Neil de ste Croix took no chances as he powered to his second straight mountain bike race victory of the season in the men?s open category at Hog Bay Park on Sunday.

Even with arch rival Garth Thomson off the Island, de ste Croix had to contend with challenges from both Geoff Wing and Dave Padega. Wing is currently second in the standings with Thomson third and Padega just behind in fourth.

But in Sunday?s race de ste Croix took the lead on the first lap and never looked back as he slowly pulled away over the nine-lap race to win by over three and half minutes.

The battle for second place was another matter. Wing duelled with Padega all the way and it came down to the final lap on which Padega took advantage of a momentary hiccup by Wing, slipping by him and holding on to take second place in 46.49. Wing followed in 47.35.

Geoffrey Smith enjoyed his best ride of the season, taking fourth place, finishing less than a minute behind Wing in 48.30. Alan Reid, currently fifth in the series standings, continued his consistent performances, taking fifth in 51.02.

One of mountain biking?s local pioneers, Duncan Simons, came out for his second race of the season to place sixth in 52.36, over seven minutes ahead of seventh-placed Peter Matcham (59.19).

Sixteen-year-old Reid Selley in his first-ever race finished eighth in 65.40 and can take some satisfaction in the knowledge that he finished ahead of last year?s national champion Andrew Davis who recorded a DNF.

The most exciting action of the day was in the veterans? category which saw its largest ever field with eight riders taking to the start line. Organisers made the race more interesting by requiring the vets to race the same longer and more technically challenging course as the open riders.

This seemed to pay dividends as the top three riders were separated by only 47 seconds at the finish.

Series leader Paulo Madeiros might have guessed it was going to be a difficult day when last year?s series runner-up Fred Swan showed up for the first time this season and Miguel Butterfield decided to move from the novices? category to the veterans.

The three riders waged a see-saw battle for four of their six laps with each taking a turn at the lead. But it was Swan who prevailed after he managed to open a gap on the fourth lap and was able to hang on long enough to secure victory in 37.14, just 23 seconds ahead of Butterfield?s second place time of 37.37.

Madeiros, winner of the first three races of the season had to settle for third in 38.03.

The other five category riders weren?t far behind with Mannard Packwood finishing fourth in 39.38 and newcomer Tim Palmer placing fifth after a DNF in his first race the previous week.

Another first timer, Peter Dunne took sixth in 41.22. Jeff Amaral (45.08) got the better of Nigel Godfrey (47.15) to take seventh.

In the boys? 13-14 category Ricky Sousa Jr. made it three victories out four as he clocked 34.47 over nine laps of the short course.

With Sousa's main rival Tim Fox off the Island it was up to Mark Smith to try and put some pressure on Sousa for the victory, and he came close to pulling off an upset as he finished second, just 45 seconds back in 35.33. Geoffrey Burns was just behind the front two in 37.29. Thomas Godfrey, Dominic White and Curt Selley finished fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.

In the boys? 15-16 category Matthew Godfrey followed up his first victory of the season a week earlier with another win. Conner Burns, still suffering from a bout of the flu, managed to take second place in 43.02 ahead of Aaron Fenn in third.

David Lunn sr. made the most of his first race by winning the novices? category when Rickai Lightbourne recorded a DNF. Lunn finished his nine laps of the short course in 40.37.

Ashley Robison was the sole female novices competitor, covering nine laps of the short course in 46:54.

Michael Coles came out for his first race of the season and made it count as he powered to victory in the boys? 11-12 division over six laps of the short course in 27.17. Alex Godfrey tried to stay close but had to settle for second in 30.33. Blake Hill placed third in 36.02.

In the boys? 10 and under category Nathan Amaral took advantage of the absence of Leonard Williams and Ben Green to take an easy victory in 23.12 for four laps of the short course. His victory left him just one point behind Williams in the series standings.

Next race is this Sunday over a new course at Fort Scaur in Somerset, starting at 9 a.m.

Competitors will get an opportunity to ride the course on Saturday morning as organisers will be doing final preparations between 9.30 and noon.

Those who can't make it on Saturday are advised to arrive early on Sunday morning (8.15) to pre-ride the course.