Griffith Mia Stockwell takes out Bertoldos Cup

In near perfect weather conditions, the Handicapper split the 17 rider field into five groups: -

Limit's Tony Jones and Mandy Rogers were given 11 minutes start and knew with just the two of them the chances of being caught quickly by Group 4 were high so a good tactic would be to conserve energy and hang onto the first passing group.

Group 4's Benjamin Paton, Andrew Ritchie, Mia Stockwell and Bronwyn Jones were set off with an 81/2 minutes advantage and with similar tactics to Limit's in mind, this group needed to work with Group 3 if/when caught then go hell for leather in the final sprint.

Group 3's Dick Hore, Kingsley Massey, Greg Smith, Rodney Savage and Brendon Sinclair were set to the chase with a 6 minute advantage. These boys needed to go like the clappers to keep Block and Scratch at bay.

Chopping Block of Mitch Harrison, Jason Minato, Brad Hart and Peter Stockwell were set off needing to catch and work with the front groups ASAP to keep their 11/2minutes gap over Scratch.

Scratch riders Malcom Blake and Craig Tilson, having took 1st and 3rd place in last week's penultimate race were in the running for a chance of the Series trophy but without the advantage of numbers this pair were going to struggle to catch the larger groups.

At the end of the day stealth and tactics paid off for Groups 3 and 4, the results were -

Kingsley Massey (Group 3) grabbed the lead in the sprint taking out 1st place with GCC newcomer Benjamin Paton (Group 4) and Andrew Ritchie (Group 4) achieving 2nd and 3rd with Rodney Savage (Group 3) in 4th. Mia Stockwell (Group 4) came in close behind in 5th place giving her the points she needed to win the Series.

This year's competition scores were calculated over a series of seven races. Each race was handicapped, 40km long and consisted of four laps of the Hanwood circuit.

Congratulations Mia Stockwell on winning the crown for the 2021 Bertoldos Cup Series with a fantastic overall score of 96 points.

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Going from strength to strength Mia's performance during this year's club racing season has been amazing and well deserved. Mia can often be spotted in and around Griffith training at the crack of dawn and covering cycling distances as long as 200km in a single ride. Mia was thrilled to win the Bertoldos Cup Series and when asked about what she liked about GCC events commented "racing is about participating and having the opportunity to work with your team".

Finally, to give credit where credit's due, thank you to Mia's Dad Peter Stockwell for helping and encouraging Mia in this fabulous sport, and Peter, if you try really really hard you might be able to beat Mia at the next Ferals run - good luck with that

As usual, many thanks to GCC race volunteers for ensuring the safety of riders and motorists. The next GCC event will be the Individual Time Trial and Road Race Championships at Hanwood Circuit on the 5th December.

Final Tally

1st: Mia Stockwell (96 points), 2nd: Brad Hart (84 points), 3rd Brendan Sinclair (81 points).

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