Thirty-one riders over five grades fronted in blustery cool conditions for the two lap Thornbury race on Saturday.
A grade started with nine riders and cut the first lap out in 37 minutes with a number of attacks being launched but chased down. At the start of the second lap, Hayden Rankin punctured reducing the field. It was the Fairfax hill that did the final damage with Josh Haggerty attacking with Matt Zenovich and Hamish Keast eventually bridging over. Coming into the final straight it was Keast and Haggerty left to contest the sprint with Haggerty taking the win from Keast and Zeno crossing the line for 3rd. Hunter Gough and Steve Rhodes put in a good sprint at the finish to lead the bunch home in fourth and fifth respectively.
The B grade race was had a similar pattern to the A grade with B grade completing the first lap in 39 minutes. Steve Keast put the pressure on over the Fairfax hill on the second lap to stretch the field out, Wayne Miller then did a burner with only a couple of K’s to go, Steve Keast and Neil Familton were able to go with this and when it came to the final straight it was Familton who took a comfortable win from Keast with Josh Miller in third.
Seven riders started in C grade and completed the first lap in 40 minutes, the race split apart and it was left to Kerry Russell, Aaron Fitzsimons and Marty Lohrey to contest the finish into Thornbury, Marty stormed home from Kerry Russell and Aaron Fitzsimons in third.
The D grade completed 1 lap of the circuit and a strong finish saw Kayne Borrie taking a good win from Maclean Sharp and Jacob Fitzsimons in third.
E grade had a good 10km race from Fairfax to Thornbury with George Manson taking the win from Finn Edwards.
Once again thanks to all the marshals, Lindsay Jones for the STMS and the parents for helping out with the junior grades.
Race report courtesy Manager Aaron Sinclair