Champion teases the opposition

ROB SMART continued his dominance of local mountain biking in the final race of the Ian Brown and Arrowsmith Marlowe Cross Country series held at the Guet.

Smart teasingly rode with the lead group of seven riders for the early few laps before accelerating away from the group and establishing a significant lead over the chasers.

Philip Touzeau, Mike Serafin and Stuart Le Tissier led the chasing group. However, mechanical problems meant that Touzeau was to drop down the field and eventually finish in seventh place.

Smart's dominance and strength showed as he extended a significant lead to take the win comfortably and the overall series win.

Serafin marked his return from a number of seasons in Australia to take second place ahead of Le Tissier, while Jon Osborn managed to hold off James Rowe to take fourth place, which was good enough to give him second place overall in the series.

Sixth place went to Matt Osborn, followed by Touzeau, Andy Gibson, Ben Walden and Gary Robert. Leon Ogier surprisingly did not finish.