The final race of the Mount Gambier Cycling Club Summer Series was held along the Caves Road 25km course in glorious weather, with light northerly winds keeping the riders honest on the return leg.
For their final race of the series, the Junior Under 13 riders rode together for the first 5km before turning around and riding a scratch race.
Sean Tye and Molly Opperman rode strongly together, with the former finishing just ahead, while Glenn Tye rode his own race as hard as he could.
A total of 21 riders signed on for the final race of the series, with the series victory dependent on the performances of three riders.
With the handicaps set, the first group of riders, containing Jen Buckland, Jonathan Kidman, Jason Buckland, David Tye, Chris Hunt and Dianne Major left the start line, hoping to stay away for as long as possible over the chasing riders.
The next group of Rick Heaver, Elmer Buckland, Ainsley Curtis, Damian Buckley and Don Sforcina began their chase two minutes later, while Dean Zeven, Bruce McLaughlin and Spek Peake followed them a further three minutes behind.
After another four minutes had elapsed on the clock, it was the turn of Harry Opperman, Craig Andre and Phil Stasiw to begin their chase, followed by Rob Mann, Jami Buckley and Matthew Opperman.
Finally, 90 seconds later and some 12 and a half minutes after the first riders had left, it was the turn of Nick Kidman to try and catch all the riders who had left ahead of him.
Taking advantage of the slight tailwind on the outward leg to the turnaround point, most groups stuck together well.
The second group on the road worked strongly and were able to catch the leading riders within the first 10km with Jen Buckland, Jonathan Kidman, David Tye and Hunt increasing their speed to keep up with them as they passed.
David Tye was not able to maintain the pace and dropped back to work with Jason Buckland and Major.
This larger group of eight riders arrived at the turnaround point first and continued working strongly together into the slight headwind on the return journey.
The team of Zeven and McLaughlin caught the leading riders with just over a kilometer to go in the race, with some of the riders desperately trying to hold on to the faster pace.
As the riders went over the final rise and into the last 500 meters, Peake thought he was providing a lead out for the faster riders behind but managed to stay away and take the
victory.
Elmer Buckland finished ahead of Zeven to take out the positions on the podium followed by McLaughlin, Heaver, Hunt, Sforcina, Buckley and Jen Buckland.
Nick Kidman outside the top 10, but still took out the fastest time honours.
After the points from the final race of the series were tallied, the placings were announced, with the winner of the Summer Series receiving the Dowdell Family Trophy.
Club life member Allan Dowdell was on hand to present the trophy, as well as displaying a medal for a Penny Farthing Race in 1885, revealing the Dowdell Family has been involved in cycling for as long as the MGCC had been in existence.
By virtue of his second-place finish in the final race, Elmer Buckland was able to leapfrog over Stasiw and Buckley to take home the trophy.
The MGCC Autumn/Winter Series will begin next weekend with a 25km race starting at the normal turnaround marker on Caves Road and heading into Donovan’s, providing a variation on a familiar route.
