Summer Series 2016-17 Round 3, Sunday 12th January 2017
The Coomealla Mountainless Mountain Bike Club maintained a Summer tradition by holding their first event for 2017 in February despite the double whammy of track inundation and then a heatwave.
The flooding at the end of 2016 saw most of the track go under water with even the flats out at the long track/short track junction being awash. Even now the Goat Track remains impassable unless one wants to get ‘quite muddy’ and water in the Central Gully means most crossings are still out and the Play Pen is also closed. The upside to this is some new track features, especially along the Back Straight…and a new bridge!
This event saw another of Damo’s custom tracks bought into play. Four and a bit kilometres of quite a lot of fun. The heatwave of the preceding three days had blown out and been replaced by a cool and blustery morning that most riders found a little confusing.
Thirty six riders (pleasingly dominated by Juniors) formed up to throw dust and strip rust over as many as five laps and as few as two. The Summer Series is a pedal and grin series with most events handicapped in some fashion. Riders that maintain their personal determination to improve and excel over the summer are the ones that prosper here.
In terms of overall results, Tyler Beruldsen again dominated A Grade Mens over Tim Klein and Rohan Hollis. B Grade Mens saw Andrew Greenfield triumph over Sean Dwyer and Grant Brooks (the latter on a sneaky new steed). C grade Mens had Wes Marks take the win over Glen Barrow and John Compton. The ever improving Sonja Greenfield took out A grade womens with Genelle Baldwin just a minute or so behind while Kerrie Copley stayed out in front of Nadine Sadler in B grade womens. A Grade Juniors was Flynn Williams on his own and judging on that performance…he’ll be spending 2017 chasing glory in B Grades Mens (he’d have finished 3rd overall in this grade). B Grade Juniors was taken out by Josh Furey over his brother Zac, followed by Caelen Dew. Ethan Gibson had C Grade Juniors all tied up!
However, that’s not what this series is all about. It’s all about who was better than they were last year. And in this event…that meant Flynn Williams. The only rider on the day to actually improve on his handicap lap times at this event. A great effort and an outstanding ride – which probably means he’s going to be a B grade Mens rider in 2017. Second under handicap was Sonja Greenfield, another rider who is promising big things for 2017 in A grade womens. Third was Josh Fury from the B Juniors Grade with a time that was just 42 seconds over his handicap. So again another Junior rider represents!
So far they all still have someone to catch…John Compton. He’s had a remarkably consistent Summer Series and there’s just one round to go before it’s all done and won.
But before that…it’s the annual Roll of The Dice. This year, the RoD is generously supported by A.D Williams Electrical, Cycling Mythology and the Sunraysia Daily. It’s a team event with pairings of riders doing as many laps of a short track as they can over an hour or so and rolling dice after each lap to get a score. This score is then counted back against the number of laps they do so fast riders are not favoured – luck is the key! There are cash prizes and vouchers on offer for the winners and a heck of a laugh for the rest of us so come and join us. Sunday March 5th from 8:45 am with racing to begin from 9:00 am. Find another rider or if you can’t then roll up and we’ll find one for you. Easy. See you there.
