A total of 29 tenacious racers braved winds gusting to gale force on Sunday morning to compete in the third race of the Mountain Biking Series Championships at Ferry Reach Park.

Andrew Davis took over the lead from Garth Thompson, winner of the first two races of the season, in the Men's Open Series with another strong ride, but was made to work for his victory from a new threat, 18-year-old Jean Bertrand.

Davis went out fast, determined not to get bogged down in 'traffic', as had happened in the first two races, and his strategy paid off as he led wire to wire to win his first race of the season and add to his previous second and third place finishes.

Bertrand, who had a lacklustre start to the season failing to finish in the first and coming in sixth place in the second, turned it all around on Sunday.

Coming off a good road racing season, he was the only one with the legs to stay close to Davis for five laps of the long course finishing in 59:55, just over a minute behind Davis (58:44) and almost three minutes ahead of third place finisher, Neil de St Croix (62:42).

Greg Reid had another solid ride to finish fourth in 65:19, holding off Rolf Runkel who was just 30 seconds back in 65:42 and took his third fifth place finish in as many races.

Vacationing student, Chris Conway, put in a good ride to take sixth in 67:47 finishing just ahead of Grant Gouge, who had his best performance of the season to finish seventh in 68:20. Peter Matcham was edged into eighth in a time of 68:46.

Andy Kain overcame a mechanical problem to finish in 70:49, ahead of Mannard Packwood in 75:27.

Geoffrey Smith returned to winning ways after taking a week off, taking the 15-16 boys category in a time of 56:29 over four laps of the same tough course the open category riders raced.

Matthew Godfrey took advantage of the absence of Conner Burns to take second place in 67:44 and in the process jump ahead of Burns (61pts) into second place with 64pts in the the championship, one point behind leader Smith (65pts).

First time racer Oscar Neilsen had a respectable outing considering the harsh conditions to finish third on the day in 71:54.

In the novice category Dave Padega won his second race of the season, recording a time of 43:25 for five laps of the short course and took the lead in the series with 72 points.

Daren Dowling finished second in 47:52, comfortably ahead of first time racer Craig Pinney (54:13) and Nigel Godfrey (54:59).

Craig Eckman, who missed Sunday's race, dropped to second in the series with 61pts, Jason Hansford Smith is third with 52 points and Darren Dowling fourth on 51points.

The veterans had something to cheer about as there was actually more than one competitor for the first time this season. Last week's winner Paulo Madeiros and first week winner Fred Swan took to the start line with Ian Fox - back from injury - and Owen Burgess for what turned out to be a pretty tight five lap battle. Swan and Maderios finished just a minute and a half apart with Swan taking first in 44:45 and Maderios second in 46:14.

Fox did well to stay pretty close, finishing in 50:00, with Burgess coming in at 57:19.

Tim Fox was as strong as ever in the 13-14 boys category, dominating from start to finish in a time of 31:03 over four laps of the short course. The battle in this category was for second with Thomas Godfrey (45:36) managing to hold off Aaron Fenn who finished in 46:23. Fourth place went to Alex McManus in 49:41 and fifth to Jonathon White 61:41.

Caitlin Conyers braved the elements again as the sole competitor in the girls 13-14 category and finished with a decent time of 53:38 over three laps of the shorter course.

Dominic White had his first win of the season in the boys 11-12 category to improve on his previous third place finishes and take over the lead in the series in the process, if just by one point. White has 65 points for the season, Michael Coles 64, Marc Smith 60 and Brendon Doyle 54.

The next races are on Sunday at Hog Bay Park, Somerset and consist of the first stage of Downhill Championships and a cross country race. Racers are asked to arrive by 8.15 a.m. for race registration. The downhill starts at 8.30 a.m., riders going out of the gate at one minute intervals. The cross country race will start ten minutes after last rider has finished downhill at approximately 9.15 a.m.