Mt Cotton Kermis

With wet weather greeting the team at the start line, it was likely today’s race was to be one to be at the front. The Mt Cotton course is a great circuit in the dry, but in the wet, there are several corners that make things very dangerous. As the rain continued to fall at the start line, thoughts of self preservation crossed the riders mind.

From the gun, Matt attacked and broke clear of the group, hoping to form a breakaway. A few riders bridged across to Matt, but the small group was shut down. The attacks continued to occur, with Sam and Taylor covering these early moves. Meanwhile, the rain continued and the puddles and water across the road got worse.
The pace never let up and the corners were getting taken faster and faster. Many people were being tailed off and with Matt’s back wheel sliding all over road and Taylor being caught behind crashes, it was left to Tom and Sam to stay in the front group.
About a third of the way into the race a three man group formed off the front that included Darren Rolfe, Hayden Brookes (Fly V) and Rueben Donati (Data 3). This trio worked well together and formed a good break. Sam back in the group was getting nervous and drove the chase group hard to try and close things down, but suffered a puncture not long into the second third of the race.
Tom was left to fend for himself and was looking very comfortable in the chasing group. Unfortunately the leading three had extended their lead to two minutes and looked to have the race won.

As such, Tom rode a smart race to try and get into the top 5, but was caught behind a crash on the last corner and had to settle for a minor placing. Still, it was a great ride and show’s that Tom is coming into some good form.

Darren Rolfe and Hayden Brookes got the one-two, while Donati came in for third.