Riders from Manawatu had a great run in the Trusthouse North Island Series in 2020, and and even more successful 2021. Race 5 took place in Masterton on Sunday.
Category 2 had a close race with 8 riders from Manawatu taking spots in in the top 15. Wilson Hannan riding for total Sheetmetals bike Manawatu was narrowly beaten and finished in 2nd place, series leader for the category Caleb Botcher (WCNI) finished 4th equal, with Chris Harris from Total Sheetmetals Bike Manawatu. Caleb retained the lead and won the category for the series.
WCNI won the teams points with Total Sheetmetals Bike Manawatu 2nd.
Category 3 was an exciting race with the Jackson Fellowes and Dave Jackson from Madison Cycle clothing team both in contention to win the category for the series. They were both in an early break, and Jackson managed to win the race and take the series win for the category. Andy Richardson from bike Manawatu finished 7th in the race, and 5th overall in the category. This is a massive achievement for these 2 young men (they are both under 17 riders), they made their presence in the peloton known in every race.
Madison Cycle Clothing was 2nd in the Team Points
Category 4 was another exciting race and category. Patrick Johnstone who is one of two Cycling Whanganui riders on our Palmfeilds Bike Manawatu team was in an early 2 man break and rode solo for approximately 35 kms successfully held off the chasing group and win the race. Darren Murdie from Palmfeilds Bike Manawatu had a 3 point lead over Chris Sharrott from Kapiti Cycling for the overall category winner, and with the difference in points for 1st and 2nd place being 3 points, it was down to the wire to see who would take it out. Chris finished just ahead of Darren, and with only 2 points between their placings, Darren won the series for Cat 4, Mike Thompson (Storage Manawatu) was third and race winner Patrick Johnstone was 5th
Palmfeilds Bike Manawatu finished 2nd in the team points and Storage Manawatu were 3rd.
Full results can be viewed here for race 5 https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=262266
And final point can be viewed here https://www.dropbox.com/s/i3g1b17vtots0a1/FINAL%20Points%20after%20Race%20Five%20%20-%202021.xlsx?dl=0
This has been a very successful series for riders from not only our 3 Bike Manawatu teams but also riders from other Manawatu teams – congratulations to all of our riders and thank you for your efforts. Bike Manawatu would also like to acknowledge the generosity of our two team sponsors – Rob Ryan and his team at Palmfeild Motors, and Damien and Kylie Mulcahy from Total Sheetmetals. Your contribution has reduced the costs for our riders to participate in this great series.
We will look at holding a prize giving in late January or February, this will be advertised,
