Darrell dazzles home crowd with four cross victory

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Delighting the hometown crowd, Canberra rider Leigh Darrell claimed a convincing victory in the four cross event at the final round of the 2009-2010 Australian Mountain Bike Series in Canberra on Friday night.

After three rounds of thrilling action, the series comes to its crescendo this weekend at Stromlo Forest Park, the home of the 2009 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, where bragging rights are on the line for the overall winner of the series title.

Following his win in Thredbo last month, Darrell entered tonight's race as the slight favourite in an extremely competitive field. The 23-year-old comfortably progressed through the earlier seeding rounds, before facing New South Wales riders Michael Jobson, Alex Lloyd and Graeme Mudd in the final.

In the thrilling opening stages, the field could not be split in the first half of the race. However disaster struck the New South Wales trio at the third turn, all three getting tangled before hitting the dirt. Taking advantage of the situation, Darrell broke away for a comfortable victory.

"I came out of the gates and I was just in front," said Darrell. "Alex pulled up just next to me. We went over the second jump and we collided in the air and I nearly fell off."

"I came around the next corner and I held it together. Michael Jobson came up the inside and he washed out. I was in front coming into the second corner and I went out wide, whilst the others went inside.

"Then on that third corner I heard a big pile up behind me, and I just kept going. I just looked over my shoulder and saw that I had some clear space. I just shut it down and rolled over the finish line with a big smile on my face."

Jobson crossed the line in second place, followed by Lloyd and Mudd.

Rewarded for his consistency this season, Queenslander Richard Levinson, who won the men's elite 'B' race, collected the overall series win, finishing 12 points clear of Jobson and Ryan Hunt in the standings.

"It feels really good," said Levinson of his series title. "I've been training pretty hard over the season and I guess the consistency has really paid off."

"I really made the effort to get to every single event this year. The tracks have been pretty gnarly, and all the riders have performed pretty good. It's been so close throughout the series. Things paid off today, I just put in a solid effort and it came off."

With another polished performance, New South Wales rider Blake Nielson made a clean sweep of the series in the under 19 category, claiming his fourth consecutive win.

Tonight the 18-year-old was once again just too strong, pumping his fist in the air as he crossed the finish line, comfortably clear of Ben Matthews and Sean Fitzpatrick.

In what has been an outstanding season for the Canberra young guns, Max Hughes (under 17 men) and Jackson Frew (under 15 men) were crowned series title holders for 2010, a reward for their impressive performances over the last four months.

Following wins in Hobart, Shepparton and Thredbo, Hughes could only manage third place on the dirt tonight, but gained enough points to retain the series lead. Fellow Canberra rider Angus Easthope took out the win on his home track.

In other results, Sarsha Huntington and Harriet Burbridge-Smith took the night's win and the series title in the respective elite female and junior female categories.

Matt Patterson secured his first victory of the series in the men's sport division, but it was South Australia's Sean Anderson, the winner in Shepparton and Thredbo, who took home the series title.

James Collins finished the series on top of the standings in the veteran men's.

The action continues at Stromlo Forest Park tomorrow with the men's and women's cross country, followed by the enduro, short track and downhill on Sunday.

Full Results