Another bumper field of 19 for our final round of the Summer Crit Series this week with a few riders stepping up a grade to challenge themselves.
A-grade
A small, strong field of four, with Nick Woods, Max Trewhella, Josh Thomson and George Griffiths to fight it out.
After a couple of leisurely laps, with his father Scott on the sidelines, Max burst clear and looked to be trying to get a lap on the field.
After several gut busting laps, the group dragged itself back together, with strong efforts keeping the pace high.
As the race progressed, it was Max continually the aggressor, stretching his rivals.
Into the final lap it was Nick Woods, with three peaks training in his legs, who rode clear and had a five bike length gap down the back straight.
Into the final straight, it was the familiar sight of Josh Thomson out front for the win from Max Trewhella in second and Nick Woods in third.
B-grade
Both Tom Cook and Neil Thomson stepped up to B-grade to join John Brian, Cam Smith and Billy Sutton.
In keeping with his style, Tom took off early to test the group, with Cam Smith quick to react, and a steady pace ensuing.
Mid-race, the crowd was dumbfounded by a period of cat and mouse, with riders seemingly almost stopping, waiting for someone to make the move.
Sensing an opportunity, it was Cam Smith who made a break, riding clear and splintering the group, only Tom could keep Cam in sight.
With encouragement of the crowd, both riders dug deep, Cam using his TT prowess to drive on but with Tom ever present, eventually latching back on, it would be a fascinating race in two.
Greeted by the bell it was Cam who moved first to shake off the youngster, as they approached the line it was neck and neck with Tom successful in a great ride with Cam second and Neil in the battle for third.
C-grade
Neil Ennis took up the offer to have a crack at C-grade after a season of sustained success in D-grade.
Joining him were Claire Goodman, Mel Smolenaars, Will Kettle and Matt Dobeli.
The early aggressor was Claire, a lover of a headwind, she continued to torture the group round the last bend and past the start-finish into a stiff easterly wind.
Will boiled up with a surge or two, but Matt, Mel and Neil hung tough.
Into the last five minutes it looked that, after a day dragging sheep from the mud, Will seemed to be running out of steam.
Approaching the final lap, it was Mel Smolenaars with a clever move as she broke clear with Claire in tow.
Into the back straight, it was Matt who'd taken the lead, hoping to keep the power up into the headwind finish.
Keep it up he did to take the win from Mel in second and Claire in third.
D-grade
In a blast from the past, Joel Pike returned for his first EMCC race in a while, up against Zenon, Ray Hamilton, Neil Ennis, Dave Oman and major sponsor Leo Welch returning.
As is the way with D-grade racing, the early pace was steady, riders content to get into the race before making a move.
Speaking of moves, Joel turned back the clock to the dance floors of his youth as he went off the front of the group in the move of the race, with several laps going by before they rejoined.
Into the final lap it was anyone's race, and into the final straight it was Leo Welch who'd pushed clear for the win from Neil Ennis in second and Joel Pike in third.
Thanks to those who helped set up and packed up and to H and Troy, our race directors.
A huge thank you to Echuca Paramount for tonight's prizes.
Next week we'll revert to Fri night racing for our club champs crits, medals for the winner of each-grade, prizes for our top five on the season points score, followed by summer and winter presentations with pizza etc.
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