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By Renae Woodhams
The 2001 "Be Active Cycle Instead" Criterium Series has come down to a battle for the title of Sprint King. Race three of the Series, held in Subiaco last night, was clearly a race about the Green Jersey with top sprint riders aggressively riding to gain points to put them in a position for the title.
Early in the race, top Series sprinters Hilton Clarke Jnr, Peter Dawson, Graham Brown, Jans Koerts and Ed Hollands attacked aggressively. The competition for points was coming down to a war against riders, with no one rider willing to give anything away.
Each Sprint Round was fast and furious with the pace putting some of the struggling riders in jeopardy. Many retired from the course early on in the evening leaving the stronger riders to battle it out. Sprint Laps were highly contended with Dutch Champion Jans Koerts putting on the pressure. But with each Sprint Round, NSW rider, Graham Brown exerted his authority.
This rattled some of the sprint favourites and the pressure was on to chase Brown down and take some of the Sprint King Points. However, his strength and power proved too much as he dominated the race, winning all four of the intermediate green jersey sprints. The final lap on the Subiaco course saw an exciting race to the finish, but Brown was too strong and powered home, just ahead of Hilton Clarke Jnr.
With Brown taking the points for the Green Jersey, the final race tonight will come down to a showdown to win the Sprint points. Brown's current form means the Sprint Title is under strong contention and wide open to be snatched from Overall Series Sprint King, Hilton Clarke Jnr.
Brown currently sits two points behind Victorian Hilton Clarke in the overall points score for the Sprint King Title with Clarke 12 points ahead in the competition for the Overall Series Yellow Jersey.
With the pace and ferocity that this Series has already witnessed, the Final in Victoria Park tonight, will be an exciting race to the finish. The Series final for the 2001 "Be Active Cycle Instead" Criterium Series will be held in Victoria Park at 6pm tonight (December 30).
Steve Lack supplied the following snaps of the action.
1 Graham Brown (NSW) Trek Bikeforce 15 pts 2 Hilton Clarke (Vic) McInerney Ford 14 3 Peter Dawson (WA) WAIS 13 4 Jarrod Poad (NZl) Glen Parker Cycles 12 5 Ed Hollands (WA) Glen Parker Cycles 11 6 Wayne van Morsel (WA) Bicycle Entrepeneur 10 7 Nic Brown (WA) 96 FM 9 8 Daniel Vogels (WA) Kirke Securities 8 9 Jason Rigg (WA) Bicycle Entrepeneur 7 10 Danny Rutherford (NSW) Trek Bikeforce 6 11 TonTon Susanto (Ind) 96 FM 5 12 Phil Rieman (WA) Bicycle Entrepeneur 4 13 Jans Koerts (Ned) Moncrieff 3 14 Leon Vogels (WA) National Estate Builders 2 15 Andrew Sime (WA) The Professionals 1 Sprint King 1 Graham Brown (NSW) Trek Bikeforce 15 pts 2 Hilton Clarke (Vic) McInerney Ford 7 3 Jans Koerts (Ned) Moncrieff 3 General classification after Race 3 1 Hilton Clarke (Vic) McInerney Ford 44 pts 2 Peter Dawson (WA) WAIS 39 3 Jarrod Poad (NZl) Glen Parker Cycles 38 4 Graham Brown (NSW) Trek Bikeforce 32 5 Ed Hollands (WA) Glen Parker Cycles 32 Sprint King classification 1 Hilton Clarke (Vic) McInerney Ford 28 pts 2 Graham Brown (NSW) Trek Bikeforce 26 3 Jarrod Poad (NZl) Glen Parker Cycles 10 Teams classification 1 Glen Parker Cycles 75 pts 2 Bicycle Entrepreneur 59 3 McInerney Ford 44