Greg Hopkins took advantage of some of the Island's top cyclists being away at the weekend when he won the 50-mile main event of Sunday's Bermuda Bicycle Association races at Southside, St. David's.

In what was the biggest turn-out for the year, with 62 riders on the start line, the Island's riders clearly appeared to be already feeling the excitement in the build-up to the sport's annual showcase event, The Sinclair Packwood Memorial Race on Heritage Day - now just three weeks away.

After his win, Hopkins gave credit to some of the up and coming junior riders for their performance on Sunday, which he felt were more significant than his own.

"Matthew Herring was doing three laps less than us but he had another impressive ride," said Hopkins. "The pack were not really paying too much attention to him but there is no doubt he has become a big factor in racing locally already at 15. I thought Geoffrey Smith and Chace Smith (unrelated) had great rides too."

The riders were faced with windy conditions on the hilly 3.3 mile loop, which saw the category two and three riders covering 15 laps of the hilly course.

With some of the strongest riders off the Island, competing in Massachusetts (see story,Page 13), there was a more controlled start to the event which saw a pack of about 30 riders still together after two laps. Attacks off the front by individual riders were either left to fail in the tough conditions, or quickly reeled in.

As the race progressed, small groups of two and three riders tried to make breaks off the front, but it was clear that they were not going to be allowed to open up a significant gap.

Then as everyone appeared to have settled in for the long haul, Herring and veteran Mike Lee attacked together into the headwind and managed to break the stranglehold on the race, opening up a lead that the rest of the field seemed content to just keep in sight.

With the two riders working tirelessly together, Lee began to fade and aware that he might be caught, Herring pulled away on his own leaving Lee stranded in no-man's land, as Herring soloed to victory in the 15-16 age category over a 12 lap course.

Still in the lead pack, juniors Chayce Smith and Geoffrey Smith battled it out to a sprint finish with Chayce edging out Geoffrey at the close.

In the main field, and once Lee was caught with about five laps remaining, efforts to break free of the field were continually thwarted until the final lap when Hopkins burst off the front on the main climb with only Martin Pettit and Andy Kain able to respond.

Hopkins continued to extend his lead, finishing in two hours, 19 minutes,19 seconds - 13 seconds and 19 seconds ahead of Pettit and Kain respectively with the chasing pack 22 seconds behind. Kain took honours in the category three race with Whayman Butterfield taking second and Chris Conway third.

There was confusion in one of the biggest categories of the day, the male veterans, when Vic Ball and Clark Tear, having battled it out all day, did not realise they were on their final lap and rolled over the line together to be given the same finishing time of one hour, 50 minutes and 50 seconds. Triathlete Steve Petty out-sprinted Martin Bolton for third in 1:54.49.

A strong performance from novice Jamie Pedro, better known for his triathlon exploits, saw him stay with the top riders until the finish of his 10-lap race which he won uncontested in 1:31.07. Peter Dunne and Steve James were second and third in 1:34.33 and 1:40.15 respectively.

Full results - see Scoreboard.