DESPITE long weekend, club racing continued for the Mount Gambier Cycling Club, with a 25km handicap race along the familiar Caves Road course.
The day began with hardly a breath of wind and stunning sunshine to greet the 21 senior and 2 Under 13 riders.
With two of the usual Under 13 riders unavailable this weekend, the junior race became a family tussle for supremacy as younger brother Glenn Tye was granted a two-and-a-half minute head start over his older brother Sean.
Both rode strongly for their 10km race and it was not until the final kilometre that Sean was able to catch and overtake his brother.
Sean continued riding strongly through to the finish line to finish in a time of 25:18, 13 seconds ahead of Glenn.
The seniors were organised into five groups by the handicapper, with a couple of riders backing up after a South West Series race the day before and others returning from a break in racing.
The first group to leave included Damian Buckley, Chris Hunt, Dianne Major, Louise Abraham and Jason Buckland.
They were closely followed 90 seconds later, by Jen Buckland, Rick Heaver, Don Sforcina and Ainsley Curtis.
The middle group, containing Elmer Buckland, John De Pree, Mick Childs and Troy Mustey, waited a further two minutes to begin their chase, with a five-minute gap before Jami Buckley, Patrick Langsmith, Harry Opperman, Phil Stasiw, Nathan Thomas and John Cranwell headed off.
Finally, a further three minutes later, some 11-and-a-half minutes behind the initial group, Nick Kidman and Niel van Niekerk began their chase.
The leading group was caught by the closest following group within 9km of the start but were able to work together until the turnaround point at the 12.5km mark.
All other groups continued to draw closer to the riders ahead, working steadily together to keep the pace high.
With approximately 10km to go a select group of Heaver, Sforcina, Curtis, Jen Buckland, Hunt and Damian Buckley had broken clear of the rest of the group in the hope to stay away to the finish line.
Mustey, De Pree, Elmer Buckland and Childs held their pace in the middle, slowly gaining on the riders ahead.
Kidman and van Niekerk caught and passed the group ahead, with Jami Buckley, Opperman and Thomas joining them for the chase to the front.
As the leading group crested the rise before the finish line, they held a 30-second advantage.
As they charged for the line, it was Heaver who crossed first (47:18), closely followed by Sforcina and Hunt.
Kidman managed fastest time honours with a total time of 47:39, equating to a race time of 36:09.
The first race of the 2021 South West Series also took place on Saturday, with the 60km Greg Gleeson Memorial Handicap hosted by Warrnambool Cycling Club.
Nick Kidman, Harry Opperman, Matthew Opperman, Craig Andre and Spek Peake took part, with Nick Kidman riding from the last group to finish in third place.
Next weekend riders will take on the Wind Farm course from Tantanoola along Canunda Frontage Road towards Lake Bonney, before the final race of the series returns to Caves Road.
