LEADING into the 2016 Western NSW Road Cycling Championships at Orange, Craig Hutton wasn’t sure he’d have the legs to come out on top.
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Battling illness the week leading into the A grade road race – the track was a three-lap, 20 kilometre loop circuit on the surrounding roads of the Orange airport – Hutton was lucky to make the starter’s gun, never mind challenging for the main prize.
But the 24-year-old gun stunned the field to come away with victory, out-sprinting Cowra’s Will Hodges to the finish line, with Bradley Rayner and Mark Windsor finishing third and fourth respectively.
Hutton was as surprised as anyone at the race’s conclusion.
“I wasn’t sure if I’d have enough in the legs … but they held up,” Hutton said.
“I’d been sick leading into the weekend, but the conditions were really good, actually, which was a it of a surprise. It’s a tough circuit.”
With an imminent returment from the National Road Series at the end of 2016, the GPM Stulz race team member didn’t have it all his own way though, as Hodges set the early pace.
“Young Will Hodges made the first decisive move solo, and at about the halfway mark the bunch began to catcht up,” he said.
“I managed to break away and caught Will and then it came down to a sprint finish and I think I had more in my legs than him.”
Hutton’s win marks a Bathurst double, with Mark Windsor taking honours in the A grade time trial as well.
Rain and flood waters postponed the initial running of the 2016 Western NSW Road cycling championships hosted by the Orange Cycling Club, a successful re-scheduled enabling pre-event favourites Windsor and Hutton to shine in the top grade.
Windsor recording a lightning-quick time to defeat Bathurst teammates Richard Hobson and Geoff Short, Windson’s time of 29 minutes, 28 seconds over the 23km course an impressive mark.
In the other grades, Harry Bryant took out the time trial in B grade, Orange’s Sybilla Barry and Terry Rossi took out wins in C and D grade respectively.
In other results for the road race, Orange’s Colin Dibble defeated top placed female rider Stacey Fish in B grade while Hayden Booth, who recently transferred to the Bathurst club from Sydney, was an impressive winner in C grade.
Booth bested experienced cyclists John Anderson and Adam Williams to win.
While in D grade, impressive Bathurst junior Jed Powell defeated father Wayne Powell in a thrilling battle, with time trial champ Terry Rossi claiming the bronze.