Trust House Team Series Rd3 | Carrington

Sam Horgan is back in the series-lead after finishing 2nd in the Carrington Circuit: while his teammate Ryan Christensen completed a strong 2-3 for the Bike Manawatu squad, it was Aaron Gate (L&M), who sprinted for line honours from a group of 16 riders. Series-leader Regan Gough (Homestyle) had to settle for a 10th place in this tight bunch sprint decision.

A pavé sector and a short, but steep climb would make for a quite selective race, in which (again) only the best survived in the front group(s). A few empty-handed solo attempts from Jacob Grieve (L&M), Fraser Gough (Homestyle) and Tim Rush (Nature Valley) were all brought back by the first bigger group, where teams like GMC Coaching or Rocket Switch were interested in a bunch sprint decision..

Sam Horgan would also try to break clear in the final lap: after opening up a small gap with 8km left, Horgan had to end his attempt about 3km before finish. Realizing that he wouldn't stay clear, he then found a good position at the front of the group to eventually sprint to a strong 2nd place on the day. Back in the series-lead with two events remaining!

Fraser Gough going clear with 18km remaining.. no luck!

Tim Rush going clear with 14km remaining.. no luck!

Sam Horgan going clear with 8km remaining.. no luck!

McCauley/Ambrose and Regan Gough kicking off the sprint then..

..but too early, as other riders would go for a tigh finish..

Gate takes the victory, Horgan/Christensen go 2-3 for Manawatu!

Tamijo wrote:
Sam Horgan, back on track

Trust House Team Series Rd4 | Admiral Hill

Nick Bain (Nature Valley) took out the queen event of the Trust House Series and was the strongest up the challenging Admiral Hill. The up and coming climber won the race from a 5-men-group, where James Williamson (L&M) and former series-leader Regan Gough (Homestyle) completed the podium. Valuable points for Gough, as Sam Horgan only narrowly defended his lead in the series with a 7th place on the day.

With two early escapees - Lee Hatton (Warmup) and Lachie McGregor (NZ Road Youth) - entering the final climb with a small gap on the pack, the action kicked off with 6km left: Bain and Regan Gough initiated a serious attack, with Michael Torckler (Rochet Switch) and Hamish Schreurs (Nature Valley) jumping behind immediately.

Also Williamson managed to join this new leading group soonish, while Sam Horgan hadn't the legs to do the same. The series-leader did his own pace, climbing with a small gap ahead of a next group with Fraser Gough (Homestyle) and Michael Vink (Rivet).. while Bain eventually took the victory, Horgan had to see Fraser Gough doing his brother Regan a favor and "steal" two points by finishing 6th ahead of Horgan. We can await a thrilling decision in the final round of the series: only six points seperate leader Horgan from third-placed Bain!

Bain and Gough attacking on the challenging Admiral Hill!

Horgan and teammate Yates leading a first chasing group..

Bain setting the pace for the 5-men-leading group then..

Horgan a minute behind, trying to hold off two chasers..

Bain takes the victory, Regan Gough comes in 3rd..

..and his brother Fraser makes Horgan to settle for 7th here!

Trust House Team Series Rd5 | Matahiwi Estate

How to defend a narrow series-lead in the final round? You may ask Sam Horgan, who just showed a way to do it in style: one of Team Budget's strongest roleurs, Horgan delivered big time in a windy race from Masterton to Mahawiti Estate Wines. His Bike Manawatu team shut down the most dangerous attack on the day and so it came down to the expected bunch sprint, where Horgan took the thing from the front!

Hamish Schreurs (Nature Valley) showed off his NC shirt when attacking with 24km left in the race. An empty-handed attempt, as Bike Manawatu and L&M Group controlled the situtation easily. Horgan would then pull the bunch sprint from the very front and sprint to an undisputed victory ahead of his biggest title-competitor Regan Gough (Homestyle) and Tim Rush (Nature Valley)!

Gough needed only three points on Horgan here, but instead he lost those three eventually. Nick Bain (3rd in the series) only scored minor points as 14th on the day, while Horgan's Team Budget team member Michael Torckler (Rocket Switch) and veteran Gordon McCauley (GMC) completed the Top-5. Stay tuned for the final rankings!

Reigning Kiwi champion Schreurs with his solo-attempt..

The Bike Manawatu team set up a strong train for Sam Horgan..

..who broke clear with an impressive acceleration..

..to take out the final round with a clear gap on the bunch!

Regan Gough was strong again, but his runner-up won't be enough..

Horgan took the opening and now also the concluding round here!

Trust House Team Series Recap

Team Budget's riders continue to impress in those late season (state) series: Sam Horgan (riding for Bike Manawatu) made it three individual titles in a row, as he is the crowned champion of the Trust House Team Series - the premier cycling series on the North Island, New Zealand! That's a great way to bounce back from his unlucky runner-up in the Southern Island series earlier this season.

Horgan kicked off the 5-round series with a victory in the Gladstone Circuit race and finished it off with a win in the series concluding road race from Masterton to the Mahawiti Estate Wines resort. After losing the series-lead to Regan Gough (riding for Homestyle here) in the second event, Horgan bounced back from his less stronger outings (one 6th place in the Masterton road race and another 7th place on the queen event up Admiral Hill) and was amongst those three, who would eventually battle for the title.

Nick Bain (Nature Valley) as the third in this elite selection: the strong climber took out two rounds, but couldn't compete with the best in the final round. Sam Horgan had a perfect day anyway.. Aaron Gate (L&M) took out the cobbled Carrington Circuit and Team Budget can also be pleased with Michael Torckler (Rocket Switch) finishing the series as 4th overall (same points as Bain, who obviously had more single victories though).

	#FINAL RANKINGS
Rk	Name	Team	Pts
1	Sam Horgan	Bike Manawatu	98
2	Regan Gough	Homestyle	92
3	Nick Bain	Nature Valley Avanti	71
4	Michael Torckler	Rocket Switch Cycling	71
5	Andy Hagen	Nature Valley Avanti	68
6	Michael Vink	Rivet Racing	57
7	Gordon McCauley	Team GMC Coaching	53
8	Fraser Gough	Homestyle	47
9	Hamish Schreurs	Nature Valley Avanti	44
	James Williamson	L&M Group - Ricoh	44
11	Aaron Gate	L&M Group - Ricoh	38
12	Scott Ambrose	Team GMC Coaching	29
13	Tim Rush	Nature Valley Avanti	28
14	Jacob Grieve	L&M Group - Ricoh	25
	Ryan Christensen	Bike Manawatu	25
16	Jaron Stephens	Homestyle	12
17	Kees Duyvesteyn	L&M Group - Ricoh	10
18	Lee Hatton	Team Warmup	9
	Corbin Mason-Smith	Nature Valley Avanti	9

Ian Butler wrote:
These races seem so much fun to do. How is your set-up for this story? All one-races or is it career mode? Who makes all the stages? Did you make the database yourself? And what about the jerseys?

Tour of Southland Preview

Many of New Zealand's champion cyclists have competed in the Tour of Southland during their careers. Names such as Graeme Miller, Brian Fowler and (more recently) Hayden Roulston or Gordon McCauley, became household names in Southland and for many of these riders, the Tour of Southland featured prominently in their illustrious careers.

Over the years, the Tour has taken regular progressive steps to ensure the events popularity and success with the most significant change coming in 1995 when the event successfully made the transition to a team's event and in 2002 when the event gained UCI status and became a registered category 2.2 UCI international Tour - which is lost in 2010 though.

Taylor Gunman	Mitch Lovelock-Fay	Hamish Schreurs
Michael Torckler	Dion Smith	James Oram
James Williamson	Andy Hagen	Nick Bain
Sam Horgan	Jason Christie	Sam Dobbs

Despite lacking the UCI status, the Tour of Southland used to attract a notable startlist. And it's surely a promising startlist this year: Avanti Racing as the best team and also more than one real option for the overall victory. With a short TTT, the key climb up Coronet Peak and another ITT, guys like Gunman or Lovelock-Fay should be all over it in all disciplines.

But the competition is fierce: reigning Kiwi champion Schreurs, internationally experienced Oram, reigning South Island Series champion Sam Lindsay, reigning North Island champion Sam Horgan, as well as other strong stage racers like Hagen, Bain or Dobbs. Former race champion Gordon McCauley may focus on sprints though.

Team Budget with two professionals at the start: while we will follow Michael Torckler closely this time, there's also the already mentioned Sam Horgan starting for Mike Greer Homes. Torckler as the better climber, so we're definitely aiming for the podium here. Horgan coming off his Trust House Team Series title.

Michael Torckler	Lee Evans	Blake Fergus
Tristin Hinz	Jason Thomason	Mel Titter

bolded Team Budget members

Tour of Southland Stages 1-2-3-4

Thanks to a quite dominating win in the opening TTT prologue, the Avanti Racing Team leads the provisional GC with four riders and Taylor Gunman as the man in yellow. The three following stages didn't produce too notable splits (except of a 30-men leading group in the Bluff Hill finish), so the next four days may well see some significant changes here.

Michael Torckler (riding for H&J's Outdoor World) did well with two Top-10 finishes, but he missed out on bonifications and sits on 30th place in the GC with his team struggling in the TTT. Budget-mate Sam Horgan (Mike Greer Homes) was very strong with two stage-podiums to move up to 6th in the provisional GC!

The most challenging stage up to Bluff Hill (a short uphill finish) was taken by reigning Kiwi road champion Hamish Schreurs (Scotty Brown Visions), but it was still a rather big group coming in with the same time - securing Taylor Gunman the days in yellow! Veteran Gordon McCauley (NZ Road Youth) and Avanti's Luke Mudgeway (racing for Tasman Wheelers here) took the two bunch sprints in the flat stages. Also some GC-contenders like Dion Smith (Bike Manawatu) and James Oram (Cycling NZ) scored podiums to gain valuable bonus seconds.

Avanti crushing the TTT-competition by 11 seconds on the second-best!

Torckler at the front of the bunch sprint on second day then..

..but he went too early, as McCauley takes the stage eventually!

Schreurs and Smith fighting for line honours on Bluff Hill..

Torckler just battling for a Top-15 and for no gaps on the best..

Schreurs takes the most challenging finish so far!

Torckler launching the sprint from a promising position..

..but he finishes as unlucky 4th behind Budget-mate Sam Horgan!

Will Gunman defend yellow on the queen stage up Coronet Peak now?

Tour of Southland Stages 5-6-7-8

He hasn't had the best season in the NRS, but Sam Dobbs (racing for Calder Stewart here) climbed to an impressive overall victory in the Tour of Southland! The young gun took out the queen stage up Coronet Peak by stunning two minutes on Hamish Schreurs (Scotty Brown) and Jason Christie (Avanti), who would also complete the final podium eventually. Team Budget's Michael Torckler (5th) and Sam Horgan (6th) went for decent results as well.

Dobbs though appeared to be class of his own: when he broke clear from the pack with still 7km to climb on the Coronet Peak, only a few riders like a strong Schreurs and another chasing group with Christie and Torckler would be able to limit the damage. Also local favorite Andy Hagen (Nature Valley) proved his skills, as he managed to fight his way back to Torckler, who couldn't hang on with Schreurs and Christie. Some huge gaps on the day, so a decent GC-result looked secured.

While breakaways took the two remaining flat road races, the 12km ITT around Winton would see Sam Horgan take the stage and the lead in the points classification! Horgan, who already had a couple of podium finishes here, would defend this lead thanks to the breakaway denying Luke Mudgeway big points in the final flat stage to Invercagill. So despite missing out on a big GC result, the two Budget boys did pretty well overall.

Dobbs attacking with 7km left on the queen stage!

The first chasing groups with Schreurs and Christie/Torckler..

..but Dobbs was unbeatable and took the stage by two minutes!

Torckler got dropped by Scheurs/Christie and finished 4th then..

Joe Chapman (L&M) taking the next stage out of the early break!

Horgan did impress in the ITT, beating Lovelock-Fay by 8sec!

Daniel Molyneux (Nature Valley) taking the final stage with the break!

Horgan adding another shirt to his bucket: sprint ace!

Well deserved overall victory for Sam Dobbs!