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Winter Mountain Bike Series 2007/2008 |
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Kindly sponsored by
Race 3, Vautier's Land, Sion, 20 January 2008
The third Cycle Centre sponsored, CCC Mountain Bike Winter Series event took place at the picturesque woodland course in Sion, St John, attracting a turnout of 36 riders. The rain during the previous week made for muddy conditions, highly challenging, given the somewhat technical nature of the track, with streams to cross and high speed descents to negotiate. The weather on the day was, however ideal for racing. In the Elite class, it was Robin Ovenden, back from an alpine training camp, who set a tortuous pace after the start line dash had seen Rhys Hidrio and Michael Boarer launch off around the first few corners. Hidrio and Adam Wojtkiewiczw then attempted to maintain the leader's pace but could do no better than 2 nd and 3 rd respectively with Ovenden pushing on relentlessly to lap all but the top 7 riders and take the class and overall win. In the Veterans class, Boarer took the opportunity of being dragged along by the top elite leaders and opened up a lead from Stead and Pete Dingle. Colin Malzard, trying hard to launch an attack on Dingle, paid the price and came off second best to a sturdy tree on the fast descent. Eventually Stead could not close the lead and took a solid 2 nd , leaving Boarer to take victory and 4 th place overall. Dingle finished strongly in 3 rd place with Malzard 4 th . In the sport class, Erik Le Brun and Lee Wells had a great duel with Simon Stead also in the thick of things. Lap after lap the 3 riders ground out an identical pace until eventually Le Brun made the break to which Wells could not respond. Le Brun rode on to take a good win and 5 th overall and is starting to make a habit of victory. Wells took a deserved 2 nd and Graham Horsley 3 rd . The Super-Vets class was won by Chaz Knight but he was also finding things tough on the tricky descent. He will soon have stiff competiton from Sean Le Breuilly, who is now 50 but will finish the current season in the Vets. Mark Knowlton steadily negotiated the course challenges to take 2 nd place. In the Ladies class, a slightly apprehensive 'Jim' Davis took on board some last minute mud- riding advice to ride an excellent race pulling clear of Helene Mon-Petit for victory. What will she do in the dry?! Helene was a strong 2 nd with Lynda Lutz managing to stay in the race despite losing her saddle, and taking 3 rd . In the School boys class George Milner battled things out with Rory Hidrio with the former riding well for the class win. The club extends its grateful thanks to Andrew Averty and Paul Vautier for use of the land and to all the club members who assisted with the course preparation. The next race is on February 3 rd where the return of the 'bobsleigh' boys, Kieron Mills and Bruce Dingle will mean Ovenden and Boarer may not have everything their own way.
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