Australian National MTB Championships - CN

Mt Beauty, Australia, January 14-15, 2006

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Race 7 - January 15: Junior Men Short Track, 15 Mins + 3 Laps

Daniel Braunstiens
Photo ©: Mikkeli Godfree

The junior race was a three-way tussle between Paul Van Der Ploeg (Rocky Valley Bike Shop), Cal Britten and Daniel Braunstiens, with the three tearing away from the bunch early.

With a twenty second lead established by the mid-way point, the trio went about trying to get rid of each other. It was a three-way see-sawing battle as for the next 4 laps, they attacked, fought back, hung-on, counter-attacked and basically locked horns for the win. It was fantastic racing, especially with a parochial Mt Beauty crowd cheering home-town boy Van Der Ploeg.

The brutal attacks continued to be dealt out, each having their turn at putting the hurt on. However, it was second-place getter in the XC, Braunstiens who broke the elastic on the penultimate climb to take the win. Reversing the previous day's results, Britten came in four seconds behind Braunstiens to take second while Van Der Ploeg was only a further three seconds in arrears - keeping the crowd happy. "I'm just happy to have finally beaten Cal," said Daniel - who can walk home happy with gold and silver from the weekend's racing.

Photography

For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here

Images by Mikkeli Godfree/Cyclingnews.com

Daniel Braunstiens - the U19 winner early on in the race.
Cal Britten chases Paul Van Der Ploeg.
Britten and Van Der Ploeg chase Braunstiens in the closing moments of the race.

Results

1 Daniel Braunstiens (Richmond Cyclery)               18.29
2 Cal Britten (Kona Mt Buller Factory Team)            0.04
3 Paul Van Der Ploeg (Rocky Valley Bike Shop)          0.07
4 Luke Graydon (CORC)                                  0.30
5 Nathan Haas ACT (CORC)                               0.38
6 Peter Braunstiens (Richmond Cyclery)                 0.56
7 Matt King (Cycle Zone Darwin Northern)               0.59
8 Scott Chancellor (Malvern Bicycles)                  1.01
9 Luke Knox (Bendigo)                                  1.03