Thursday night's Mansfield Mt Buller Cycling Club handicap race was the Barwite Loop.

It was a small field of ten riders with the first person to start being Dave Jagger, three minutes ahead of Adrian Dowd and Tim Hall.

Starting two minutes after that was Ben and Tim Ross followed by the ‘Block group of Ryder Chadd, Simon Hall, Steve Duke and Andy Garrett, with Josh Hopwood insisting that he go by himself off Scratch.

The dreaded Coombesberg climb claimed Jagger and Hall and only Dowd managing to hold on to the Rosses as they steamed past.

Meanwhile Hopwood had caught the ‘Block group with Chadd and Garrett holding on.

The Rosses and Dowd were preparing for the finish but at the last corner were caught by Hopwood and Garrett.

It was a slow sprint up the hill with Josh Hopwood taking first, Ben taking another win for the Rosses in second and Adrian Dowd rounding out the podium in third (followed by Andy Garrett and Tim Ross in fourth and fifth respectively).

Hopwood claimed fastest time in 30.52 for the 21km around the loop, an average of 39.7km/h, doing the first half on his own.

Thank you to the volunteers who helped make our racing possible.

Next week’s race is Howes Creek Road; entries close at 8pm Wednesday.