Jack Trimboli had taken the safe option and secured 4 valuable points in performing a duty whilst Peter Stockwell and Tara Payne were going for maximum points by contesting the race. The sixteen riders contesting the race were in for a tough day with a strong north easterly wind present.  The field was split into four bunches. First off were Michael Wynne, Tom Graham and Tara Payne, with a 16 minute advantage on Scratch.

Second limit started 4 minutes later, with only three riders Sarah Trotter, Ros Nugan and Mark Palmer the group was in for a hard time.  Chopping Block consisting of five riders and a 5 minutes 30 seconds handicap had a good chance of holding off scratch and assisting their man in contention for the series podium. Supporting Stockwell, were Ray Gilburt, Jenni Massey, Bronwyn Jones and Steve McLean.

Scratch were most pleased to be bolstered by the late arrival of power house Mitch Harrison and were five strong including series leader Craig Tilston, Malcolm Blake, Kingsley Massey and Jason Minato.

The small limit group combined well from the outset and were doing extremely well to hold 20 minutes for the first two laps. Second limit had a cracking first lap at 18 minutes 30 seconds but unfortunately could not maintain this pace for the second lap in the tough conditions and were then not closing the gap on limit.

Chopping block were making steady progress and gradually making ground on the front two groups.  Scratch were riding extremely well and adapting to the windy conditions, averaging at over 40 kph. Turns into the wind were solid, whilst the pace was cranked to over 50kph with the tail wind.

The first catch was made towards the end of round three with scratch catching chopping block. With the five man scratch in-tact the hammer was down going into the fourth and final lap. With the series at stake Stockwell pulled out all the stops to be the only rider in his group to join the marauding scratch bunch. Halfway through the final lap second limit was caught.

With 3 kilometres to go Tara Payne and Tom Graham were still away, with scratch and series contender Stockwell in hot pursuit. With 1.5 km to the finish line Payne and Graham were finally caught, a valiant effort. Coming into the final straight the cat and mouse of the sprint came into play.

Harrison was the first to blink an opened up the sprint, club champion was immediately onto Harrison’s wheel and was able to deliver the final acceleration to take the race. Harrison took a super second place, Tilston took third place to cement his place on the top of the series leader board whilst Kingsley Massey took a good fourth place.

Stockwell managed an excellent fifth on the day, however this was not good enough as Tara Payne had managed a top class performance to gain sixth place and the final points of the day. With 116 points club president Craig Tilston had secured the Tom’s Cycle City Cup.

Jack Trimboli was second at 104 points, whilst Tara Payne had snatched third place with 100 points. Peter Stockwell was most unfortunate to miss the series podium at 99 points.