Sunday was the first race in this years Trusthouse North Island Teams Series. We didn’t have as many Manawatu based teams entered this year, but we were still well represented by our local riders.
The day started a little cold and wet, but as the first grades went, the rain began to clear.
In CAT 2, young rider Wilson Hanson riding as an individual finished in third place and the WCNI team sponsored by Glenn Kirk Oral Surgeon also had some fantastic results with Sam Wade, Jack Padega, Wiremu Kaihau, Josh Mulcahy and Jeremy Rowe finishing in 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th and 11th. While the team points haven’t been released yet, it looks like WCNI is leading the team points in this category.
In CAT 3, the JT Coaching Bike Manawatu team sponsored by Johan Oelofse of JT Coaching were looking sharp in their new JT Coaching kit, and also had some great results with Chris Harris finishing 4th and Zach Hintz in 5th place.
In CAT 4, we had the Palmfeild Motors Bike Manawatu team and the Storage Manawatu team.
There is more information on this race, as I am the team manager, and was in the service vehicle – it’s not favouritism – I promise. A 3 man break was made very early on in the race – less than 10 kms in, with 2 Kapiti riders and Darcy Forrester of the Palmfeilds BM team, they managed to get away and hold a good time gap between them and the peloton. Halfway through the first lap, Patrick Johnstone of Palmfeilds BM, another Kapiti rider and a Pedal Project rider managed to bridge across to the break. The break group all worked well together increasing their lead from 1.5 minutes to 4 minutes and finished almost 5 minutes ahead of the Peloton. Darcy finished in 4th place and Patrick in 6th place.There were some great results in the peloton group with Brady Kennett and Logan Mulcahy of Palmfeilds BM in 11th and 12th, then Graeme Bull and Toshi Yamauchi in 14th and 15th place. At this stage Palmfeilds BM is in 2nd place for team points,l with Kapiti first as their 3rd rider over the before any other team – so I think we may be seeing some of that friendly banter and rivalry we saw in last years series and also the Kapiti Winter Series
There are a number of new riders in all 4 teams mentioned, who all did really well – thanks for putting your hands up to get involved.
2022 is shaping up to be another great year for the Manawatu based teams.
Below is a link to the results https://www.webscorer.com/racedetails?raceid=289635&did=344387&cid=1709216
Michelle
