10/09/2011 - Fine warm conditions greeted the 51 riders that took part in Saturday's 50km Beast of the East road race which started from Te Tipua school.
A grade started with 10 riders and the tempo solid from the start. The first time up the Brydone - Glencoe road hill sorted out some of the riders with 3 dropping off the pace, at the front of the race Brad Tuhi had a gap on the rest of the field and lead going into the start of the second lap. The field eventually wound him in and it was strong man Mike White who took out the race by a comfortable margin from Luke McPherson 2nd and Liam Aitcheson 3rd.
B grade had a good field of 15 riders, it was Derick Tan and Bruce Jones who took it to the remaining riders first time up the Brydone - Glencoe road hill and it took to the start of the second lap for these 2 to be caught. Tan continued to attack but eventually it came down to a sprint finish with Logan Havenaar taking the win from veterans Dave Beadle 2nd and Ray Robinson 3rd.
24 riders lined up in C grade, again the pace was solid through out the race with different people stirring things along, once again it came down to a tight sprint finish with Gary Steedman edging out Gary Perkins for the win, Zane Butson came in 3rd.
Nicola Stevens and Mary Marshall set out in the 1 lap D grade with Nicola taking a comfortable win from Mary.
My thanks go to STMS Lindsay Tait and our marshalls for the day Wally Kopae, Shirleen Rollo and Allison Timpany and also Robin Criglington who made my job alot easier.
2011 Winter Racing Series Points Series Leaders
Updated 10/09/2011
A Grade
Points
Placing
Luke McPherson
67
1
Brehan Cairns
53
2
Matt Zenovich
49
3
Blake Tait-Jones
36
4
Hamish Presbury
35
5
B Grade
Aaron Sinclair
53
1
Dave Beadle
48
2
Ray Robinson
46
3
Steve Brough
43
4
Andrew Lienert
42
5
C Grade
Gary Steadman
66
1
Dave Simpson
57
2
Erin Criglington
55
3
Max Anderson
55
4
Colin Horton
46
5
D Grade
Fergus Canny
80
1
Nicola Stevens
77
2
Mary Marshall
56
3
Kylea Gough
20
4
Tony Shaw
15
5