Winter racing starts
The start of the Peel Districts Cycling Club winter road racing season coincided with the last summer criterium race on Saturday.
A strong easterly wind was challenging for riders in Serpentine in the final 2.5 km of the 9km circuit.
In the junior one-lap race, Luca Mcconnachie came first and Amelia Stones second.
In D-grade, new member Paul Taylor successfully auditioned for C-grade, with a commanding solo win.
Two riders chased the whole race, with Derek Crowther out-sprinting young Oliver Bleddyn for second place.
C-grade rode at full pace up Gull Road in the first three laps.A couple of riders dropped each lap and by the end of the third, they were down from 17 to seven.
The next three laps presented a number of attacks, but the seven riders stayed on to contest the final sprint, which was won by Darren Lee, with Karl Wilson second and John Buonvecchi third in his first race back after racing the Paris Dakkar on a motorcycle.
B-grade's Mark Glorie and Ben Jackson got away by the second lap, and the bunch shed some riders in the next couple of laps in pursuit of the front two without making much ground.
On the sixth lap, Jackson's South Perth Roulers teammate Craig James bridged the gap with a solo effort and the pair rode away from Glorie. On the seventh and final lap James rode clear to take victory from Jackson and a hard-chasing Jono Bates was third.
A-grade was an equally aggressive race and tactical on the final stretch of Karnup Road, with a solo break, a small group and then the whole bunch together.
In the ensuing sprint, under-17 rider Conor Leahy won his first A-grade race, with Luke Banham second and visitor Craig Cooke third.
Next week the racing returns to Casuarina after a three-year absence, where E-grade will reappear to accommodate all Peel District members aged 11-77.
For more information about future races or the full results, visit www.pdcc.asn.au .
