Results and Reports for March 5Sequoia classic, day #1California, USA, March 4, 2000 Courtesy of John Wordin and Pam Schuster Men - 85 miles The Pro Road race consisted of 9 laps of a 9.5 mile circuit, containing 2 climbs for a total of 3000ft of uphill. The usual teams were on the line, Mercury, Saturn, Navigators, 7-UP, Jelly Belly, 178 riders in all. For the first 7 laps, it was a battle between Mercury and Saturn as each took turns attacking, with the largest gap for anyone being only 1'30". With 2 laps to go, Jamie Drew (Mercury) and Harm Jansen (Saturn) held a small 30 second gap. Mercury upped the pace and soon 3 riders were able to cross the gap. Chris Horner, Scott Moninger, and Steve Zampieri joined the other 2 and the gap was soon 45 seconds. The last time up the main climb, Horner and Moninger left the other 3 and it was apparent that Mercury was going to go 1-2. The field was down to less then 45 riders and they were sprinting for 3rd. Mercury set up the sprint and took 3rd, 4th, and 6th with Jan Bratkowski winning the field sprint ahead of Gord Fraser, Monahan (7-UP/Colorado Cyclist), and Mercury's John Peters Results 1. Chris Horner (USA) Mercury 2. Scott Moninger (USA) Mercury 3. Jan Bratkowski (USA) Mercury 4. Gord Fraser (USA) Mercury 5. Kevin Monahan (USA) 7-UP/Colorado Cyclist 6. John Peters (USA) MercuryWomen - 47.5 miles Petra Rossner (Saturn) was on the line with her World champion stripes in evidence, making most teams nervous about a field sprint. I don't know why as she only won 2 or 3 World Cup field sprints last year. So as you can imagine we all wanted to get our money's worth and took our turns attacking and hurting each other. The AutoTrader.com team definitely wanted to play hard and even when Andrea Ratkovic wasn't feeling her best she would attack with her heart and inspire us all. There were many little pseudo-breaks with nothing sticking until the 4th lap when 800.com rider, Lsyle Wilhelmi rolled off the front before the S/F line. She had a good 30 seconds going into the pentultimate climb when a mail truck collision sent her to the pavement. It broke everybody's heart to see her laying there and we self-neutralized ourselves until we all single filed around. Tina Mayola (Autotrader.com) was placed in good position by the assistance of Anke and Julie in 3rd position behind 2 Elita riders for the field sprint of 20-30 riders. She then got boxed in by the Saturn leadout for Nicole Rienhart who took a hard earned victory. Results 1. Nicole Rienhart (USA) Saturn 2. Cynthia Ferguson (USA) Alto Velo 3. Tina Mayola (USA) AutoTrader.com 4. Annelie Chapman (USA) Jane Cosmetics 5. Lynne Bessette (USA) Saturn 6. Pam Schuster (USA) AutoTrader.com 7. Katrina Berger (USA) Harbor Lights 8. Stacy Peters (USA) 800.com 9. Laura Van Gilder (USA) Schwab 10. Gina Hall (USA) Sycip MTBA nationalsACT, Australia, March 4, 2000 Courtesy of Tony Scott The depth of Australian cycling talent was shown today as three cross country riders battled it out in the Elite Category of the MTBA 2000 Australian Mountain Bike Championships at Blue Range. Josh Fleming led the 40km race until the last lap where the strength and technical skill of Paul Rowney, one of the Olympic hopefuls for 2000 came to the fore as he pulled a 40 second deficit into a 21 second victory. In third place was Craig Gordon. Rowney later said that this was one of the toughest courses in the World. In the female category local rider Kellie Robinson dominated the race winning with a clear margin of nine minutes. A huge crowd of spectators were entertained with the finals of the Dual Compressor within the Bluie Range village. Local rider Jarod Rando tackled the tight and flowing course to secure victory over Micheal Robinson. Results Men - cross country 1. Paul Rowney (Giant-AIS) 2.25.06 2. Josh Fleming (GT Hutchinson) 0.19 3. Craig Gordon (Sram Dragon) 2.11 4. Rob Woods (GT Hutchinson) 6.41 5. Perren Delacour (GT Hutchinson) 7.18 6. Garth Hennessy (Fox) 11.36 7. Simon Bishop (Team Merida) 13.09 8. Scott Bradburn 18.19 9. Tim Bennett (Giant) 18.38 10. Phil Orr 19.31 Women - cross country 1. Kellie Robinson 1.33.02 2. Melanie McConnell 8.56 3. Jodie McHugh (Bicycle Superstore) 12.30 4. Julia Graczyk 12.45 5. Cara Smith 14.56 6. Lucy Topman 18.46 7. Nicole Werner (Jones Cycles) 28.36 Carnegie-Caulfield CriteriumMulgrave, Australia, March 5, 2000 Courtesy of Mal Sawford Another fine morning brought huge fields, as 203 starters presented to race in 5 grades. 46 started A grade, including many of the trackies recovering from the previous night's Melbourne Madison. Repeated early attacks were unsuccessful until Paul Manning (GB), Simon Gerrans and Robert Tighello gained 5 seconds at the 40 minute mark. This dangerous move saw reactions from Matt Illingworth (GB) and Dan Moore, and the break grew to 9 at the 50 minutes. Three riders attacked the break a few laps later, and went on to lap the field just before the hour mark was reached. Rob Tighello maintained his dominant form to finish ahead of BJ McIntosh and Illingworth, whose teammate Paul Manning was also able to take 4th place in the bunch finish. 3rd and 4th for the Great Britain Pursuit Team, who are still to record a win against the locals. B grade saw the biggest field of the day. All seemed to be on their best behaviour, with none of the early attacks or chases attempting to use the A Grade bunch illegally. None of the early breaks held a significant gap until a break lead by strongman Nick Witkamp cleared off with 6 others around the 40 minute mark and lead by the length of the straight before a chase from most of the bunch saw it all come together. A late 2 man attack was reeled in on the bell lap by Witkamp, as the sprinters in the bunch looked for help to improve their position for the mass finish. The usual bumps, hooks and clipped pedals ensued before Mal Sawford kicked clear to win from Guy Green and Glen Harvey. Another large field in C Grade; another big fall on the off-camber 2nd corner in the closing laps. Fortunately there were no serious injuries. Well clear of the trouble was veteran Darryl Annells who had ridden alone for the last 4 laps to record a good win. The race started with surge after surge but settled down to a solid tempo before Annell's late attack. D Grade was again a steady affair, keeping pace with C Grade for much of the race. The junior riders let loose one after the other in the last 3 laps with Shane Perkins, soon to represent Victoria in the J15 category at the track nationals claiming the win ahead of Brendan Gaffy, Peter Hudson and Mick Cumming. Results A GRADE 46 Starters 60 minutes + 3 laps 1 Robert Tighello (Ashburton Cycles) 2 B J McIntosh (VIS) 3 Matt Illingworth (GB) 4 Paul Manning (GB) B GRADE 63 Starters 60 minutes + 3 laps 1 Mal Sawford 2 Guy Green 3 Glen Harvey 4 Mauro Alverez C GRADE 55 Starters 45 minutes + 3 laps 1 Darryl Annells 2 Aaron Clarke 3 Mark Kinset 4 Hugh Watson D GRADE 30 Starters 45 minutes + 3 laps 1 Shane Perkins 2 Brendan Gaffy 3 Peter Hudson 4 Mick Cumming E GRADE 9 Starters 30 minutes + 3 laps 1 Natasha Gould 2 Peter Johnstone 3 Susan Rochford 4 Amy Phillips |