After much scratching of the
scone, chief handicapper Creighton had the 'Go' riders on the line
around the allocated 2:00pm start time. In A Grade, the Tims Parkes and
Cotsell played admirable hares to Mark Wood on 7 minutes and the
pursuing Geoffs, 10 minute man Jeffff Paul and Scratch-marker Gilchrist,
another 6 minutes in arrears. Team Tim (which would be "Tim Tim" in New
Ziland, wouldn't it?) did a cracker of a job up front and held off the
Geoffs, with Tim Parkes recording a well-earned win, 2 seconds clear of
Tim C. The master of sParkes could be seen at all points of the track
with a race face to rival Chris Jongewaard and was super consistent with
mid 21 minute times for each of the five A grade laps. Gilly was a
further minute behind to take third, thenJeff Paul and Mark Wood.

The C Grade, Juniors race saw Em Parkes head home Drew Gilchrist, both
Scratch markers. Darcy Bennett took a well earned 3rd, after being
overlooked by the starter and allowed the start late, then getting lost,
while Angus Gibson slugged it out for fourth and Ryan Gilchrist Fifth.
The hastily composed handicaps for this division can now be revisited
with an eye to a more level playing field on the next outing...

But the big handicapping headaches came with the 4 lap B grade race.
Clear evidence of sandbagging and allegations of doping kept stewards up
in a night-long enquiry after this one. In the end, 6 minute man Richard
Lehnart rode a top four laps to take the win, with an absolutely flying
Greg Howarth, from 12 minutes further back, gobbled up all in his path
to snatch second from 26 minute marker Dartanian Hertzbottom (appearing
in the records as Ryan Gilchrist). The remaining riders in the 4 lap
field were spread across another 20 minutes as they limped in from the
punishment meted out by the merciless front running trio... or so it
seemed. In the final wash, the stewards commission of enquiry held the
handicapper blameless, as evidence emerged of flagrant sandbagging and
tainted urine. In one unequivocal example of the worst of sportsmanship,
no less a personage than Tony Scott himself spotted John McQueen
skulking beneath a Eucalyptus Urineei, fag in one hand, having a slash
with the other, clearly "killing time". Fifteen minutes were to
transpire before the shameless McQueen limped into transition
complaining of cramp... you are on notice, McQueen. The will be some big
shakups in the B grade handicapping. The new handicaps are being
prepared, the data will again be fed into the club's Babbidge Difference
engine and will be stored in a locked vault, guarded by Uri Under and a
troupe of gnomes in faraway Repton, until next time they are needed.

BTW - a brief explanation of results. Due to "irregularities" in blood
samples, Adrian Hawke is Ryan Gilchrist for the purposes of our results.
Ryan Gichrist doesn't exist at all, though we are reliably informed that
he finished in a time of 1:16. The first laps in each division are kind
of meaningless... some riders had a handicap applied in the computer,
which was subtracted from the first lap automatically. However, because
of last minute changes in handicaps, they were the wrong handicaps.
Those of you who had no handicaps applied by the computer can "simply"
subtract your handicap from the first lap to get the correct time. A
better idea is to consider the first lap as your blood trigyceride
level, in which case Tim Parkes shouldn't have the energy to get on his
bike, let alone win, and Ryan Gilchrist, aka Dartanian Hertzbottom,
should see his GP immediately.In any event, the results are correct... honest. BTW, yes, the
handicapper is open to bribes. But they must be substantial - no coins,
thanks.

Handicaps are calculated for race distance, with A Grade at 5 laps, B
Grade at 4 laps and Juniors 3 laps. 'Go' is first rider to start. Timing
starts with this rider. Next rider away is + x minutes, follwed by + y
minutes and so on. Winner is the first rider home after the agreed
number of laps.


Juniors – 2 Laps
Go: Amos Gibson
+ 6 minutes Angus Gibson, Darcy Bennett
+ 10 minutes Ryan Gilchrist
+ 12 minutes Drew Gilchrist, Emily Parkes

B Grade – 4 Laps
Go: Sara Hinds
+ 6 minutes Helen Parkes
+ 8 minutes Richard Lehnert, Jason Patterson
+ 12 minutes Michael Day
+ 20 minutes John McQueen, Jaye Gilchrist, Greg Howarth, Mark McKiernan
+ 26 minutes Adrian Hawke

A Grade – 5 Laps
Go: Tim Parkes, Tim Cotsell
+ 7 minutes Mark Wood
+10 minutes Jeff Paul
+ 16 minutes Geoff Gilchrist

The results can be found bellow

The inaugural series in 2010 consisted of five rounds hosted by clubs in Coffs Harbour, Kempsey, Grafton, Port Macquarie and Armidale with an average of 100 riders at each round and a prizepool of $4,500.2011 sees the addition of two more races at Nambucca and Taree and a rebranding of the series to be the acronym GNaTPACK MTB series representing each host club. On Sunday, round 3 of the series moved to the newly built 8.2km MTB cross country track of the Nambucca Valley and what a great race it was. 92 riders backed up after the mudfest at Kempsey and  were well rewarded with the driest and quickest course the coast has seen for months. The Nambucca course has it all with jumps, sweeping corners, switchbacks and the best uphill berm you will ever see. Fun was a big factor even for riders who were suffering from lactic acid filled legs towards the end of the race.

Coffs Harbour was well represented with 26 riders making the trip quick south. It was great to see Adrian Hawke racing again after a years absence and by hitting 60km/hr through the big dippers he demonstrated that he has lost none of his competitive edge or skills. Al Scotford could not be kept away from the track and was rarely seen without a smile on his face from the time the coffee van arrived until he crossed the line on his last lap. 

Jaye Gilchrist clawed back to the top of the points ladder in her category with the help of some good track knowledge whilst Bregje Aalders rode a strong race to take out second place at Nambucca in her category. There seemed to be a battle of the Tims as Tim Parkes and Tim Jacobs finished only 10 seconds apart after nearly 2hrs of racing, only to be outdone by Tim Cotsell who finished 5 minutes ahead.   Congratulations to everyone who made the trip down to Nambucca, I'm sure you'll agree it was well worth it.

Club racing returns to Cows with Guns on Saturday 28 May. Sign on is from 1.00pm for a 2.00pm race start. Keep an eye on the website for updates. 

Attached bellow are the catergory, fastest 

Blue skies greeted riders, however, sections of the 8.2km course were best described as extremely muddy, challenging the technical skills of riders who are not used to difficult trail conditions. The majority of the usually dusty Kempsey track held up well to the recent rain and riders used the firm trail base to remember that it was actually a race not just a survival course of between 3-6 laps.

Coffs Harbour has a number of promising junior riders with Charlie Watson putting in a strong race to win the Under 15 males in the trying conditions. The under 19 womens was a tightly contested category with Coffs junior Emily Parkes coming second to Armidale rider Holly Harris by only 26 seconds after 1.5hrs of racing.

In the Elite males, Evan Jeffery capitalised on his recent good form from a top 10 finish at the National MTB Marathon titles in Queensland to dominate the category while Geoff Gilchrist was edged into third place by Kempsey local Tim Wynan.

Coffs Harbour Triathlete Aaron Newman has shown he also has the skills to succeed at mountain biking by convincingly winning the 19-29yr male category whilst Peter Marshall stayed upright long enough to hold onto first place in the 30-39yr males.

Jaye Gilchrist was relegated to 3rd place in the Masters Women at Kempsey after winning the opening round of the series in Coffs Harbour. The Masters male category usually draws the most entrants and Coffs riders Tim Cotsell and Mark Wood staged their own battle throughout the race with Tim (4th) finishing less than a minute ahead of Mark (5th) after nearly 2.5 hours of racing.

The dominance of the Coffs Club in the region continued with Jeff Paul taking out his second win of the series in the Supermasters male. With Trevor Creighton (2nd supermasters male) & Sue Webber (1st supermasters female) recently moving back to the Coffs Coast, the club will benefit from their years of experience within the cycling industry.

Congratulations to all riders who made the trip down to Kempsey, particularly Jason Paterson who has had to contend with two very slippery trails in his return to racing after a 2 year hiatus. There will be a womens only Mountain Bike event in Grafton on Sunday May 15. This is a fantastic opportunity for any girls/ladies who want to try mountain biking in a fun and supportive environment. Contact 66427890 for details.

Attached bellow are the results as well as the points for the series.