THE Mount Gambier Cycling Club held Round 3 of the Brew Bar Coffee Lounge series on Sunday over a 25-kilometre out and back course at Attamurra Road.
Sunny conditions with a SSE breeze, which assisted on the outward journey, greeted a limit group of six, consisting of Spek Peake, Mike Bakker, Chris Neave, Sandra Parsons, Molly Opperman and John Cranwell.
The group had a gap of one minute over Ethan McKenny, Xavier Farmilo and Matthew Opperman, who in turn were given a lead of two minutes over Tim Koopman and Stephen Jones.
Three minutes later commissaire Tina Opperman let the scratch group of Jamison Buckley, Nick Kidman and Scott Waters go to chase those ahead.
With a cross/tail wind to assist the riders, the pace was high, which proved the undoing of first Molly Opperman, then Parsons and then Peake, leaving the other three to continue to the turn mark.
Neave, Bakker and Cranwell turned to head home and see what damage had been done with the high pace.
Peake, Parsons, McKenny and Farmilo turned close together, but not as a group, while Matthew Opperman assisted Molly Opperman to continue with her chase.
Koopman and Jones held the scratch group at bay, but scratch had taken a lot of the three minutes back.
Homeward bound and the riders found the speed had dropped as the southerly breeze did not help, with Neave and Cranwell working together after Bakker had lost contact after the turn.
The strength of the scratch group showed out as they reeled in the riders, with only Koopman and Jones able to hold the wheels of the group and they caught and passed Neave and Cranwell to hit the front of the race with six kilometres to go.
Riders had attempted to join the scratch group, but were unable to due to the fickle nature of the wind and were left to battle to the finish line in small groups or singularly.
At the finish line, Buckley used his track skills to out sprint Waters and Kidman for the win and fastest time, with Jones and Koopman filling the top five places.
Race four in the series is set down for the circuit at Kongorong on Sunday, February 25.
In track cycling news, Kai Arbery won a silver medal as part of the Under 19 Team Sprint at the Oceania Championships, with a blistering lead-out lap to set the team up for success.
Junior track riders, in conjunction with the Limestone Coast Regional Sporting Academy, Buckley, Niel van Niekerk and Arbery have been named in the Under 19 South Australian track team for the National Championships to be held in Brisbane from March 1-5.
Xavier Farmilo and Molly Opperman have been selected in the Under 15 male and female teams respectively, with their National Championship to be held on March 13-17, also in Brisbane.
