Matt Empey in Australian colours in North America
Welcome home to Matt Empey who’s been racing another couple of World Cup Downhill races. He gives the impression he’s enjoyed it!
Rookie Cup round 2
The second race of the Rookie Cup series was held this weekend at Barjarg, with some impressive results from MMBCC riders.
Miles Vivash - 1st, U11 Men
Sienna Vivash - 1st, U13 Women
Hunter Hoebergen - 29th, U13 Men
Scarlett D’Arcy - 2nd, U15 Women
Blake Riley - 37th, U17 Men
Spencer Carman - 15th, U19 Men
Jake Terry - 19th, U19 Men
Dirt Crits Combo Night
By Damian Grundy
The first Mountain Bike race for the 2026-2027 MMBCC summer season was a combined XC and DH night with one race of each discipline. This was a great test of versatility with skills being tested across both cross-country (XC) and downhill (DH) racing. With overall positions determined by combining each rider’s results from both disciplines, consistency and versatility were key to securing a strong finish.
Overall Race Results
Ben Ross claimed the overall victory with an outstanding display of consistency, finishing second in both XC and DH. His combined total of just four points secured him first place overall.
Duke Hoogesteger followed closely in second overall, recording third-place finishes in both disciplines for a combined six points. Alastair Ross rounded out the overall podium in third place with seven points, taking the win in XC before finishing sixth in DH.
Ben Grundy secured fourth overall with matching fourth-place finishes in XC and DH, finishing on eight points. His consistent performance across both disciplines kept him among the leading riders throughout the event.
Cross-Country and Downhill Highlights
Alastair Ross led the way in the XC event, taking first place ahead of brother Ben in second and Duke Hoogesteger in third. Ben Grundy finished fourth, while Nicole Hoebergen put in a strong ride to claim fifth place.
In the downhill event, Micah Chadd delivered the standout performance, taking first place. Ben Ross and Duke Hoogesteger followed in second and third respectively, while Ben Grundy secured fourth. Cody Stevens rounded out the top five.
Micah's downhill victory was particularly impressive, lifting him to fifth overall despite a tenth-place finish in XC. Cody Stevens also delivered a solid combined performance, finishing sixth overall with seventh in XC and fifth in DH.
Close Battles Across the Field
The overall standings featured several close contests. Damian Grundy, Willem Morphett and Nicole Hoebergen all finished on 15 points, taking equal seventh.
Elliot Leatham finished tenth overall with 19 points, while Hunter Foy and James Cameleri finished eleventh and twelfth, both recording 24 points. Steve Curnow unfortunately recorded a DNF in the downhill event.
Congratulations to Ben Ross on taking the overall win, and to all riders who competed in the event! And congratulations to all competitors. Here are the detailed results.
Next week: Gravity!
Coming up: part two of the weekly Damian Grundy newsletter…
Historically significant road race
By Damian Grundy
Ben’s gone motorcycling so I have had to step in to prepare this race report. I suppose that given I was second to last for the evening there is some connection with Ben’s second place…
The first race of the 2026-2027 season and a great turn out greeted the starter. And welcome to Adrian Morphett for his first MMBCC Road Race.
The course was a simple out and back to Sawpit Gully (that is an interesting name, do people know what a saw pit is? They are quite a historical thing from our earlier settler days; here is a pic for illustration purposes.
That is a sawpit! Needless to say, the poor bloke in the pit got covered in sawdust. Does anyone else notice the small flaw in this set up with the supporting timber?
Anyway, this isn’t a history lesson but rather a race report. Apologies for the digression.
The finish line was as usual at the Showgrounds on Mt Battery Road.
Thanks to all the marshals and commissaires, especially thanks to Tim Ross for the riveting and informative pre-race briefing.
And so, to the race. Forgive me please, as I don’t have the results in front of me, so I apologise for those who I overlook or miss in this report. I did get to see all competitors of course on their return journeys from the turnaround at Sawpit Gully Road. But given I was well out the back at that stage thanks to the strong legs (stronger than mine) of Mr B Halket and Mr R Chadd and having been well over my limit for 15 minutes I was seeing stars and not fully taking in the faces going the other way.
Congratulations to the Scratch boys for a strong ride. Unfortunately, they didn’t catch everyone, and so Ryder had to settle for fastest time and I did notice on his Strava that he had set a PB for power output for 45 minutes, well done!
At that point in the race Mr D Bock and Mr J Eisner were leading with Mrs J Duke in a group of three but I quickly grasped that their task looked forlorn as there was a small gap back to an especially strong-looking group containing Mr S Mulvihill, Mrs J Appleton and Mr B Grundy. Unfortunately Mr C Wilson had been dropped from this group though he was chasing valiantly.
The Block group were still all together at this point with Mr B Ross, Mr S Duke, Mr D Bakker & Mr S Brown. Mr Brown did look to be enjoying himself especially.
At that point it was clear that the Scratch riders had made inroads but it was clearly going to be a close thing.
And so to the finish. The group of Grundy, Mulvihill and Appleton appeared to have caught most by the return to the City Limits. Grundy made a rookie error of taking a drink on the final rise past the housing estate and Mulvihill didn’t need a second invitation; he was off and rounded up the final out markers in the home straight to take a great and well-deserved win.
Mr Grundy was second by 13 seconds and Mr B Ross (youngest in the race btw) took a flier from the block group going up to the housing estate and also passed all the out markers for a well-deserved third place.
Here are the detailed results and, once again, many thanks to Tony Copland for his images.
Next week’s race will be around the Barwite Loop, starting at Nutrien on Buller Road and finishing at the Showgrounds.
Annual General Meeting
The MMBCC AGM was held last Thursday and congratulations to Tim Ross who was elected unopposed as Club President.
Many thanks also to Kate, Janine and Damian who all stood again and were elected unopposed to their previous positions of Secretary, Treasurer and Vice President respectively.
If you couldn’t attend, here is a link to the Documents page, where you can download the Minutes.
Finally…
You might remember a few weeks ago, on WhatsApp, news from Tim Ross that Melbourne-based MMBCC member, Dan Purcell, won the Victorian Masters Road Race Championship (Masters 1 Men) at Philip Island. Thanks to Jason Parker for finding this, here’s a great little video about the race. Worth a look for all roadies.