MTB

JetBlack 12 Hour solo victory to Jason English in sixth consecutive year

By Rocky Trail Entertainment

The JetBlack 12 Hour event has established itself as one of the major endurance mountain bike races in NSW since 2009 and for the second time it was held at James Estate Winery in the Upper Hunter Valley on the weekend. The big favourite, 24 Hour Solo World Champion Jason English from Port Macquarie defended his title in a strong solo field to claim the sixth consecutive with at the annual event. Wendy Stevenson from Sydney won the women’s division overall with Charlie McCabe from the Central Coast taking the Elite category title and Michael Schmitt from Canberra took out the U23 solo victory.

Right from the start the three major contenders took over the overall lead on the 9.5km circuit in the strong solo field. Title defender and 24 Hour Solo World Champion Jason English from Port Macquarie and Sam Moffitt from Canberra in the Elite Men’s and Brett Bellchambers in the Singlespeed category. Jason English managed to ride consistently to create a comfy gap into the night, eventually claiming his sixth consecutive JetBlack 12 Hour title in 25 laps (12:19:15 hours) just after 10pm on Saturday night. Sam Moffitt finished on 24 laps and Simon de Pomeroy from Hornsby on 21 laps, completing the top three podium in the Elite Men.

Brett Bellchambers defended his long-standing JetBlack 12 Hour Singlespeed Bike title, finishing as third solo racer overall with fellow singlespeeder Michael Timp from the Central Coast in overall fourth and a very strong U23 winner with Michael Schmitt from Canberra in fifth.

The women’s field was dominated by experienced endurance racer, Wendy Stevenson, from Sydney, who won the Master 40+ division and the Women’s overall race with 19 laps in just under 12 hours. Second overall was Catherine Wood from the Blue Mountains and in third was the Elite Women’s winner, Charlie McCabe from Wamberal.

The overall line honours went to the Newcastle Cycos United Team, which included some of Australia’s most talented National-scene racers: Commonwealth Games racer Cameron Ivory, who also clocked in the fastest male lap time in 23:01 minutes, Trenton and Jaydn Day as well as the team manager Andrew Gresham. In second was another team of four with the Quantum Racing Team from Sydney and in third the team of “Four Random Blokes” with riders from Dubbo, Winmalee and Sydney.

The event offered participants to race solo or in teams of up to six riders as well as age classifications such as master (40+), super master (50+) as well as junior divisions (U23 solo and U18 teams). Detailed results and individual rider and team certificates can be downloaded from the Rocky Trail results portal.

The Rocky Trail crew will return to James Estate for the first time with the JetBlack 24 Hour event, one of the most iconic cycling events on the Australian mountain bike calendar on 23+24 January 2016. For more information, visit www.rockytrailentertainment.com