Dubbo Cycle Club may have missed out in the feature events but there was still plenty to celebrate at the weekend’s Bathurst Track Open.
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Tim Hines finished went agonisingly close to winning the main wheelrace event while in the Club Challenge, Bathurst Cycle Club got one back on Dubbo after the visitors had taken out the inaugural event last year.
There was still some standout moment for the Dubbo club with the undoubted highlight coming in the junior men’s 17s Invitational Kierin.
Dubbo recorded a cleansweep in that event with Dylan Eather scoring victory while Danny Barber was second and Mitchell Hines came in third.
Eather and Barber also finished one-two in the 17 years scratch race.
Kurt Eather scored an impressive in the Men’s Division 1 Lightning Handicap while Jennifer Raines took out the Women’s A version of the event and Darrell Wheeler won the Men’s Division 4 Lightning Handicap.
Youngsters Emily Hines, Zara Fuller and Haylee Fuller also scored wins.
In the main feature wheelrace on Saturday it was Daniel Gandy who flew home to edge out Tim Hines in a sprint finish.
The St George Cycling Club rider showed good strength down the front straight at the Bathurst Velodrome to beat out Hines and Billy Hutton for the honours.
Dubbo rider Hines, who had started off 235 metres, had his wheel in front as they turned, but higher on the track Gandy showed good strength to take the lead.
Gandy felt his handicap played a role in the win – the 24 rider field having been spread out over 320 metres at the start of the six-lap final.
“I thought in that final sprint it would be pretty hard for me to get them, but I ended up getting there in the end,” Gandy said after his victory.
Dubbo also missed out on glory in the much-anticipated Club Challenge.
The visitors beat Bathurst in the Italian pursuit event, where a number riders from different age groups lead for one lap each before peeling off, eventually leaving two elite cyclists to battle over the final circuit.
“Definitely we were keen to get one back, the motivation was high coming into it,” Craig Hutton, the last of Bathurst’s eight riders, said after his club’s win.
“We definitely wanted to win and everyone was in the same boat this year, it paid off in the end.
“It’s a great concept and to be able to do it against another club, and a western region club, is very good.
“There’s a healthy rivalry between us and Dubbo, so to get one back on them is really good.”