The Western Australian AusCycling State Road Race Championship supported by South32 was raced last Sunday in Boddington. The course ran from Boddington to Quindanning, then to Marradong, before returning to Boddington for 74km. The exception was the Open and Under 23 Men, who did two loops of the Quindanning Marradong circuit for a total of 135km.
The course is undulating with no major climbs, but you are either climbing or descending, there is very little flat road. One feature of the course is a hill less than 5km from Boddington, it is under 500 metres long but steep enough to break up some groups on the way out. On the return it can play a pivotal role in the results.
Under 19 Men were the first to finish. It was conservative race, two early attackers were left off the front, until they tired. The bunch then swept them up and stayed together until in sight of the finish. Were Donovan Mackie unleashed a devasting sprint, with Jaco Nel second and Connor Wright third.
Masters Men One (30 to 49) was another conservative race with no successful breaks. The result was a big bunch sprint won by Jay Bunton, with Nick Bakker second and Pieter Nel third.
All the women’s races started together, the first hill broke the riders up, with Kate Bonner, Mikayla Smith and Sarah Tucknott from the open category riding away. With two groups forming behind them. The first group was the top masters women, they had no incentive to chase the trio upfront, their main objective was to stay away from the second group. The final climb saw Smith ride away to take a solo win, with Tucknott second and Bonner third in the Open Women. In the Masters Women, the first group stayed away with Belinda Alcock taking out the small bunch sprint with Rhianna Farrell second and Corrie Johnstone third.
Masters Men Two (50+) was a race of attrition, with two large groups forming. It was a case of marking your age group opponents, with the first group consisting of the “younger” riders and the second group, the older over 60 riders. The first group stayed together until a later attack by David Sofield held of the charging group to win by two seconds from Lee Bolden with Ian Gregory third.
The Open Men race saw five riders go clear after about 10 kilometres. With riders from the two biggest teams in the break and no Under 23 riders, there was no organised chase and the break had 8 minutes over the bunch by the halfway mark. The break kept working together and went into the final climb together. Simon Billeua not wanting to risk a sprint attacked and got a small gap on the descent. The pursuit was ferocious, tired riders being dropped as Billeua was caught in sight of the line by Dan Mijat and Oliver James. Billeua attacked again and managed to take victory from Mijat with James third.
After a relatively “easy” race the Under 23 Men in the open bunch. Attacks started on the second lap. With the open riders not willing to get involved, a group of four Under 23 riders got away from the main bunch. While there was attacks, the four stayed together until the finish with Jeremy Smith taking the win, Christophe Gardener second and Ben Pepper third.
The full results with all age group results https://sporthive.com/sessions/11360381#byclass