We welcomed back Brayden Walsh to racing, he was joined by Cam Smith, Luke Moore and Harry Moller, looking for a distraction before getting stuck into his upcoming Year 12 exams.
With Walsh forcing the pace, Smith was caught on the back foot and lost contact early.
Moore was looking good with the hot pace, until he wasn't, as he drifted backwards by mid-race.
After several minutes riding solo in a herculean effort, Smith snuck back into contact as the front group backed off the pace.
Into the final lap, it was a race in three with Moller showing his track pedigree as his blistering sprint was too strong, with Smith sneaking past Walsh for second.
B-grade
B-grade would see a near carbon copy of last week’s race with Will Kettle, fresh from shearing 200 sheep earlier in the day, Matt Dobeli, Mel Smolenaars and Georgie Jenkins.
As expected, it was Will Kettle who came to the boil early, with a couple of rapid laps to test the legs before the group settled into a steady pace.
As the race continued, the pace remained quite steady and civilised. Heading into the last lap, Dobeli moved first as he rounded the bunch from three back with Kettle firmly locked on to his wheel.
Into the back corner, Dobeli blinked first as he took the corner a little cautiously with Kettle pouncing up the inside to ride clear for the win with Smolenaars in third.
C-grade
Our C-grade field featured debutant Rosie Jenkins, riding with Ray Hamilton, Dave Oman and EMCC legend Neil Ennis, who was returning to spin the legs.
In a dramatic twist, reminiscent of Dave Oman’s grand entrance last week, Heather Lias arrived as the riders were on lap two.
Dobeli grabbed her water bottle to fill and Heather took off. No-one was more surprised than the soigneur himself as Dobeli passed the full bottle back on the next lap.
In a cautious start, riders were just feeling each other out, with an occasional surge to see who had the legs.
However, with a few laps to go, the field had split with Ennis, Lias and Oman out in front.
Into the final lap sprint, it was Ennis who had the speed to take the win from Oman in second and Lias in third.
Thanks again to our race director, photographer Richard Bailey and to our race-day prize sponsor The Port Ice Creamery.
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