Yesterday saw race 5, the final race in the 2020 Trusthouse North Island Series take place in wet unpleasant comditions, and it was a great success for not only our Bike Manawatu Riders, but other Bike Manawatu members riding for other teams.
In Catergory 1, Bike Manawatu member Madi Hartley-Brown riding for Couplands was the overall Category winner, and the Couplands team which had Adam Francis, Adam Martin and Ethan Craine who are all Bike Manawatu members on the team.
In Category 2, Max Ferguson from the Bike Manawatu team has been overall category leader from the start and was overall category winner, with Michael Richmond in 2nd place, with Jeremy Rowe and sponsor Cliff Hughes riding for WCNI featuring in the top 10. Michael also won race 5 with Caleb Botcher finishing 2nd.
In Category 3, Dale Nicholls from the Bike Manawatu team has also been category leader from the start, and finished up not only winning the race, but as the overall Category winner, with Riley Tunnicliffe (also riding for Bike Manawatu) finishing in 4th place overall, and Josh Mulcahy riding for Base Solutions finished race 5 on the podium in 3rd place, and 6th place overall, and Sam Wade also riding for Base Solutions was 10th overall, and Johan Oelofse and Tyler Mumby finishing in the top 15 – this was by far the biggest feild in the series.
In category 4, Mike Thompson (Tomo), who has been riding in the series since it’s inception in 2014 for TASC and Luxury Cycle Tours, saw great success this year, finishong in 2nd place in race 2, and gaining the leaders jersey in round 3 and not giving it back, despite some tough competition from Peter James from the Tararua Builders team. Toshi Yamauchi and Mike Dunne also riding for Luxury Cycle Tours finished 4th and 6th overall respectively and Lochie Foote riding for Bike Manawatu in 7th place while Mike Dunne finished on the podium in 3rd place for race 5.
This has been an extremeley successful series for Bike Manawatu and it’s members that are riding for other teams. Along with other teams, Bike Manawatu lobbied organiser Jorge Sandoval to change the format from age group base racing to graded racing, and once he did this, former Board member Tim Lloyd came up with the idea to introduce our junior members to the teams, and this has been a resounding success. The organsier – Jorge Sandoval has said that he believes it was a great idea from our club to enter them in the series and have the opportunity to race away from home and against other riders.
