Taste of Summer to Come
Matata Cross Country Report
GNCC Round 2
The second round of the GNCC was held in Matata on 13th November. The dry weather and the light pumice sandy soil meant dust and a rough and bumpy track. The amount of dust caused some riders, including Jason Davies, to pull out. The track had some sections with good flow and you could cool off for a few minutes going up a bit of a stream but with the hardpacked lumps and dust, it added up to a tiring race. This track is the basis for the 6 Hour and gave a good taste of the summer to come.
However, with the GNCC, you have to cope with all conditions and local riders coped extremely well indeed.
The junior grades, in particular, have a growing number of Bay of Plenty riders featuring in top positions. In the Youth 10-11 age group Jordan Milsom, Stephen Moloney and John Moloney, all from the Te Puke area, came 2nd, 8th and 11th respectively. In the 12-13 age group, Reuben Steens was 3rd with Aden Sheely 7th and Cody Paton 11th. This was Reuben's second GNCC. In the first one, his seat fell off and he finished 6th.
In the Rookies 14-20 age group, local juniors filled 6 of the top 8 placings with Cam McCaskie 1st, David Moloney (pictured above) 2nd, Matthew Reilly 3rd, Leo Van Lierop 5th, Jordan Manning 6th and Marcus Moloney 8th. Cam’s normally found on an MX track and it was his first cross country race . The week before he had done the Maddix loops with his dad and his dad’s mate, liked it and so decided to do the GNCC. He found reserves in the last lap and made it his fastest one and gained the 1st place. In the same race Mathew was having trouble finding motivation as he coped with painful blistered hands (see race report) and he mentions how difficult it was to see in the dark patches under the trees. You just couldn't see the holes
In the more senior Rookie classes Tim Salter was 4th in the 21-34, Bryce Fisher was 2nd but leads the series for the 35-44s and David Hearn and Les Howard took 3rd and 4th places in the 45+.
The Ladies too were at the top of their game. Janelle Walker came first and is first equal for the series in the Rookie ladies 21-34 class. Shirley Sheely holds the same position in the Rookie ladies 45+. In the Senior ladies 14-20, Morgan Edwards maintains second place with Drisana Sheely 4th in the series. Jeggs Ryder was 2nd at Matata and is 2nd overall in the Senior ladies 35-44.
The Clubman’s classes saw three local riders top the podium. Chris Foster maintained his winning ways and his overall lead in 14-20 group, with Jake Whyte coming 12th. Peter Garrett kept his number one status in the 35-44 bracket with Leddy Middleton 4th and Neville Trow 5th on the day. In the 45+ group, Murray Jensen came 1st, Ross Hawke 3rd and Gavin Weston 4th. The next round will be highly competitive as Ross and Gavin are now 2nd equal overall whereas Murray did not ride this class at the previous round held on his property so is lying 6th overall.
In the Expert classes, being there and finishing certainly counts. Dion Sheely did not have a great day but his 8th place is enough to give him 2nd overall. His dad, Mike is 2nd overall in the 35+ class and Shane Howard’s 2nd place on the day gives him the overall lead in the Expert 21-29 class.
The Elite class was dominated by the riders who were part of (or should have been part of) the successful ISDE team in Mexico. Rory Meadtook the 1st place honours followed by Karl Power 2nd, John O’Dea 3rd, Chris Power 4thand Adrian Smith 5th. Two local riders were not far behind. Phil Singleton from Te Puke took 6th and Reece Burgess from Tauranga, who had problems with a stop switch wire that made the motor cut out in the sweepers, sending the bike into a slide and himself into close encounters with the thistles, was 8th.
Full results are on www.silver-bullet.co.nz.
The next GNCC round is at Waimiha on Sunday 12th December.
