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The penultimate race in the series saw the most action yet as Karl Murray sitting in second place overall took the race to series leader Gordon Bearman. From the gun Karl and Aaron Strong jumped away to test the fields reactions. They were quickly caught but this did not stop Karl from attacking again and again. On almost every lap he through in an attack to get clear. Also present and showing some form despite not being on his bike since the Tour of Southland was pro rider Scott Guyton. Scott put in a number of attacks early on to gauge the bunch before sitting back and waiting. Karl eventually went clear alone prior to the second sprint and stayed away until about 3 laps to go. As soon as he was caught he went again and a small bunch formed just 50 metres off the front which also contained Gordon Bearman. In the sprint for the line Karl took Gordon with Andrew Small and Matt Gilbert in behind. Scott Guyton jumped clear for 5th while Eric McKenzie won the bunch sprint for 6th. Gordon now holds a 9 point lead with only one race left in the series next Thursday. It should be a ripper.
40 plus riders and the action went from the gun putting a few riders in trouble early on. The wind played a part tonight with the finishing straight being particularly quick and the cross head wind down the back straight making life difficult. Series leader and Mr Consistency Stuart Robinson again won the sprint at halfway. Surely we can expect to see Stuart step up to A-Grade after Xmas. A number of attacks were nullified by the big bunch and it came down to a bunch sprint. The howling tailwind made this a quick one and it was even closer than usual amongst the top ten. Scott Hotham who has been showing good form recently took the win ahead of Robinson and Rod Dawson.
Stuart Robinson now has an unassailable lead in the series and has won the MET helmet. Peter Harding is currently in second and lost any chance of challenging Stuart after finishing out of the points last night. Still plenty to race for though in the minor placings with a three way tie for third between Liz Williams, Rich Woodward and Peter Brooking.
1 Karl Murray 2 Gordon Bearman 3 Andrew Small 4 Matthew Gilbert 5 Scott Guyton 6 Eric McKenzie 7 Russell Smith 8 Mike Metz 9 Kieran Turner 10 Nigel Hunt Sprints 1 Nick Teeboone 2 Karl Murray Series Points 1 Gordon Bearman 161 2 Karl Murray 152 3 Aaron Strong 80 4 Eric McKenzie 61 5 Rusty Smith 52 6 David Rae 47 7 Kieran Turner 45 8 Murray Spencer 43 9 Matt Gilbert 35 10 Wayne Mason 29
1 Scott Hotham 2 Stuart Robinson 3 Rod Dawson 4 Kim Struthers 5 Rick Woodward 6 Liz Williams 7 Richard Speers 8 Peter Brooking 9 Martin Stock Sprint 1 Stuart Robinson Series Points 1 Stuart Robinson 107 2 Peter Harding 66 3 Liz Williams 52 4 Rick Woodward 52 5 Peter Brooking 52 6 Michael Northey 50 7 Scott Hotham 49 8 Craig Pitt 47 9 Russell Scott 44 10 Rod Dawson 42 Courtesy cyclingnz.com