THE Mount Gambier Cycling Club opened its Autumn Series on the weekend with Damian Buckley claiming the line honours, while Nick Kidman again posted the quickest time from the back marker.
The new series started with a new course, which was a variation of longer event familiar to riders.
The weekend’s race started at the usual turnaround point for the club 25km race which then included the hilly middle 25km of the ANZAC Day Soldiers Memorial race on Caves Road into Donovans.
The result was one of the higher elevation increasing races in recent memory.
A field of 17 riders contested the event, with most electing to ride together from the clubrooms to the start line, where they greeted the commissaire to sign on for the race.
The first trio to leave the start line included Buckley, Jen Buckland and Jason Buckland.
Expecting to average around 26kph going up and down the rolling course to Donovans they were given an 11-minute gap to the next group of riders which contained Don Sforcina, Patrick Langsmith, Gerard Coote and Elmer Buckland.
The third group of Spek Peake, Bruce McLaughlin and Dean Zeven set off two minutes later, before another two-minute wait saw Harry Opperman, Craig Andre and Phil Stasiw begin their chase.
The second to last group contained some of the young guns of the club, as Niel van Niekerk joined Riley Hill and Jami Buckley a further two minutes behind, before Kidman was the final rider to leave a further three minutes back, giving the front riders a massive 20-minute lead on him.
The race was reasonably flat for the first 8km, with rollers leading into the lumpy section around Dry Creek and a final climb into Donovans.
It was there groups started to break up as riders climbed at varied rates.
Out in front Buckley, and Jen and Jason Buckland turned at Donovans together and started the return journey.
On their way back they could see the effect of the hills on the chasing riders, with Langsmith and Coote riding away from Elmer Buckland and Sforcina.
Zeven had also put a gap on McLaughlin and Peake, with those chasing further back holding together.
As Buckley and Jen Buckland crested the hill on the way back from Dry Creek, Kidman was just heading down, leaving a gap of approximately 10km with 8km left for the leaders to ride.
At the turnoff to Princess Margaret Rose caves, approximately 6km from the finish line, the lead had been whittled down to about four minutes, with the slightly flatter section to come.
A dash to the finish had Damian Buckley cross the line in first as he outsprinted Jen Buckland.
Jason Buckland arrived a couple of minutes later, just ahead of a fast-finishing Langsmith and Coote.
Kidman finished in 12th place, nearly five minutes behind the winners, but his time was the quickest for the day.
