Cat 2 Men Decided by Countback!

The Super Series is over for the year. If you missed out on coming down to the final round at Saint Clair fear not - as we will be recapping every grade over the next week. First up is Cat 2 Men.This was potentially one of the most enthraling battles of the day, where we saw three riders locked in competition for the overall. Matt Hutchinson (Tempo Titan), Andrew Clarkson and Josiah Whittaker were separated by just 6 points. Hutchinson had been arguably the strongest rider of the series, with a clear lead in the sprint classification, along with the leader’s jersey coming into the final round. Clarkson had the benefit of the strongest team in Norwood Cycling Club, a team which enjoyed having three riders in the top 5.Despite several powerful moves being launched off the front of the race, Clarkson and his team were struggling to dislodge Hutchinson, who need to finish within 2 positions of Clarkson to guarantee the win. With one lap to go it appeared that we were heading to a spectacular final sprint only for Hutchinson to be dealt an incredibly cruel hand, with an incredibly untimely puncture removing him from contention. This left a final battle between Clarkson and Whittaker, who were separated by a measly two points. Whittaker took a clean win, with Clarkson following him home and his teammate Frank Smith coming home third. This left Clarkson and Whittaker tied on points.Unfortunately for Clarkson, the winner would be decided by who had taken the most wins in the series, meaning that Whittaker would ultimately take home the final leaders jersey. For Clarkson, he would take his 4^th 2^nd of the series, after placing second in rounds 3,5 and 8.Hutchinson, a triathlete by trade, was granted one consolation with a comfortable win in the Sprint Classification, finishing with twice as many points as his nearest competitor, Griff Knight of Gravier Cycle Collective. NCC’s Sam Young would round out the competition in third despite crashing out of the final round.Scott Goodwin, a former triathlete racing as an individual in the series, claimed a comfortable victory in the young rider’s classification. Goodwin had taken maximum points in this classification in four of the six rounds, truly owning the competition. Griff Knight was once again a distant second thanks to a late charge in the final three rounds.They may have missed out on the individual victory, but Norwood Cycling Club’s domination in the team’s classification was never in doubt. Taking a commanding victory, with almost twice as many points as their nearest competitors.