James Murphy
THE sixth and final round of the Inside Line Downhill Mountain Bike Club state series was hosted in the Blue Lake City over the weekend.
Pristine weather conditions were welcomed by all, as over 200 riders tackled the Mount Gambier Mountain Bike Club’s “Madzo’s Masterpiece” downhill trail across 16 classes.
Of those, the Elite Men’s category win was highly sought after, which was taken out by Adelaide’s Sam Walsh with a quick time of 1:19.58 seconds.
However, his was not the quickest time for the event, with youngster Bow Habermann claiming that honour with a 1:18.145 to top the Under 17 class.
Kael Foale was another young speedster and his 1:18.932 time secured the Under 19 category honours.
Some local talent featured on the Elite Men’s podium, as Mount Gambier’s Callum Morrison rode a solid 1:21.156 to finish second.
Brett Herreen rounded out the podium, while Justin De Jong was another local inside the top 10, finishing eighth for the round.
The Elite Women’s class was won by Fiona Habermann, while Zarah Mitchell and Mika Herd claimed first place in the Under 17 and Under 15 Women respectively.
The Masters Women win was claimed by Jane Russell over Anita Smith, while the men’s Master class saw Samuel Edwards on top of the podium.
Edwards had a 3.2-second buffer to second-placed Matt Hannaford, while Ben Anderson finished third another 1.8 seconds behind.
The E-Bike Men’s class had four riders, with Adrian Miller fastest with a time of 1:33.651, followed by John O’Brien and Peter Campbell.
The junior men classes were hotly contested with large fields across the Under 19, Under 17 and Under 13 categories.
Foale won the Under 19’s by 1.2 seconds over Tim Velisek, with Oscar Johnston in third.
Habermann had a 2.1 second buffer to runner-up Calvin Steinert in the Under 17 Men, with Andrew Hacquoil a close third in the class of 47 riders.
The Under 15’s was won by Nelson Harry, with a quick 1:22.578 to top the class of 39.
He was followed by Mahlon O’Connor 1.4 seconds behind, while Lachie Baj was just 0.062 further behind to secure third spot.
Connor McKenzie was fastest in the Under 13 Men and was joined by Oliver Phillips and Finn Nelson on the podium.
Other classes included the Junior Hardtail, which was won by Jayden Molineux, while Riley Williamson was a lone rider in the Novice class and hence claimed the honours.
Joff Medder won the Super-Masters M class from Chris Kelly and Glynn Humphreys, with Travis Reddington quickest in the Veterans Men to claim the top spot over Dion Mudge and Ben Kilsby.
The final category was the Sport Men’s class, which was won by Ben Walker over Mitchell Kennedy and Shea Reddington.
With the Inside Line 2022 series now complete, riders now look forward to the coming presentations.
