After last week’s race with a climb every lap, a number of riders were happy to return to a traditional flat and fast criterium circuit in the Pinjarra Industrial Estate.
First away were the juniors, for two laps of the circuit with saw Abigail Vreeken first, Eilidh Milne second and Sienna Stella third.
With only three riders in E grade, they raced with D grade. Their task was to hold on to D grade for a long as possible. Chris Rouse lasted the longest and took the win. Saffron Pedrana was second and Callum Milne third.
D grade was an aggressive race, with a couple of riders regularly attacking. The attackers never got far and the bunch was all together in the second last corner, when an incidence slowed half the field. Though that took nothing away from the impressive sprint win of Nat Tan, with Baden Gray second and Todd Brown third.
It was a similar aggressive race in C, only with more riders attacking. Still with the same level of success. Nobody got away and it the final bunch sprint, it was Luke Colum first, Callum Hunter second and Richard Maude third.
B grade was a very different story, Lachlan Connan attacked early and got a break. The break slowly grew and it looked like Connan might stay away. The suddenly with 10 minutes to go, the bunch charged and caught Connan in one lap. Other riders started attacking with no success. As the bell rang to announce the final lap Connan attacked again and got a small gap. The final lap was furious, with Connan holding on to take the win by the narrowest margin from Michael Polmear
second and John Bouwknegt third.
A grade saw an attack on the first lap with Lewis Keightly, Rennie Ramos and Liam Magowan getting a small break. As the trio worked together to establish a lead, riders tried to bridge across and failed. Then suddenly Ryan Willmot and Martin Thurlby were halfway between the leaders and the bunch. Wade Longworth then launched a strong solo effort and bridged across to Willmot and Thurlby. These three then managed to catch the three leaders and once the leading group of six was formed and started working together, it spelt doom for the more than dozen riders in the chasing bunch. As the chase was disjointed and the riders not willing to work together, unlike the 6 in the lead. While Magowan attacked with two laps to go, it was going to be a small group sprint. Which was won by Longworth, with Wilmot second and Keightly third.