Fine and warm conditions greeted the 55 riders at Rimu School on Saturday for the final race in the South Port Series over 2 laps of the Rimu Circuit.
With only three A grade riders it was decided to start them 2 ½ minutes behind B grade for a bit of an added challenge. Inside the first lap Josh Haggerty had bridged across to B grade while Blake Tait-Jones and Hamish Keast were working well together and had closed to within 1 minute at the end of the first lap. Josh got into a break of 4 riders on the second lap and crossed the line with them to take the A grade honours with Hamish and Blake finishing with the main bunch from B grade.
17 riders took the start in B grade with the pace being driven early by Steve Keast, Red Burnett, Andrew Holden and others. After one lap all the riders were still together, however on the second lap a group consisting of Brendan Akeroyd, Steve Keast, Red Burnett and A grader Josh Haggerty made a break and in a hotly contested sprint, Red won narrowly from Steve and Brendan. The main bunch was led in shortly afterward by Steve Brough in his final hit out before the club nationals.
C grade had 16 starters who rode strongly together for both laps with it all coming down to a sprint finish which was taken out by Hunter Gough ahead of Conor Shearing and Andy McIntyre.
Junior Division 1 was contested by 13 riders over one lap of the Rimu circuit with seven riders making a break and in a sprint finish Rylee Akeroyd crossed the line first just ahead of Cody Harvey with Jaz McLeod third.
The 6 Junior Division 2 rode well together from the start on the Gorge Road Highway until the Mokatua monument where they were released to race home. A small touch of wheels brought down two riders with no serious injury with one getting back on his bike to complete the race. At the finish Magnus Jamieson led home Kayne Borrie ahead of his brother Oliver.
This was the final race in the South Port Series and the results were
A Grade - Josh Haggerty 52, Mike White 27, Corbin Strong 20
B Grade - Red Burnett 41, Neil Familton 38, Derek Tan 34
C Grade – Hunter Gough 72, Andy McIntrye 42, Dave Watkins 22
I like to thank who contributed to a great day racing especially Lindsey Jones for traffic management, Matt Zenovitch for marshaling, Tracy Miller for assistance in recording the results & Robin Criglinton for all the thing he does to ensure we have a successful race. I would also like to thank all the riders who took part for making it a great days racing.
David Simpson
Race Manager