Kavin Smith took another step towards clinching a maiden One Communications Mountain Bike Race Series title with a dominant display in round five at Admiralty House.

Having seen his lead at the top of the standings reduced after finishing second behind main rival Alan Potts in the previous round at Coney Island, Smith took full advantage of the absence of the latter this time around to reinstate his advantage in the race for Male Open 60 Minute title glory.

While the top three riders all completed 12 laps in the allotted time, Smith’s time of 1hr 2min 4sec saw him finish more than two minutes clear of Cameron Morris, in 1:04:39, with James Holloway completing the podium places in 1:05:02

The result took Smith on to 119 points in the standings, 27 clear of Holloway, who moved above Potts, now a further three points adrift in third, with three races remaining.

“This is my first proper season of competing more seriously and after the first race of the season I made a bigger commitment and thought to myself I’m going to go for it,” said Smith, who transitioned to cycling after a hugely successful running career, which saw him clinch four gold medals across two separate Carifta Games, as well as nine Bermuda Half Marathon Derby victories between 1993 and 2003.

“I’m top of the standings right now but I know Alan Potts is an absolute animal on these bikes so hopefully I can keep it going and take the series.

“It would definitely be unexpected coming over from a running career and being 56 years old; so to take the title would be pretty cool.

“Once I stopped running I took up riding but it took a long time for my body to transition over. I knew that would be the case; it’s been about two years but now it is just suddenly clicking.

“I’m really enjoying it. I’m getting more technical and braver on these courses which is a big part of mountain biking.”

For runner-up Morris, it proved a case of huge relief just to finish the race, having endured a frustrating series so far, including failing to complete a single lap in the previous round due to a broken chain.

“I’m just happy nothing went wrong time round,” he said. “It was a lot better than a lot of the races I’ve done so far.

“The last race I failed to complete a lap because of the chain, the race before that I was sick and so couldn’t really compete, so thankfully this was a smooth one.

“This was a very fast course which suits me. On the longer uphill I was able to use my stregnth and fitness and on the down hills I’m also quite a strong technical rider so really it was ideal for me.

“Hopefully I can keep building on this now for the rest of the series.”

Meanwhile, Ashley Robinson holds a five point advantage over Jennifer Wilson in the Female Open 60 Minute standings, despite only managing a fourth-place finish.

It was Pansy Olander, who took the honours having completed nine laps in a time of 1:04:34, ahead of Lori Orchard, who finished the same number of laps but more than a minute slower. Jennifer Lightbourne claimed third place, having finished a lap less in 1:07:19, with Robinson a further lap behind.

Dominic Smith holds a seven-point lead in the Male Open 30 Division over Justin Horsfall, having claimed victory, completing five laps in 31min 35sec. Dave Wolffe crossed the line slightly less than 90 second behind, with Horsfall almost another two minutes further adrift.

Zina Jones prevailed against her only other competitor Florence Pedro in the Female Open 30 Minute category. Both completed four laps, with Jones doing so in 33:23, slightly more than 48 seconds ahead of her rival.

There was victory for Gordon Smith in the Male 13 to 16 division, having completed six laps in 35:03, narrowly ahead of Wyatt Hall, who managed the same amount of laps in 35:26.

Both riders in the corresponding female race achieved a total of four laps but it was Skye Ferguson who took the honours in a winning time of 30:50, just 13 seconds ahead of Kelise Wade.

It proved a more comfortable victory for Ray Richardson in the Male 9 to 12 division, having completed seven laps in the allotted time, one more than his nearest rivals, with Philando Hill taking second place ahead of Hannes Swart.