The penultimate race of the BDO Malta Cross Country National Points Series, held on Sunday in Selmun, continued to assert Maurice Formosa's (The Cyclist) position as Malta's foremost moutain biker as his dominance on the Cross Country circuit continues.
The technical slopes of Selmun clay hills, coupled with strong winds, welcomed yet another strong group of mountain bikers who took part in the fourth race of the five race series.
There was no doubt that Formosa was out to continue on his winning streak, however at the start of the downhill section Mark Bonnici (Pro Action Volata) set the pace with Formosa and Etienne Bonello (Team Greens) following, until the foot of the first climb when Formosa set up a high pace that could not be matched by the rest. Formosa continued to widen the gap over Bonello, increasing the margin of between 30 - 40 seconds in each lap. Formosa sealed his fourth victory with an advantage of 3 minutes 24 seconds over Bonello who clocked in second place. Despite attempts from Bonnici and Brandon Sultana, who kept cycling in tandem for most of the race, to take third place, it was Sultana who in the last two kilometres of the race edged Bonnici by fourteen seconds, to seal his first podium placing in the Elite Category. A notable performance was registered by Ryan Darmanin. Darmanin's second outing amongst the Elite, after having been promoted from the Sport category last year, was considered to be a strong performance which saw him finish in sixth place.
In the Open Category Ack Hili set the pace for the pack, however attacks from Denis Dolci and Francesco Sultana resulted in Hili having to settle for the third place on the podium. Dolci clocked in the best time in this category, followed by Sultana.
The Female Category was a three-horse race between Fiona Darmanin Tedesco, Mary Spiro and Lindsey Zammit. Darmanin Tedesco put her experience on the circuit to good use to gain top billing with an almost two-minute advantage over Spiro. Zammit took third place.
Mark Portelli and Brian Magri won the Masters 40+ and 50+ categories, respectively,whilst Clyve Chetcuti took the top place in the Juniors' Category.
"Selmun is a tricky course, complicated and technical on a good day, windy conditions, of course, make it tougher. Despite these conditions we had great competition and there was no shortage of adrenaline pumping action," explained Pierre Zammit Endrich, President, Malta Mountain Bike Association.
The Cross Country National Points Series is sponsored by BDO Malta and supported by PASH The Healthy Option, SIS (Carm. & Co. Ltd.), H2only (Island Beverages Ltd.), Camilleri Marine Ltd., AF Sign Studio, The Cyclist, Wheel Wizard, Magri Cycles and MTB Malta.
The final race of the BDO Malta Cross Country National Point Series is scheduled to take place on Sunday 20th May. More information can be found on http://www.maltamountainbike.org.mt/