Maes and Young too good for rivals on tough beach course in Youghal

*Richie Maes comes in for the win in Youghal and wraps up overall victory in the Munster Cyclocross Series (Photo: Sean Rowe)*

Grace Young and Richie Maes continued their winning
double act in the colours of Strata 3-VeloRevolution at the Munster Cyclocross
Series yesterday.

The final round of seven in the series saw Young, the
Masters national champion, ride away from the opposition on the opening lap.

From that point she kept the pressure on out front and
extended her lead on those behind as each lap passed of the beach circuit in Youghal,
east Cork.

In the end Young took the victory by an impressive four
minutes from her team mate Agnieszka Wozniak.

Andrea Lyons (Unattached) completed the podium in the women’s event on a dry and bright day for racing.

*Jason Travers (Dungarvan CC) winning the B race yesterday (Photo: Sean Rowe)*

In the men’s race, while Maes has at times pulled clear
early and ridden away to win this season, the action did not quite pan out the
same way this time around.

Instead he had company up front for a long time in the
shape of Niall Davis (Biking.ie). Ronan O'Flynn (Scott Quanta) was with them for
a time.

Those three pulled clear on the opening lap after Davis
had made much of the early running at the front of the race.

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Behind them was a strong group of chasers comprised of
Richard Barry (St Finbarr’s), Michael O'Loughlin (Le Col Wiggins) and the
Strata 3-VeloRevolution duo of Patrick Clifford and
Trevor Woods.

Over the next two laps the gap between the leaders and chasers grew to about 30 seconds, with O’Flynn losing contact with Maes and Davis just after the halfway point.

*Grace Young is in good form for the National Championships next month (Photo: Sean Rowe)*

With about 1½ laps remaining Maes began to distance Davis
while O’Flynn held third place behind them and that’s the way it stayed to the
finish.

In the battle for 4th place Woods prevailed over Barry.
The result saw Maes take the series victory.

While Woods took the M50 category his team mate Clifford
was best M40

The junior race went to Fionn
Desmond (MBCC) from Ruairi Coghlan (Scott Quanta) and David McCarthy (Verge Pi Cycles).

The men’s B race proved a close contest between the
leading four though Jason Travers (Dungarvan CC) came out on top from Noel
Harrington (CRNS) and series leader Stephen McGrath (Fermoy CC), who sealed
overall victory.

The U16 category was won by Luke
Murphy (Killarney CC) from Liam O'Brien (Fermoy CC) and Cillian O'Shea (Revolution
CC).