Association's Winter Mountain Bike Racing Series on Sunday at Admiralty House Park.

Simons triumphed after being spared the threat of national time trial and road race champion, Kris Hedges, who broke his chain in the early stages of the 10-lap 7.5 mile race.

However, Hedges was still able to pull off a fourth place finish on another bike. Milton Hill rode well enough for second place while Peter Matcham rounded out the top three.

The third race of the series, staged over an anti-clockwise loop, started beside the skating rink, before heading above Clarence Cove and descending onto the beach area. It then climbed up to the old flag staff at the top of the park before descending across the park behind the skating rink to begin another lap.

The race got off to an explosive start as riders raced for the advantage of being among the leaders through the first of three bottlenecks in the course.

Simons and Hill dominated but it was Simons who took the initiative and rode away from the field to build a lead of almost a minute by the half-way point.

However, it was a lead that was not to last as Simons eased back to conserve energy while Hill picked up the pace. The pair then duelled until lap eight when, at the top of the second last climb with one and a half laps remaining, Simons rode away yet again and never looked back as he went on to win by 21 seconds in a time of 46 minutes, 20 seconds.

Brian Steinhoff dominated the 15-16 age group, winning in a time of 1:01.47 and was followed by Nick Taylor and Chris Astwood. Jahdal Williams was the sole competitor in the 17-18 age group.

Matthew Herring collected his third win of the series in the 11-12 age group, completing his five laps in 34.36. He was followed in by Geoffrey Smith and first time racer Matthew Jones.

The fourth race of the eight-race series will be held this Saturday at Ferry Point Park starting at 9.00 a.m.