L to R: Laurent Guerin; Josh Hopwood, 1st; Coral Guerin; Steve Brown, 3rd; Lulu Guerin; Andrew Garrett, 3rd.
Alain Guerin Memorial Handicap
By Josh Hopwood
A windy and stormy night, likely to suit the stronger riders, greeted 18 entrants at the Botanic Park last Thursday night.
The Alain Guerin Memorial is to remember our friend who was taken from us in 2014 due to a driver’s inattention. It’s one of three MMBCC ‘Monument’ events (the other two being the Rob Curtis Memorial on 1 December and the Bakker Plumbing Handicap on 16 February, which, thankfully, is NOT a memorial race.)
Communication and local knowledge would be key to all riders, given the state of the roads. Thanks to the local road crews for filling in some of the worst of the pot holes.
Near the Sawpit Gully turnaround groups started to form as the rain threatened; Ian Conrick, John Eisner, Alex Green and Dave Jagger had almost caught Micala Jacobs (who’d started alone off Limit) and accelerated; next came Janine Appleton, Steve Curnow, Allan Gerrans and Tim Hall who’d dropped last week’s ITT winner, Craig Wilson, and looked strong; a really strong group formed next with the Block group of Dave Moore, Steve Brown and Steve Duke joining up with the group ahead, Ryder Chadd, Tim Ross and Darren Bakker.
The heavens opened during the southbound Whitfield Road leg and Scratch started making really strong progress, being able to see all the groups lined up the road.
The turn left into Barwite Road and subsequent crosswinds was pivotal - it wasn’t long until the race was all together again, with Brown, Garrett and Hopwood putting the hammer down before the dreaded Coombesberg.
Race tactics started to come into play, as no one wanted to drive the pace up the hill. Garrett and Hopwood lifted the tempo dropping others off their wheels. Brown and Chadd were the only riders able to hang on, temporarily, until they too popped.
Descending off the Coombesberg Garrett and Hopwood topped out at 75kmh before making the right hand turn into Graves Road. Here Hopwood’s local knowledge gave him an advantage and he opened up a decent gap on Garrett. But with 3km to go Hopwood had two options - to go for the win solo, Time Trial style, or wait for his fellow Scratch rider. He chose the latter and the two joined forces again.
However, this gave Brown a chance to bridge back to the leading group too. With 1km to go, it was set for a three-up sprint, with Brown stuck on the front.
Hopwood kicked things off and sprinted to victory, in the fastest time of 50.55, with Garrett in tow. Brown was happy to settle for third and waive the responsibility of writing this article.
Hopwood was thrilled to finally win this race after 8 years of trying. In doing so, he became the first local to etch his name on the trophy. “I remember that tragic day as if it was yesterday. The thing I remember most was riding past Alain earlier that same day, saying good morning and his smile lit up the sky! I’ll never forget that,” he remarked post race.
Many thanks to Tony Copland for the pics and to Mel, Rob, Judi, John, Tony and Bruce for officiating and marshalling. Here are the results.
Next week it’s Howes Creek Road, likely with an amended start again due to road works.
Dirt Crits Gravity Enduro
By Dave Empey
It was the first Gravity Enduro of the year and some good weather assisted with the player comfort level.
It was a huge turnout 27 racers in all with some very tight times at the pointy end of the field.
There was some sibling argy bargy between course one and two. All ended well with everyone starting course two. A few of the competitors took a wrong turn on course one and rode significantly further than they had to. (Ruby needed some extra kms)
Great to see the mayor of Jamieson back on the right bike and riding well, just tailing in behind all those young guns.
At the end of the race, it was Matt Empey a clear winner by 11 secs from Sam Mosley with Archie Smith, Ant Bateup and Zac Empey rounding out the top five.
Here are the results.