By Renae Woodhams
The first race of the 2001 "Be Active Cycle Instead Criterium Series" was held on the streets of Leederville, show-casing world class cycling at its best. The 56 strong field was made up of 23 international and interstate riders including international stars Henk Vogels Jnr (Stage winner Tour de France, Australian Olympic Team 2000) and Jans Koerts (Dutch National Champion).
Thousands of spectators lined the streets of Leederville, standing four people deep in some areas to catch a glimpse of the world's best cyclists as they raced in Stage 1 of the four part Series.
The fast paced, difficult Leederville course proved to be a challenge for many riders. Dutch cycling star, Jans Koerts powered ahead in the early stages of the race, dragging the main peloton with him and spread-eagling the field. This pace proved too fast for many riders and after 20 minutes only 22 riders were left in the bunch.
But it was Victoria's Hilton Clarke who made the winning move. Clarke raced ahead to establish the breakaway and was joined five laps later by world class rider Henk Vogels followed by local riders Jarrod Poad and Peter Dawson.
At the half way mark these four riders looked unbeatable. They continued to maintain their lead for the majority of the race. With only 5 minutes to go, the bunch realised they had to put pressure on the breakaway group but at no stage did they ever look a threat to the leaders.
A game of cat and mouse was played out in the lead group as they stretched their lead to the length of Oxford Street. With two laps to go, experienced campaigner Henk Vogels Jnr, underestimated the sharp Oxford Street turn. Clipping his wheel he crashed, sliding off his bike. Clarke, Poad and Dawson raced ahead, leaving Vogels to ride solo to the finish.
22 year old, Hilton Clarke stamped his authority over the Leederville circuit. Gritting his teeth, Clarke sprinted to the finish clearly taking out the winner's yellow jersey.
Clarke's superior sprinting ability saw him also win the title of Sprint King. As he had earned the yellow jersey, his green sprint king jersey was passed on to second place sprint winner, Jarrod Poad.
Taking out the overall second place in the first stage of the Series was Peter Dawson, followed closely by Jarrod Poad in third with Henk Vogels taking fourth place. The winning team in the first stage of the Series was Glenn Parker Cycles followed by McInerney Ford.
1 Hilton Clarke (Vic) McInerney Ford 15 pts 2 Peter Dawson (WA) WAIS 14 3 Jarrod Poad (NZl) Glen Parker Cycles 13 4 Henk Vogels (WA) Healthway 12 5 Ed Hollands (WA) Glen Parker Cycles 11 6 Mark Phillips (NZl) Apex 10 7 Nic Brown (WA) 96 FM 9 8 Leon Vogels (WA) National Estate Builders 8 9 Wayne van Moorsel (WA) Bicycle Entrepeneur 7 10 Jason Rigg (WA) Bicycle Entrepeneur 6 11 Hilton McMurdo (GBr) Glen Parker Cycles 5 12 Danny Rutherford (NSW) Trek Bikeforce 4 13 Graham Brown (NSW) Trek Bikeforce 3 14 TonTon Susanto (Ind) 96 FM 2 15 Glen Harris (WA) Kirke Securities 1 Sprint King Hilton Clarke (Vic) McInerney Ford Teams 1 Glen Parker Cycles 29 pts 2 McInerney 15 3 WAIS 14