Off the front: Levi Hone leads Nathan Oman as the two again dominated proceedings in the A-grade criterium. Photos: EMCC/Richard Bailey
In conditions that could only be described as ‘goldilocks weather’, 26 riders competed in the second round of the EMCC summer criterium series.
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The A-grade race saw the resumption of hostilities between Levi Hone and Nathan Oman, with a special mention to George Griffiths and Jack Arnold who both debuted in A-grade.
With Hone and Oman keen to test each other, the pace was hot, and it wasn’t long until the rest of the group felt the elastic band snap.
In a frenetic final lap, Oman looked on track for back-to-back crit victories, but in a reversal of last week’s result, Hone triumphed on the line, with Mick Hone coming across in third.
A-grade debut: George Griffiths (right) rolls off the front as Jack Arnold comes to the fore, with the duo appearing for the first time in A-grade.
B-grade again featured a small but strong field, with Francis Lias putting the group under pressure from the start.
Matt Sherman, in his return to EMCC racing, was up to the challenge and led strongly during the mid part of the race.
In the final sprint to the line, Sherman looked to be home. However, Cam Smith had other ideas, pipping Sherman in the sprint to the line, with John Brian not far behind in third.
A large bunch of 12 featured in C-grade, and all riders were a little on edge.
The early stages were a little tricky due to the big group with riders finding the only place worse than pushing into the wind on the front was getting strung out on the back.
With five minutes left, young guns Jacob Haines and Riley Wilkinson hatched a plan to break away and break away they did, creating a sizeable gap that the disorganised group behind couldn’t make up.
Haines powered to the win, followed by Wilknson with Nick Woods rounding out the podium.
In D-grade, the three riders were again guaranteed a podium spot with Mel, Heather and Ray to fight it out for the win.
The pace was steady all race with Heather finding herself on the front with a lap to go, until Mel Smolenaars sprinted over the top for the win into the headwind finish.
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