THE weather forecast kept a number of Peel District Cycling Club riders away from the West Coast Masters at Casuarina on Sunday morning.
Instead of fields of 20-30 riders, most grades only had about a dozen riders.
Racing started in the sunshine with a strong westerly, and as a result, the finish on Orton Road was a headwind.
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READ NOWRiders held 35-40km/h on other parts of the course and were struggling to hold 20km/h on exposed sections of Orton Road.
E grade only had two riders competing and their objective was to survive five laps with D grade.
Bob Stephens did exactly that and matched much younger riders to win E grade; Pat Briggs, who dropped on the first lap, battled the elements to finish second.
There were a couple of early attacks in D grade, but once the rain came it became a battle of survival for all riders.
On the final lap, an attack up the rise on Coyle Road put Jarred Finnigan, a rider on the comeback from serious injury, into difficulty.
Finningan, who had battled the wind to return, burst from the group to take the win.
Fiona Vescoli-Finnigan made it a family affair and took home second place, and Jon Nelson came third.
C grade experienced early attacks and defensive riding once the rain arrived and the wind picked up.
On the final lap, the attacks started and riders went out the back where most of the group stayed together.
In the reduced bunch sprint, Eddy Pope took the win, Richard Barville came second and Shane Cable third.
Nine riders started A grade and 10 laps and 87km later, only four remained as the weather took its toll when a small gap quickly became an insurmountable chasm.
Wayde Keyser sprinted early and held on to take the win, Scott Saunders came second and Jon Gregg third.
Racing will be held at the North Danalup Handicap next week.
For the full results and details of next week’s racing visit wcmasterscycling.asn.au and pdcc.asn.au.
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