Sizzling Summer Series Round 1

It was always going to be a fast race. 74 guys going as hard as they can around a flat hot mix course. We may as well have been on a velodrome.

With the bigger teams there we thought we could just sit and and let them do the bulk of the work, as long as we didn't miss the important breaks. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out that way. The boys from jayco-AIS, TDU and QAS were on the offensive at the front while Pensar-Hawk, Data3 and Campos twiddled their thumbs down at the other end.

We represented in the breaks of the day and I managed to spend a few laps away in the middle of it all but a bunch sprint was inevitable. With 10mins to go, Pensar-Hawk sent what felt like half the peleton to the front in an effort to control the race. However, they were too early and too slow as the bunch swelled at the front and the sprinters bided their time.

Right on the hour mark, the chaos culminated with a touch of wheels in the back corner and a crash took out half the field. I went to the front as they got the 3 to go sign in an effort to string out the remaining riders and make the sprint a bit safer for Timmy. I rolled off with a lap and a half left but Tim still had some ground to make up. As they turned the last corner all of the hitters were at the front but Tim did not have the legs for it.

Pete Thompson won the sprint with Jay McCarthy hot on his heels. With an average speed of 47kph on a windy day, Round two will most likely be faster an harder.