Sid Tiberlay stormed to a convincing 4 minute win over Kyle Ward at the 2012 Three Ring Circus hosted by Wild Horizons. Jet Cycles dominated the minor placings, but no-one could match the world class matinee performance of Australia’s national representative. Kyle Ward showed he’s still on form after last week’s win at the first round of the Cyclenation XC Series, and Anthony Shippard stole third place in a sprint with Mark Tupalski after reportedly sitting on Mark’s wheel for the best part of the race. Rob Booker and Ondrej Slezak rounded out the podium.
On a day where the rain threatened to turn things extremely muddy, the riders were treated to 50km of what is arguably NSW finest trails. The singletrack was in pristine condition and the tacky surface offered bags of grip. Wild Horizons have a habit of ensuring the track is well raked before their events, and today was no different. There was not a stick out of place, and there were even a few extra berms added to keep things fast and flowing. Even the firetrails seemed to have had a visit by the trail fairies. That said, there were a few muddy puddles and many riders were unfortunate victims of the debilitating chain suck. My Shimano XTR trail shadow plus rear derailleur with one-way clutch system stood up to expectations and performed flawlessly.
Recognising a serious bottleneck for the mid-pack at last years event, the course was changed for 2012 such that the first section of singletrack was not until after “The Wall” 10km into the race. This was a significant improvement and hopefully remains a feature of future events.
Jet Cycles were well represented. Photo: Lisa Harden
My race was reflective of current form and so I wasn’t surprised when I was distanced from the top 10 at the first major climb of the day. Stuck in no man’s land, I took the opportunity to take in the scenery and wait for the next group containing Matt Potter and a few other Hoaxes. The group worked well together, showing all the trademark signs of Team Sky as we knocked off the kilometers. By that I mean we were almost riding single file and most of use were wearing lycra, though Potter opted for the Fumic style baggy shorts. By the start of the yellow loop I was starting to warm up and decided to stretch the legs on the front of our group. By halfway hill, the rest of my companions were dangling off the back and so I pressed on towards the finish. Just as the sun was clearing I cruised across the finish line, in 17th place overall.
Sid Tiberlay making it look easy. Photo: Lisa Harden
Congratulations to Huw and the Wild Horizons team for a fantastic race, and for making continuing improvements to an already awesome event.
Results are preliminary. Refer to Wild Horizons for official results.