Serafin steals the tightest of victories

THE experts were dangled a carrot by starting a minute behind the advanced riders in the latest round of the winter MTB series at Les Norgiots. The plan worked, too, because it was not until the third lap that the leading experts, John Mapley and Mike Serafin, got past the top advanced rider, Dan Thwaite.

By this stage the course was really churning up, with most of the climbs unrideable except to the best and the stream crossing at the bottom of the descent was very tricky.

While Thwaite was having an easy ride at the head of the advanced class, Mapley and Serafin appeared to be attached as there was never more than a bike length between them.

Thwaite eventually won the five-lap advanced class from Byron McClean and Steve James, with Paul Watts the leading veteran.

The experts covered six circuits and by the start of the last, only one other expert rider, Jack Sunderland, was still on the course chasing Mapley and Serafin.

On the final climb that most riders had difficulty in walking, yet alone riding, the two frontmen tore up the slope and onto the final straight before a U-turn and climb to the finish.

As they hit the straight, Serafin attacked and held off Mapley to win by three seconds.

The combined sport, under-16 and under-14 riders set off at 20sec. intervals to contest four laps of the course and after one four had detached themselves from the chasing bunch.

Leading was Ben Walden who had Ben Burtenshaw, Ryan Langlois and Charles Lowe for company.

With the conditions appearing to suit the lighter riders, Langlois opened up a gap from Burtenshaw, with Walden dropping back to fourth place.

Nathan Baudains was also closing on these four and James Cameron, the leading under-14 rider, was rapidly moving through the field.

After four laps, Langlois was a comfortable winner of the under-16 race, while in the sports, Lowe managed to edge out Burtenshaw.

Baudains came home as the second under-16 followed by the leading under-14, Cameron.

The under-12s faced two laps of a shortened course, while the under-10s and eights did one.

This course was one of the more difficult for the younger riders, with a number of steep climbs that could not be avoided.

However, they all persevered with the tricky and slippery conditions.

At the end of the first lap, there was little to separate Jean-Pierre Payne, Alex Falla and Craig Robert, but over the second, Payne pulled clear to win by 25 seconds from Falla.

In the under-10s, Michael Mann and Marco Petralia continue to be closely matched and having made the road crossing into the final field it looked as if Petralia was again going to claim victory.

However, he struggled up the climb and Mann seized his opportunity to nip in front and gain victory.

In the under-eights, Bradley Smith took the honours from Joshua Hunter.

The next event is on 12 December, at La Vassalerie, subject to a course inspection.