First Trusthouse Series Race for 2021
Sunday was the first race in the North Island Trusthouse Teams Race Series for 2021. The race took place in Alfredton over a 34 km lap – Category 1 and 2 rode 3 laps of the circuit, while Category 3 and 4 rode 2 laps of the circuit. It is a fairly challenging circuit, which was made tougher with the strong winds and intermittent rain.
Bike Manawatu had a team each in Categories 2,3 and 4, with other Manawatu riders taking part in the WCNI team in Cat 2, Matthew Jamieson riding as an individual in category 1, the Manawatu Storage team in category 4, as well as some riders participating in the Green Performance Team in Category 2.
Matthew Jamieson placed 4th in Category 1, after making the step up from racing in Category 2 last year – this is a fantastic result, well done Matthew.
Glenn Kirk’s WCNI team dominated the Category 2 race with Caleb Bottcher riding solo for over 1 and a half laps to take the win, with Jeremy Rowe finishing in 4th and Glenn Kirk in 7th. The Total Sheetmetals Bike Manawatu team also had some great results with Adam Francis and Sam Parry in 8th and 9th place.
The standout results in category 3 are from our younger members – Jackson Fellowes who is racing for the Madison Clothing team was first and Andy Richardson finished 7th only 11.9 seconds behind the winner – both of these young men are racing in this series for the first time. Dave Jackson and Jackson’s dad Marcus (also racing for Madison Cycle clothing), finished in 2nd and 3rd.
Category 4 was a great race for our locals – Darren Murdie of the Palmfeilds Bike Manawatu team finished in a very close 2nd (1.2 seconds), with Toshi Yamauchi riding for Manawatu storage in 3rd place. Patrick Johnstone and Darcy Forrester from the Palmfeilds Bike Manawatu team finished in 4th and 10th place, and this team is sitting 2nd in the teams points for the series.
Well done to all riders from the Manawatu who took part – here is a link to the results https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=253428
