Clyve Chetcuti and Diana Muscat both secured their first National Point Series titles when the final race was hosted by the Malta Mountain Bike Association at the Majjistral Park.
The Elite category saw Luke Borg taking the lead in an attempt to make up for the two previous disappointing runs.
In spite of Borg leading the way throughout the race and securing a win with an advantage of 36 seconds, Clyve Chetcuti’s second place was enough to pip Borg to the title, with just 20 points.
Jason Vella completed the podium for the day after a battle with Chetcuti and Stefan Scerri who had to retire in the fourth lap after a nasty crash.
Race favourite Diana Muscat did not disappoint, taking a clear lead from the start in the women’s class.
A fall in the first lap caused Lara Buttigieg to lose precious time but made up for it in the subsequent laps to overtake Fiona Tedesco and Felicienne Cini. Muscat, Buttigieg and Tedesco completed the day’s podium.
The trio also featured, in the same sequence on the overall classification podium.
The Sport category saw Darren Sultana win ahead of Keith Bartolo and Ack Hili. Sultana emerged overall winner of the series, followed by Bartolo, with Jesmar Vella a further ten points back.
Stephen Grima won the 40+ category race on the day, just five seconds ahead of Joaquin Rojas. They were followed by Gordon Zahra.
Grima topped the overall category leaderboard for the season followed by Alex Portelli and Zahra.
The 50+ class was won by Enrico Bradamante, who in spite of a bad start to the season, performed consistently to top the leaderboard ahead of Carmelo Abela and Ethan Salter.
In the youth categories, Kyle Scicluna was the top U-19 boy for the day, whilst the overall series was won by Justin Micallef, followed by Matthew Galea and Scicluna.
The U-17 boys’ podium was made up of Ryan Gatt, Chylen Fava and Ishmael Grima. The overall classification was won by Gatt, followed by Fava and Nathan Goodhand.
The U-15 boys race was won by Daniel Luke Spiteri, followed by Liam Daly and Nicholas Spiteri, however, the overall classification was won by Daly, who won all previous races.
Daly was followed by Neil Cassar and Daniel Luke Spiteri.
On the other hand, the U-15 girls’ race was won by Nina Debono Curmi, followed Zija Fuji and Katie Anne Vella Wood who finished in second and third respectively.
The same positions were reflected in the overall series classification.
Finally, the U-12 categories saw Ethan Cumbo, Jake Said, and Zac Bugeja take the podium for the day.
Said, Bugeja and Jurgen Mercieca made up the overall series podium.
Kim Micallef Cann, Mickaya Fava and Mikela Ann Spiteri took the podium for the U-12 girl’s race as well as the overall classification podium.
“The series has been nothing short of thrilling action and determined performances from a mix of veteran and new riders who have regularly been competing on the local mountain bike circuit,” said Pierre Zammit Endrich, president of the Malta Mountain Bike Association.
“The enthusiasm shown augurs well for the future of the sport, as we see more and more participants joining our events.”
In a statement, the Malta Mountain Bike Association expressed its gratitude towards the Majjistral HPF Ranger Unit who assisted the body throughout the morning and also expressed its gratitude towards series sponsors, Cisk 0.0, Gatorade, and San Michel as well as IDMatch Bike Lab.
The final event, hosted by the association for 2023, will be the Cross Country National Championships which will take place on October 8.
