CYCLING

Young riders set the pace in Wairarapa

By Jorge Sandoval

Race Report – Race two / Trust House North Island Team Series

What was supposed to be a relatively easy day’s racing for many riders turned out to be a battle for many thanks to strong winds in Saturday’s Trust House North Island Team Series in the Wairarapa.

First to start was the elite men’s race, the circuit from Masterton to Martinborough and one extra lap of Millar’s Rad started with a fast pace with riders having the wind in their back most of the way to Martinborough, reaching speeds of up to 6okm/h at times.

Five riders manage to establish an early break, Jack Sowry, Liam Aitchenson, Under 23 leader Nick Bain, William Green and David Weaver manage to get a two minute lead for about 30km but they were joined by four other riders at the bottom of Millar’s Road hill.

By this time the main bunch containing almost 45 rider’s where three minutes behind.

On the way back to Masterton with strong head and cross winds, four riders manage to break away and they fought out the line honours after 142km of racing.



Entering the straight finish at Mania Road, strong head winds welcome everyone to the line. In the last two thousand meters, Liam Aitchenson from Alexandra riding for the L&M Group-Ricoh team manage to get the lead and cross the line ten seconds in from of Nick Bain with David Weaver from Wellington a further 12 seconds behind.

Nick Bain from The Team Skoda racing is now the new leader of the elite grade.

In the Masters one grade the story was very much the same, Ben Knight, John Randall, Neil Harwood and Christopher Stephenson manage to go on an early break for the first 45 kilometres but the bunch chase hard and reel them in with 35kilometers to go.

With strong winds on the way home, five riders manage to break away gaining a lead of almost 3 minutes at the finish. The five sprint for the line with Tod Carpinter from Napier taking the victory followed by John Randall and Andrew Young in third place.

Masters Two group finish altogether with a massive sprint involving almost 60 riders sprinting for the line. Davis Meo riding for Kiwivelo won the grade and all five races in 2015, today he made two from two for this year series and still leading the grade.

Race Three is in two weeks’ time; riders to complete seven laps of the Carrington circuit in Carterton on Saturday 31st of October, history will be made on this day as for the first time ever in this part of the world, organisers have include a 1.1km of gravel road on each lap of the circuit.


Brief Results:

Trust House North Island Team Series race two
Elite
1st. Liam Aitcheson – L&M Group-Ricoh
2nd. Nick Bain – Team Skoda Racing – (New Leader)
3rd. David Weaver – Wheelworks Handcrafted Wheels
4th. Joel Yates – Team Skoda Racing

Masters One
1st Tod Carpinter – Jeremy Vennell Speedworks
2nd John Randall – Roadworks Reparto Course
3rd Andrew Young – IRide – (New Leader)

Masters Two
1st David Meo – Kiwivelo
2nd Neil Harwood – Optimal Performance Team
3rd Steven O’Keefe – PNP Masters