March 16 2010

Tinwald Cycling Club held a three stage Mini Tour on Sunday.

The tour was broken into four grades, with the first stage covering the picturesque road from Mt Somers to Hakatere Station and back.

Stage 2 was in the form of a 9.5km time trial on Tramway Road. and the final stage taking the riders from Valetta into Tinwald.

A grade saw three different riders win each stage with Tony Ward, Richard Clark, and Rob Hooper all taking honours.

However it was Michael Gallagher who deservedly took overall honours.

Gallagher along with Tony Ward made the decisive break in stage 1 to put a minute gap on the chasing group.

Clark pulled the time back to 22 seconds after the time trial, which added interest to the lead heading into the final stage.

Unfortunately Ward suffered a puncture in the final stage and although he conducted a quick wheel change he was not able to make contact with his group, but minimised the time loss to hold onto third place with second place going to Clark.

In B grade only two seconds separated the first two, with a meagre 18 seconds back to third place as this grade proved the most competitive grade of the day.

Brendon Davidson etched out the winning break in the time trial to eventually hold onto the lead from runner up Brent Kircher, who picked up both stage 1 and 3 honours.

Kevin Hurley secured third on the back of three consistent stages.

Michelle Davidson made it a memorable day for the Davidson stable securing victory in C grade.

Again it was the time trial that proved to be the decisive stage, with Davidson pulling out a top shelf effort to secure a 30 second buffer going into the final stage.

Amy Ferguson built on her recent top results at the New Zealand track championships to record victories in both stages 1 and 3, and in doing so claimed second.

Rob Redmond also continued his good form to make the podium in third position.

Adena Middleton stamped her mark on D grade with wins in stage 1 and the time trial, but had to play second fiddle to Alex Crawford who showed real strength to claim the stage 3 sprint.

Middleton's efforts proved enough to secure her the top prize though with Crawford taking second place by 5/100 of a second over Dave Strong who had to settle for third placing.

The juniors and division 2 also partook in the mini tour, with the juniors split into 3 grades.

The junior A grade was highly competitive with all riders picking up places in the various stages.

It was Liam Bowater who proved to be the most consistent over the three stages to record a good victory ahead of second place getter George McDonald, with Nick Ralston continuing his strong form to take the third.

Jake Beeman pulled out all the stops in the time trial to lay the foundation for his victory in junior B grade.

Harriett Sutton pushed him hard all the way having won stage 1 to take second place, while Mark Harrison secured a good victory in stage 3 and in doing so cemented third spot.

Ben Sutton secured victory in all three stages to win junior C grade but was pushed right to the line Izzy Redmond who rode strongly in all 3 stages.

Flynn Beeman picked up third position behind Redmond.

Aaron Boland and Janette Hooper went head to head in division 2 with only the sprint bonus seconds being the difference.

Boland secured both stage 1 and 3 in sprint finishes doing enough to claim top spot.

Hooper took victory in the time trial to take a well earned reward for her days racing.

Next week the club will race a handicap event around the Blackbridge block.

Pictured: Adena Middleton had a strong day on the bike taking out the D grade. - Photo Sarah Chamberlain 140310-SC-116