After a six-week summer break, the MMBA’s Magri Cycles National Points Series resumed with a race at the Majjistral Natural and History Park.

This location, in the northwest of the island, provided the perfect setting for mountain bike racing with high technical sections on the short climbs and descents.

A total of 35 riders took up the challenge in three categories – elite men and women, and sport.

The mass start took riders through a 400m loop before seeing them speed off into Lap One.

Maurice Formosa (The Cyclist) and Mark Bonnici (Agones SFC) set the pace with Patrick Scicluna (Mosta CC) and Ramon Grech (Agones SFC) in hot pursuit.

Meanwhile, the rocky and sharp terrain was complicating matters for a considerable number of participants mainly due to sustained flat and ripped tyres. Some did manage to resume the race but, obviously, the unscheduled stop took its toll on the overall timings/placings.

At the front, Formosa and Bonnici defended their leading positions to keep Scicluna and Grech at a distance.

On Lap Three, Formosa increased the pace on the technical uphill to open a gap on Bonnici before breezing through the last two laps and win the race in 1:19:00.

Bonnici was forced to retire in Lap Four with Grech profiting to dash home in second place (1:22:47) ahead of Scicluna (1:23:18).

The women’s race saw Lara Buttigieg (Agones SFC) pull out after suffering an injury in a bad fall. Danica Bonello Spiteri (Team Greens) rode to victory despite a flat tyre in the last lap (1:22:37).

The ever-popular sport category also produced its fair share of mishaps, forcing a few riders to withdraw from the race.

Italian Dennis Dolci put in an impressive performance, finishing first at 50:35 with Paul Zarb (The Cyclist – 54:27) second and Wayne Schembri (MTB – 54:54) third.

The next event on the MMBA calendar is a downhill race at Wardija tomorrow.