NRS Shorts: A round up of Australian domestic racing

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With a break in the National Road Series, Cyclingnews'' weekly round up of domestic racing turns its attention away from racing to find out how Wouter Wippert is enjoying life at Drapac, gets to know a little bit more about an up-and-coming Canberra rider, finds about a new signing for African Wildlife Safaris and lets you know about Ruth Corset's off-road adventures.

Firstly, last week we let you know that several Australian teams were making the most of the NRS break to head overseas. At the Philadelphia Cycling Classic, Brodie Talbot was the best placed BudgetForklift rider in 25th place while Bernard Sulzberger was the fastest Drapac rider and Australian at the 1.1 event in 17th place.

This week Drapac and Avanti Racing continue their Asian racing schedule with the eight-stage UCI 2.2 Tour of Korea starting on June 8.

NRS women's leader wins Cairns RRR Mountain Bike Challenge
Current Subaru National Road Series women's leader Ruth Corset took first place in the 70km RRR (Rural, Rainforest and Reef) Mountain Bike Challenge to kick off the Cairns Airport Adventure Festival last weekend.

Born in Canberra, Rice never leaves home without tire levers when heading out for a ride and lives by the Bob Dylan saying; "You'll never be greater than yourself." Canberra may not be everyone's number one tourist destination but Rice recommends hot air ballooning when visiting the nation's capital city.

And what are Rice's favourite NRS races? The Tour of Adelaide or the National Capital Tour in Canberra.

Wouter Wippert continues winning ways with Drapac
23-year-old Wouter Wippert added two more stage victories to his 2014 haul at the Tour de Kumano and Drapac's sprinter spoke to Cyclingnews about his first season with the Australian Pro-Continental team.

Cyclingnews: Of the seven wins this season, which has meant the most to you personally?
The first win at the 2.1 race in Taiwan was something special. It was a really difficult finish and the most of the people thought it was too hard for me so that made it a bit more special, to win.

African Wildlife Safaris May racing hampered by illness and injury
Continental life for Melbourne-based African Wildlife Safaris in 2014 has had its ups-and-downs so far this season. While the team had back luck with illness and injury at the two NRS events in May, at the state level they continue to impress.

The team is currently leading the Victorian Road Series ahead of fellow NRS teams Charter Mason, health.com.au-search2retain and Avanti Racing after victory Philip Island Spectacular in the team time trial.

Darcy Woolley also leads the individual classification with Shaun O'Callaghan sitting in third place after six events.

The team has also bolstered its roster with the signing of sprinter James Mowatt who was recently seen racing on French roads. African Wildlife Safari's director sportif Joel Person explained to Cyclingnews that the team are excited for his addition to the team.

"We had been in talks for some time in the lead up to him coming home after not been given a fair go by his French team and we are very happy to have his experience and strength in the team," Pearson said.

Despite being a rider down at the Tour of Toowoomba and missing its best climbers, Pearson was still buoyed by the team' results regarding the circumstances.

"We were lucky that firstly we had Jason Spencer overcome his sickness to snare a great result in seventh overall at Toowoomba and secondly, it was very satisfying we ran third in the Team Time Trial in the same event," Pearson said.

"This was a very big result in our eyes as we rode 95% of the race with five (instead of six) riders which proves that we are a very strong and well drilled team."