The Western Sydney Mountain Bike Club held Round 2 of their Summer Enduro Series on Sunday 17th January 2010 at Yellowmundee. Read on for a race report from Jamie Bailey.

When we jumped out of the car and had a look at the line of people waiting to register (having forgotten to register online, a la yours truly) my mate and I thought we were in for the typical severely delayed start that is almost synonymous with endurance racing. We were in for a pleasant surprise though as the slick work of the WSMTB volunteers saw us all registered and lining up for the start a mere 10 minutes after the advertised start time of 8:00, pretty impressive considering the queue was still pretty long at 7:55.

The race started at a cracking pace, with everyone making a mad dash to be first in to the single track. There was only one minor incident and the bunch quickly sorted itself out as we disappeared into the scrub. After the initial bumpy downhill section of single track (which is fantastic to start a race on) the track briefly pops out onto a stretch of fire road giving the opportunity for the greyhounds to pass before funnelling back onto a steep single track climb with a nice little log step to keep you on your toes. Following the climb the course meanders its way through what is probably the most technical section, a series of uphill rock gardens with little opportunity to pass.

"Once Rockstar Racing’s Craig Gordon and Troy Glennan took over at the front there wasn’t ever really any doubt as to who would fill the top two spots on the podium."

Though the course offers plenty of spots after this to pass, with a nice mix of open flowing single track with the occasional stretch of fire road there wasn’t a lot of movement in positions up the front of the race for the first two of the 7km laps. However once the initial excitement settled and people started to settle in to their usual rhythm things started to shift slightly. Once Rockstar Racing’s Craig Gordon and Troy Glennan took over at the front there wasn’t ever really any doubt as to who would fill the top two spots on the podium.

Racing was a little closer further down the field with just over one minute separating Andrew Lumley and Tim Kerle in 3^rd and and 4^th at the end of the day and two minutes separating Chad Singleton, Myself and David Ludenia in 6^th 7^th and 8^th, with the difference between 7^th and 8^th coming down to a pass made in the last 5 minutes of the final lap! Wade Carberry finished comfortably in 5^th.

"...James Lamb coming away definitely the worse for wear with a dislocated shoulder after some sand ate his front wheel."

It was a great day for racing with the weather really turning it on for us. Apparently there were a few slithery wildlife sightings and unfortunately a couple of nasty offs, James Lamb coming away definitely the worse for wear with a dislocated shoulder after some sand ate his front wheel. It was good to see that despite the heat no-one suffered to greatly, though there were a few people taking advantage of the shade around the course.

WSMTB really put on a great event, which I think is proven in the fact that there were around 250 participants in a club race. I was really impressed with how professionally the day was run and am greatly looking forward to having another blast around Yellomundee at round 3 on the 21^st of Feb.

Report by Jamie Bailey. You can check Jamie's blog at http://jamiebailey.wordpress.com/