ORGANISERS of next Sunday's Dubbo leg of the Evocities MTB Series are anxiously awaiting confirmation from series leader Jason English as to whether he will be competing.
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English holds an 86-point lead in the open mens section, sponsored by the Sydney University School of Rural Health, following wins at two of the four legs held so far.
He dominated the opening two events in Orange and Western Sydney, before finishing second at Bathurst and third in the most recent race in Albury.
Entries for the Dubbo event, the WD-40 Bike Dubbo 300 Minute, don't close until Saturday, July 18, which is the day before the race will be held but one of the co-ordinators, Craig Lennox, is hopeful the multiple world 24-hour champion will be here.
"Jason is a big name in the sport and it would be great to have him here. We've been in contact and we're hopeful he will compete," Lennox said.
"Our entries are a bit low at the moment but they don't close until next Wednesday and then we take late entries until the day before the race so we're expecting things will pick up once a lot of these riders decide what they're going to do.
"The way the series is panning out, if Jason comes and performs well he can go a long way towards wrapping it up, but if he doesn't the others might see it as an opportunity to get among the points and narrow the gap a bit."
English currently has 280 points and a commanding lead over his nearest rival Andrew Lloyd (194) while Edward McDonald (144) rounds out the top three.
Eliza Kwan (240) has won all three open female events she has contested, and holds a 40-point buffer over Brooke Rowlands (200), who took out the recent Albury round of the competition.
The Dubbo event will be held at Geurie, with the five-hour event sure to test riders across all categories.
"We do most of our summer riding out at Mugga Hill, and around Beni and Dundullimal, but with this event we needed a longer track so we went to Geurie," Lennox said. "Organising it has been a bit nerve-wracking and our trails were designed and made by our members but the feedback we've been getting has all been pretty good.
"We've had members of our club at all of the events so far and that has given us a bit of an idea as to what is needed to make the event come together.
"An event like this is something we've been looking to do for years but through Mathew Dickerson and this Evocities series we've got around to doing it.
"Being the first time it will be a learning experience but hopefully by the time it's all over everyone is happy and it will help things to keep building."