The day’s events were the perfect way to round out the weekend after an excellent showing by the riders in Saturday’s Mark Dwyer Classic.

The women’s field consisted of current Track World Champion, Rebecca Wiasak from Canberra, and former Junior World Track Champion, Josie Talbot of Wollongong. 

Local rider Nicolette Karskens also competed in this event. 

As expected, Wiasak and Talbot finished in first and second place, with Sue Henry of Randwick coming in third.

Karskens experienced a mechanical problem in the race but managed to roll over the finish line. 

The A grade men’s race consisted of a very strong field of 40 riders who were to complete three laps of the course totalling 125km in length. 

The Mudgee course is renowned as challenging and made for a great day of racing. 

Four strong National Road Racing teams were represented in the race - Budget Forklifts GPM Racing, St George NRS Racing Team, Avanti Racing Team and New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) Team, which included local talents Ayden Toovey and Jordan Payne.

Right from the start riders started to attack, trying to create an early break.

Approximately 15km into the race, Jordan Payne and GPM Racing Team rider Rylee Field from Parramatta, broke away from the peloton and started to build a reasonable gap.

Seeing the danger of letting these two riders get too far away a group of eight riders started to chase in earnest.

Behind them, the peloton started to break up on the tough hills as the wind began to pick up.

The pace caused a number of riders to withdraw from the race on the second lap and it came down to the two lead groups to fight it out for the win.

Payne and Field continued to force the pace and managed to gain approximately two minutes on the chasing group of eight.

The chasing group started to claw them back as they tired and the wind began to takes its toll.

After being out front for 90km Payne and Field were caught on Mud Hut Creek Road with about 20km to go.

This left Payne’s team mate, Ayden Toovey with the responsibility of flying the local flag.

The front group whittled down to three riders with Toovey attacking the other riders.

As the three turned into the final straight with about 3km to go, Toovey, again attacked and got a gap of about 150 metres, however the two chasing riders of Jacob Kauffman and Peter Milostic (Penrith) worked together to bring him back.

They managed to reel him in with Kauffman out-sprinting Milostic on the line.

Toovey took 3rd place and Payne held on to 4th position to finish a great day of racing for the Mudgee Cycle Club.

The two local boys made the racing hard and were the most aggressive riders in the race.

President David Payne was extremely pleased with the weekends proceedings.

“Overall, the event was an outstanding success for the Mudgee Cycle Club,” he said. 

“This can be put down to the very supportive sponsors, Robert Oatley Wines, Moolarben Coal, the Mid Western Regional Council and Barnson’s Engineering.

“The Cycle Club would also like to thank the Mudgee Triathlon Club, NSW First Aid and Mudgee Loo Hire for their support during the event.

“We would also like to thank the NSW Police Force for their assistance in ensuring the safety of competitors during the event and the patience shown by local residents on roadways throughout the weekend.”

Womens Division

1st Place:

Rebecca WIASAK (Canberra)

2nd Place:

Josie TALBOT (Wollongong)

3rd Place:

Sue HENRY (Randwick)

Division 1

1st Place:

Jacob KAUFFMAN (Manly)

2nd Place:

Peter MILOSTIC (Penrith)

3rd Place:

Ayden TOOVEY (Mudgee)

4th Place:

Jordan PAYNE (Mudgee)

5th Place:

Ben DYBALL (Sydney)

Mens B Grade:

1st Place:

Josh TOOVEY (Mudgee)

2nd Place:

Stephen BENNETT (Bathurst)

3rd Place:

Keiran KELLY (Penrith)

Mens C Grade:

1st Place:

John HERB (Manly)

2nd Place:

Harry CLEARY (Sydney)

3rd Place:

Charles GASCOYNE (Orange)

Mens D Grade:

1st Place:

David JACKSON (Randwick)

2nd Place:

Bruce GODDARD (Bathurst)

3rd Place:

David GERRISH (Dubbo)