Orr makes it two from two - Victorian Enduro Series

Mt Beauty today hosted the second round of the 2010 Victorian Enduro Series in threatening weather, with 130 keen competitors willing to risk drivetrain-destroying conditions against the reward of racing on some of Australia's most highly rated trails.

The overall race was dominated by the Felt/SRAM team of Jack Lamshed and Mt Beauty local and Australian U23 National Champion Paul van der Ploeg, who set five of the six fastest race laps to give their team a clear win. In the solo races, the mens category gave Phil Orr his second race win in a row, with Prita Jobling-Baker improving on her second place at Geelong two weeks ago to take her first ever solo 6 hour win and move in to the lead of the series.

The opening laps of the race saw the two solo leaders being Troy Bailey with Phil Orr on his wheel each time by. As the rain fell and the trail surface became more difficult the pair stayed together, but as the track dried just after the two hour mark Orr was able to make a move and opened a 60 second gap to Bailey. The move stuck and Orr then continued to increase his lead as he fell back to 20 year old Scott Chancellor, which caused an epic eight lap battle for second place.

"I was riding with Phil at the start and he just got away, but that's what he does," explained second place finisher Troy Bailey on the start of the race. "We were racing the whole time, Scotty was on my tail, we were see-sawing for the last three hours of the race."

"Second last lap I was on Troy's tail but couldn't quite get past him, then he got a bit of a gap just the last few hundred meters of the climb, and then didn't really see him again," said Chancellor of the final laps.

But a long overdue win came for Prita Jobling-Baker, who pushed through the mid-race struggle with the help of husband Sean in the feed zone. Through the early laps of the race she opened a minute for each lap to second place Anne Antrecht, but around the mid-point of the race the gap stopped growing, and slowly started shrinking. Jobling-Baker held out in the final laps however, and instead of finishing the race once a win was ensured, opted to compete an additional 13th lap to finish one lap up on her nearest rival.

Despite needing to make up a ten minute gap, Antrecht kept pushing right through to the last finish. "The last couple of laps just trying to not knock myself out, not knowing how far behind the other girls were.", said Anne Antrecht of the last few laps.

Once again the course was well received by all in attendance. The Big Hill Mountain Bike Park trails traditionally have a reputation that draws riders back, and despite the early rain riders once again walked away happy. With fewer competitors than at Geelong two weeks ago, a shorter course was able to be used, ensuring riders felt the presence of their fellow competitors, but despite the 6.53km track length Team Mt Beauty still managed to pack 210 meters of hard climbing in to each lap to test competitors. "It's interesting that this is the soft side of Mt Beauty, I don't want to know what the other side is like," commented second place womens finisher Anne Antrecht.

The Victorian Enduro Series now has a short break until round three on Sunday May 2nd, when it returns to the East Melbourne suburb of Beaconsfield for the traditional Rock Hop. Round four will then be held at Bendigo on Sunday May 23rd. Entry is available at www.entryzone.com.au – an early-bird entry fee of $50 is available until April 18 and May 9 respectively, and after which entry will be $60 per rider.

For more information, visit www.mountainbikevictoria.com or email tim@enduroseries.com.au