Rounds 8 of Bike Station & MTB Leagues

Round 8 of The Bike Station Summer Cycling League finished atop of the climb at Flagstaff making it the most gruelling race of the series. The riders have some 30km of hard racing in their legs before making the dreaded left turn at Davy's Pub for the 3km ascent, where the sweat stinging the eyes means that the spectacular views cannot be appreciated. First to conquer the climb was Lionel Mothion, Dundalk's resident French cyclist. Lionel was part of group 5 that managed to catch group 4 yet stay away from group 6. Lionel was untouchable on the climb and came home for a solo victory with Benny Smith in second and Alan Malone in third.

 

The second race went to another mountain goat with Paul Howard blasting up the steep ascent ahead of John McDonnel and Brendan Crosby. Underage rider Conor McKeown had a solid ride to take 4th place.

 

After 8 rounds it is the two Alans at the top of the table, with Alan Bingham and Alan Malone both sitting pretty on 49 points. Benny Smith is a further 3 points back in third place and the sprinting sensation Val Gargan in 4th on 45 points.

 

Also up to Round 8 is the mountain biking league, which was once again in Bellurgan Park. For the night a slightly altered course was used & riders faced 8laps of a 1.7km technical course, which had a new trail added thanks to the club's members. Race 1 saw Liam Burns eventually drop Jason Malone after a ding dong battle between the pair, with Brendan Callaghan in third. Race 2 saw an epic battle between 4 riders, David Hoey, John Noone, Greg Clifford and Paul Durnin, that went on over the 8 laps. David Hoey and John Noone managed to pull away towards the end, to finish first and second respectively. Greg Clifford came home in third. Round 9 sees the riders battle the elemnets on the open mountain.