minute later by Craig Andrae and Malcolm Tirabassi.

Finally, three minutes later, Nick Kidman and Dave Bryant took on their usual role as chasers of the packs.

Miles and Liam set a demanding pace on the outward leg, making up the four minutes to Amelia and Troy just before the turnaround mark, using the tailwind to their advantage.

The next groups were making slight gains to the ones ahead of them, but with a job to do into the wind to try and peg back the margin to Miles and Liam.

Chris, Tegan and Dan had only taken a minute of their six minute gap, with Craig and Malcolm bridging 30 seconds to them, and Nick and Dave a further two minutes back.

Amelia and Troy were caught by the rest of the bunches just before the turn onto Range Hill Rd and the other groups started to splinter as each rider found their pace going up the hill.

Miles Kroon took full advantage of his slight build and higher power to weight ratio to ride away from Liam Fielding, cresting the top of the hill and crossing the finish line 30 seconds clear.

Dan Whitehead also rode strongly up the hill to claim third place, some three minutes behind, with Nick Kidman flying up the hill to finish in fourth place with the fastest time just 11 seconds in arrears.

Following Nick came Malcolm Tirabassi, Craig Andrea, Chris Neave, Dave Bryant, Tegan Kuhl, Amelia Milne and Troy Mustey.

There will be a short break over the long weekend for the cycling club, with the next race due to be held at the Mac Park Motor Racing Circuit on March 16.

These will be approximately 3x 5 lap criteriums with some rudimentary handicapping building the intrigue.