What do you do when you’ve driven all the way to Jamieson for a road race and realise you’ve forgotten your helmet? If you’re Ian Conrick, you borrow someone’s full face helmet, of course!
VDHS Baw Baw results
Last weekend’s round 2 of the Victorian Downhill Series was held at Mt Baw Baw, with some great results from MMBCC riders.
Bella Green won Sport Women;
Elise Empey was 3rd and Maddie Smith was 6th in Elite Women;
Zac Empey 11th in Under 15 Men; and
Matt Empey 4th in Under 19 Men.
Here are the results.
Well done to all!
Bakker Plumbing Handicap
By Lewis and Nathan Dowie
As always it was an eventful Bakker Plumbing Handicap race at Jamieson on Thursday night. Arguably the most talked about, enjoyable and lucrative race on the MMBCC calendar; luring interstate competitor Nathan Dowie to Mansfield.
The minutes leading up to registration close and the start of the race were intense, with Nathan fighting technology to get his Race Licence renewed and with Ian Conrick realising that he had left his helmet at home. Desperate to race, he borrowed and donned a full face and got to the line 30 seconds before his start. Conrick finished 14th, blaming his poor form on the inability to have a drink whilst wearing the helmet
17 riders made the start with Katie Moore, Belinda Cipa and Di Condie leading off first in Limit. This dream team of three started strong and when they passed Scratch after the turnaround at Sailor Bills Creek, it looked like they were out for a Saturday morning social ride - sitting up straight, two abreast, having a chat - confident in their lead.
Talia Appleton must have done something to upset the handicapper, being sent off solo, behind Janine Appleton and Steve Curnow. She suffered further setbacks when she dropped her chain just after the turnaround, but pushed through to make it to the finish.
Scratch was made up of five riders who worked well off the start to gain some ground on those ahead. That was until Nathan Dowie got bored of the ‘slow’ pace and decided to make a solo break; this forced the remaining riders to chase, dropping Ewyn in the process. Dave Moore, Steve Brown and Lewis Dowie reeled Nathan back in and taught him a lesson about teamwork. Up one of the steeper hills on the return, the Dowie brothers broke away from Steve and Dave, to chase down Block.
Block consisted of some strong riders - Mauro Brega, Darren Bakker, Jarrod Appleton and Steve Duke - who were able to stay clear of the Dowies until the last 2km of the race, where the boys dropped them on one of the final climbs. Nathan sprinted across the finish, talking 4th place and stealing the fastest time from his younger brother.
Limit maintained a solid lead of about 2mins with Katie taking the win in her first race in about 5 years, closely followed by Belinda and Di.
A big thank you to Darren Bakker for boosting the prize money (paying down to 5th) and supplying medals for the podium. Also thank you to the marshals for giving up their opportunity to partake in the best race of the season.
Here are the results. Thanks to Bruce for the pics and to Ian for the best subject matter.
Dirt Crits Gravity Enduro
A technical glitch means there are no formal results yet but Ruby took out the Women’s from Rachael and Bella and James Griffin topped the Men’s podium.
Results from Hanging Rock
Katie Moore, Di Condie and Judi Duke raced the TopBike Tours Hanging Rock Handicap on Saturday morning. Seems it was a tough, hilly course.
Well done to all three girls, especially Katie who continued her Jamieson form and finished 14th!
Here are the results.
You’re invited!
Barbecue at Jason’s place (bit of a house warming)
13 Highlands Rd, Highlands Estate, Mansfield.
Saturday 29 February, 5:30pm onwards.
BYO meat, dips/salad, jumper and also a chair.
RSVP 0490 913 460.
A pleasant Sunday morning
Damian’s Nationals crew hit the trails at Riflebutts again on Sunday morning.
Thanks to Alex for the pics and to Waffle for acting as guard dog.
(Apparently there’s no truth to the rumour that Damian was riding a Brompton.)
The things you see on national television out the front of All Terrain Cycles early on a Wednesday morning!