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By Garry Doughty
The main point that was highlighted in Sunday's 27.5km scratch races was just how even the riders are in each grade. No single rider or even small group was able to assert themselves over the rest of the bunch by getting away.
There were a few attacks in A grade, mainly by Steve Hunter and Dylan Forbes. At one stage the duo got away together and built up a gap of 15 seconds over the bunch but the bunch drew them back in over the next few kilometres.
Rob Calladine always gives 100 percent when racing so whenever the pace slowed a touch he was up the front driving again. Mark Walters, Frank Soto and Richard Lorenc also worked well.
The riders were very edgy in the last kilometre trying to force someone else to lead the sprint out. When it did start in earnest it was Hunter who was too quick for the rest with Lorenc second and Calladine third.
The B grade race was only 12 seconds slower than A grade in a time of 42:50. The high pace was maintained throughout the race by the strong work on the front being done by Adam Hotchkis, Scott Defina, Mark Davis and Marcus Arnold.
Arnold tried to get away on several occasions but was brought back each time. The only dangerous break was near the end of the first lap when Arnold, Hotchkis, Defina and Davis got a small break on the rest of the bunch. Joe Pereira did a monster turn and brought the bunch back up to the breakaway.
Patrick Delahunty didn't like his chance of a win with several big name sprinters in the bunch so he launched a sizzling attack with 500m to go to the line. It looked like he may have caught the others off guard but Hotchkis put his head down and gave chase.
Delahunty was caught with under 100m to go. Arnold was just able to get over Hotchkis to take the win with Jason Johnson third.
The scenario in C grade was similar to A and B. The pace was predominantly high with a few attempts by riders to get away that were all unsuccessful. The strong men in the bunch were Mark Owen and Joe Chiaverini, they were on the front a lot of the race always helping to keep the speed up.
Other riders that shared in the workload were Peter Kelly, Tony Clifford and Peter Evans.
Chiaverini started the sprint a long way from the line and as the line approached he was fading fast which allowed Carlo Paiola to come off his wheel and get the win by the narrowest of margins. Kelly sprinted strongly and was rewarded with third place.
Next week's race is a 27.5km handicap, group 3 are to provide marshals. Prize money will be paid on the day with additional sponsorship bringing the total to $250 for the race.
A Grade 1 Steve Hunter 42.38 2 Richard Lorenc 3 Rob Calladine 4 Dylan Forbes 5 Mark Walters 6 Frank Soto 7 Lou Palermo 8 Paul Hooper B Grade 1 Marcus Arnold 42.50 2 Adam Hotchkis 3 Jason Johnson 4 Kirk Brown 5 Hubert Driehus 6 Mark Davis 7 Joe Pereira 8 Garry Doughty 9 Tony Pulo 10 Scott Defina 11 Patrick Delahunty 12 Grant Farr 13 Lionel Covington DNF Phil Jones C Grade 1 Carlo Paiola 2 Joe Chiaverini 3 Peter Kelly 4 Paul Dubois 5 Sally Watts 6 Tony Clifford 7 Peter Evans 8 Paul Kaye 9 Alan Mcclelland 10 Wayne Farrugia 11 Andy Shannon 12 Mark Owen DNF Max Baker