Peel cyclists rise to unseasonal challenges

Spring came early to Wandi at the weekend, with sunshine, warm weather and an unseasonal strong westerly making racing challenging.

Juniors raced first, with Taj Redjwell winning and Ethan Clark coming in second.

In the first couple of laps, A-grade quickly split into two groups and while riders moved between the two groups over the next couple of laps, by the halfway mark, it was obvious the winner was going to come from the leading group of six.

The attacks then started in the front group as individuals and pairs tried their luck, splintering the group completely, so by the last lap there were no groups, just six riders chasing victory.

Michael Fitzgerald won the race, Timothy Sellar was second and Wade Longworth was third.

There were a number of attacks in B-grade, but nothing stuck until Callum Henderson launched an early attack on the last lap.

He was joined by Emily McRedmond with a few kilometres to go.

It looked like the race was between the two, until Lennon Mclintock launched himself from the pursuing pack to win on the line from McRemond in second, and Anthony Mateljan in third.

C-grade had a similar number of attacks, and a similar result.

In the last lap, heroics failed, resulting in a big bunch sprint, which Tim Watson won, with Conor Leahy second and Peter Clark third. A very aggressive second lap made D-grade break into two groups.

While there were a number of attacks from the front group, they stayed together. In the small bunch, sprinter Manual Ramos was victorious, with Tyker Lindorff second and John Taylor third.

E-grade broke apart on the first lap, with most riders racing individually to the finish.

Rohan Goss won the race, with Ken Portman second and Matthew Connan third.