A and B Graded Cycle Race, Norfolk Road

Now for something quite different. Tonight’s race was the inaugural A and B graded TEAMS race. Riders were divided into two overall grades, A or B, and then each of those was further divided into 3 sections, with riders having to find a team of 3, one from each of these sections. The overall winner of tonight’s race is the TEAM in each grade with the least time across all three riders.

This format meant there was the potential for a variety of team tactic tonight, for example you could send your fastest rider up the road to try and split the grade to pieces and finish first, hoping that your team mates can manage to hang on to the wheel of other riders.  Or perhaps you could try getting your strongest rider to pace the weakest rider over the entire course. Then again, maybe there would be no love lost between team mates and it would be every rider for themselves, and hope and pray that no-one got dropped from the start-line. For those who were riding with life partners, harmony at home after the race might also have been a factor in the team tactics. Add into this tactical mix were the legs that were already very tired from weekend races – on Saturday the Trust House North Island Series and on Sunday the Tour of Wairarapa.

In A Grade, after all the planning and despite the attempts to split the race by a few of the stronger riders, it came down to a huge bunch sprint, where the team that won managed to position all three riders close to the front of the bunch. Congratulations to go the winning team of Mark Langlands, Andrew Linton and Emily Lutyens.

In B-Grade, two teams also managed to get all three team mates well position at the finish to end the race with two teams tied for first place. Congratulations to Jay Sowry, Caleb Roberts and the tandem with Rod Sutherland and Peter Jones and also to the team of Donna Burkhart, Jorge Sandoval and Mark Jerling for equal first place.

In the short-course race the team of Kate Port and Scarlett Freeman came home first.

Congratulations also go to all the local riders who won points for their team on Saturday during the Trust House North Island Team Series. This was a tough race with a challenging hill top finish.

And finally on Sunday congratulations to local riders who also went well in the various categories of the Tour of Wairarapa.

120 km – 1^stMasterton rider was Derek Roberts who finished in 5^thplace, closely followed by Erik D’Arbois, then Simon Pumfrey.

90 km – 1^stMasterton rider finishing in 3^rdplace was Simon Butler, closely followed by Andrew Linton. The first woman rider home was Donna Burkhart, closely followed by Kirsten Goodin.

50 km– Winner was Caleb Roberts for the second year in a row. First woman home was Julie Millar.

117 km Hardman – In the inaurgural ‘hardman’ category, raced over 117 kms of tar and gravel roads. Ben Knight was the first Masterton rider to finish in 3^rdplace overall. The first woman rider home was Lesley Mouat.

Next week is another handicapped road race starting at Gladstone Church, and racing south.

Full results from tonight’s race are: