Recent MTB results
Some great results from last weekend by MMBCC mountain bikers. The Green's and Empey's raced at round one of the Victorian Enduro Tour at Falls Creek on the weekend of 6-7 Feb 2021.
Friday night turned it on with over 100mm of rain, making Saturday practice a festival of mud.
The format included a Saturday "urban" race section, mixing up natural trails with slick concrete, sealed roads and a nice little rock garden between the buildings.
Sunday was clear and sunny and allowed things to dry out and get faster through the day. The course included four stages from the top of the resort all the way down to the entrance gate, followed by a two-hour climb back to the top. It made for a great day on the bike with plenty of podium finishes for Mansfield riders.
Selina Green - 2nd U15 Women (in her first enduro)
Zac Empey - 24th U17 Men
Bella Green - 1st U17 Women
Elise Empey - 2nd Elite Women
Alex Green - 25th Masters Men (not last)
Dave Empey - 5th Super Masters Men
Sam Mosley travelled to Mt Baw Baw for the State DH Champs. After a really wet and muddy weekend, he came away with a well-deserved 11th in the highly competitive Under 17 Men.
Congratulations to all!
Dirt Crits Gravity Enduro
Lots of riders last Tuesday at Riflebutts MTB Park for another Gravity Enduro.
There were some seriously impressive times with Ant Bateup taking the win in the Men ahead of Stu Clark and Zac Empey (who kept Sam Mosley off the podium by just one second.)
Women was won by Ruby Dobson ahead of Maddie Smith and Bella Green.
Here are the results.
There’s a rumour going around that Ruby Dobson is camera shy - but it seems she just had more training to do so missed the podium shot.
Thanks to Alex Green and Cam Dobson for the pics.
Unfortunately, with stage 4 restrictions in place, Dirt Crits on Tuesday 16 February is cancelled.
Black ’n’ Tan the best!
By Tom MacMunn
The Black and Tan is the best race on the MMBCC calendar. Apparently inspired by beer, the route (and name) was dreamt up by the fiendish club cycling tragic and word nerd - Bruce Halket. It combines the bitumen sections Buller, Graves, Barwite and Whitfield Roads (black) with two gravel sectors along Scullys Lane and Mt Battery Road (tan). Riding a road bike on gravel roads might not be everyone’s cup of tea but it makes for unpredictable and exciting racing.
Thursday night saw groups of ones and twos riding into a nasty cross/head wind out the Buller Road being chased by a strong three-man Scratch group. Darren Bakker’s race ended prematurely with a flat tyre thanks to the Scully’s Lane gravel. Anthony Plummer pushed on without his partner, caught Tom MacMunn and powered the pair towards the second gravel sector. Tim Hall was able to jump on and join the group but Dave Bock was caught on a tricky climb and could only watch them blow past.
Back down the road the Scratch group was being driven by the power of Ewyn Carter and the gap was steadily closing.
Anthony and Tom hit the gravel of Mt Battery Road with a little breathing space over the remains of the Scratch group. Bruce Halket and Dave Moore were riding well together and had the leading pair in sight. A quick look over the shoulder just before the last pinch on Mt Battery Road and Tom realised that he had to go for it if he wanted to get to the gravel descent with a lead. He opened up a gap down the hill and swung onto Graves Road with a tailwind. The win was his. Anthony pushed through for second and Bruce powered on for third. All three of them finished within 30 seconds.
The Black and Tan is hands down the best road race route in Mansfield. The fact that we had more volunteers than entrants may point to the fact that not all MMBCC members agree with me but I’ll be spending the rest of the season wishing there were more gravel sections to race my bike on.
Here are the results and many thanks to both Jenni Sparnon and Tony Copland for the photos.
Should the stage 4 restrictions be lifted as scheduled, next Thursday is the Bakker Plumbing Handicap in Jamieson, one of the MMBCC’s headline races of the year. There’ll be some serious prize money presented at dinner afterwards too!