Results and Reports for June 9-10, 2001AustraliaPromoters wishing to submit results should send them to cyclingnews Eastern Region Queen's Birthday Three
Day Tour Eastern Region Queen's Birthday Three Day TourMelbourne, 9-11 June, 2001The Queen's Birthday Long Weekend in Melbourne saw the introduction of a Three Day Tour to the Regional Calendar for the first time. Carnegie Caulfield, Chelsea and Blackburn Cycling Clubs all hosted a stage of the event, decided on a Points system to reduce the workload on already overworked volunteer officials. There was also less possibility for the results to go haywire as in the previous weekend's Open Tour. Riding all three stages made competitors eligible for the overall win, with separate prize money paid to the place getters each day, to encourage riders with other commitments to start at least one of the stages. Bayles Scratch RacesCarnegie Caulfield CC, June 9, 2001A new circuit for the Club of just over 30 flat kilometres and fine weather after a wet morning brought out a good field of 115 for the opening race of the weekend. A and B Grade would race 3 laps, while C and D did 2, and E Grade (Juniors) just the one lap. In windy conditions, the A Grade field stayed together for most of the race, before a series of attacks around 10km from home saw 7 riders open an advantage which would never be closed. The tailwind sprint went to 55 year old Geoff Whiter, from MTB star John Claxton, Brendan Rowbotham and Warren Knevitt. B Grade, with the day's biggest field, had an unusual race. Plenty of riders were prepared to try their luck off the front, and the pace in the bunch was kept high as a handful of riders including Louisa Hamilton-White worked tirelessly to keep things under control. The majority of riders were never called on to contribute, and the cross winds made it hard to move to the front even for those whose pride got the better of them. Again, a bunch sprint would decide the day, with young Travers Nuttall edging out Irishman Dermot Healy from Russ Johnstone and Andy Van Slobbe. Healy has been enjoying the local racing scene since the Sydney Olympics, and will ride most of the current season before heading home in August. Russ Johnstone rode in the Bankstown (NSW) colors although living in Melbourne for the past few years, he remains registered with the Sydney Club. The C Grade bunch sprint was timed to perfection by Paul Lumsden, who passed the constantly improving Danny Weatherley at the line. Tim Nuttall bested Tony Sullivan for the minor placings. Nathan Wise, a 13 year old in his second race, bested the Vets to win D Grade, again in an all-in sprint. Ray Smith, Tony Gill and Graham 'Milo' Answerth rounded out the podium. Peter Johnstone was too good for the other Juniors, as he won ahead of Sean and Louise Bourke and Amy Phillips. ResultsA Grade 90km (22 Starters) 1 Geoff Whiter (Carnegie Caulfield CC) 2 John Claxton (Dirt Riders / Melbourne Bicycle Centre) 3 Brendan Rowbotham (Carnegie Caulfield CC / Fitzroy Cycles) 4 Warren Knevitt (Carnegie Caulfield CC / O'Mara Cycles) B Grade 90km (39 Starters) 1 Travers Nuttall (Blackburn CC) 2 Dermot Healy (Les Jeunes Ireland) 3 Russ Johnstone (Bankstown) 4 Andy Van Slobbe (SKCC) C Grade 60km (28 Starters) 1 Paul Lumsden (Blackburn CC) 2 Danny Weatherley (Carnegie Caulfield CC) 3 Tim Nuttall (Blackburn CC) 4 Tony Sullivan (Carnegie Caulfield CC) D Grade 60km (19 Starters) 1 Nathan Wise (Chelsea & Peninsula CC) 2 Ray Smith (Carnegie Caulfield CC) 3 Tony Gill (Carnegie Caulfield CC) 4 Graham Answerth (Carnegie Caulfield CC) E Grade 30km (7 Starters) 1 Peter Johnstone (Chelsea & Peninsula CC) 2 Sean Bourke (Blackburn CC) 3 Louise Bourke (Blackburn CC) 4 Amy Phillips (Carnegie Caulfield CC) Dromana CriteriumsChelsea & Peninsula CC, June 10, 2001Another new circuit in use for the first time. The 1.2km circuit around Brasser Avenue saw good racing in the best weather of the weekend. All Grades had bunch finishes bar D Grade. A Grade was quite an intense race with lots of attacks. With only 14 starters you could be forgiven for expecting a negative tactical race but with an average of over 40km the hour went fast. Michael Gill made for his frustration at narrowly missing the break the previous day to claim the win ahead of Geordan Murray, Warren Knevitt and Dean Johnstone. B Grade, again with the largest field, had a race punctuated by countless short lived attacks, before the last unlucky pair of Mick Buckley and Ken Ford were caught on the line. The win went to Adam Pyke, from Anthony Comino (who had ridden 60km to the venue), Ford and Jamie Goddard. C Grade worked turns for the entire duration, before a sprint finish going to Evan Lennon ahead of Paul Lumsden, Tim Nuttall and Paul Logan Claire Baxter was on the attack all day in D Grade and finally got away with young star Kieran Murphy. Nathan Wise broke away from the rest of the bunch and chased the pair down and caught them on the bell lap. Aaron Moody lead home the remnants of the bunch for fourth in a welcome return to form. E grade was a small bunch of four. with only three finishing. The kids did 30mins plus three laps with the sprint going right down to the finish, Pete Johnstone taking his second win in a row, and wrapping up the overall in his division. ResultsA Grade (1hr + 3 laps, 14 Starters) 1 Michael Gill (Carnegie Caulfield CC) 2 Geordan Murray (Carnegie Caulfield CC) 3 Warren Knevitt (Carnegie Caulfield CC / O'Mara Cycles) 4 Dean Johnstone (Carnegie Caulfield CC) B Grade (1hr + 3 laps, 30 Starters) 1 Adam Pyke (Chelsea & Peninsula CC) 2 Anthony Comino (SKCC) 3 Ken Ford (Carnegie Caulfield CC) 4 Jamie Goddard (Blackburn CC) C Grade (1hr + 3 laps, 14 Starters) 1 Evan Lennon (Blackburn CC) 2 Paul Lumsden (Blackburn CC) 3 Tim Nuttall (Blackburn CC) 4 Paul Logan (SKCC) D Grade (1hr 15 mins + 3 laps) 1 Nathan Wise (Chelsea & Peninsula CC) 2 Claire Baxter (Hawthorn CC) 3 Keiran Murphy (Carnegie Caulfield CC / CBD Cycles) 4 Aaron Moody (Carnegie Caulfield CC) E Grade (30mins + 3 laps, 4 Starters) 1 Peter Johnstone (Chelsea & Peninsula CC) 2 Sean Bourke (Blackburn CC) 3 Louise Bourke (Blackburn CC) Lang Lang Scratch RacesBlackburn CC, June 11, 2001The 'Queen Stage' of the Tour, all grades would do a 75km circuit of the tough and hilly circuit. A 9am start in chilly conditions kept the field down somewhat, but a decent hill early in the race promised to warm up competitors. Competition for the Overall Trophies was wide open in all categories other than E Grade, so racing promised to be intense. Unfortunately your correspondent did not see much of the racing first hand. A fall at the Poowong township early in the race saw me leave most of my left 'hip' on the bitumen. Fortunately, damage to the new Trek is cosmetic only, and thanks to the President of the newly re-established Hawthorn Club for lending me a front wheel to complete the course (alone!). It was also fantastic to welcome Australian Champ Katie Mactier back to racing. Her injuries are not as severe as widely reported, she is keen to rejoin the European peloton in the next few weeks. While the doctors at the French Hospital who treated her after her fall in the Tour de L'Aude forecast two months in a back brace, Australian treatment has had great results and she resumed training locally a few weeks ago. Some Insurance issues are all that prevent her return to the Australian Team and the Giro d'Italia. The small A Grade field stayed together over the hills, and another bunch sprint was the order of the day. John Claxton (Melbourne Bicycle Centre) took out the win and the overall award, winning ahead of Steven Dew, Dean Johnstone and the consistent Warren Knevitt. The pace over the early climbs in B Grade was horrendous, and the 40 rider field was steadily reduced over each climb before the bunch finish. Strongman Bill Murray won a narrow sprint from Overall Champ Travers Nuttall, Ken Ford and Paul Werner. The C Grade also finished in a bunch kick unusual over such a testing circuit. Cameron Winn held off Paul Logan, Evan Lennon and Paul Lumsden, whose fourth place finish gave him the C Grade title. D Grade was blown apart early by Claire Baxter, who rode away from the bunch with Nathan Wise in tow, before unloading him and riding alone to an emphatic win. Second was good enough to give the overall title to Wise, with the minor places on the day going to Neil Gilbert and Serena Peters. Having wrapped up the overall E Grade win the day before, Peter Johnstone found himself without any challengers, and went for a training ride! ResultsA Grade 90km (22 Starters)
1 John Claxton (Dirt Riders / Melbourne Bicycle Centre)
2 Steven Dew (SKCC / SBR)
3 Dean Johnstone (Carnegie Caulfield CC)
4 Warren Knevitt (Carnegie Caulfield CC / O'Mara Cycles)
B Grade 90km (39 Starters)
1 Bill Murray (Chelsea & Peninsula CC)
2 Travers Nuttall (Blackburn CC)
3 Ken Ford (Carnegie Caulfield CC)
4 Paul Werner
C Grade 60km (28 Starters)
1 Cameron Winn (Blackburn CC)
2 Paul Logan (SKCC)
3 Evan Lennon (Blackburn CC)
4 Paul Lumsden (Blackburn CC)
D Grade 60km (19 Starters)
1 Claire Baxter (Hawthorn CC)
2 Nathan Wise (Chelsea & Peninsula CC)
3 Neil Gilbert (Carnegie Caulfield CC)
4 Serena Peters (Blackburn CC)
E Grade (1 Starter)
1 Peter Johnstone (Chelsea & Peninsula CC)
Final General Classification
(Points allocated 6,4,3,2,1 for 1st through 5th place each day.
Ties broken by rider with best placing in Lang Lang
race if other wins equal)
A Grade
1 John Claxton (Dirt Riders / Melbourne Bicycle Centre) 11 Pts
2 Michael Gill (Carnegie Caulfield CC) 7
3 Warren Knevitt (Carnegie Caulfield CC / O'Mara Cycles) 7
4 Dean Johnstone (Carnegie Caulfield CC) 5
B Grade
1 Travers Nuttall (Blackburn CC) 12
2 Bill Murray (Chelsea & Peninsula CC) 6
3 Adam Pyke (Chelsea & Peninsula CC) 6
4 Ken Ford (Carnegie Caulfield CC) 5
C Grade
1 Paul Lumsden (Blackburn CC) 12
2 Evan Lennon (Blackburn CC) 9
3 Paul Logan (SKCC) 6
4 Tim Nuttall (Blackburn CC) 6
D Grade
1 Nathan Wise (Chelsea & Peninsula CC) 16
2 Claire Baxter (Hawthorn CC) 11
3 Keiran Murphy (Carnegie Caulfield CC / CBD Cycles) 3
E Grade
1 Peter Johnstone (Chelsea & Peninsula CC) 18
Sydney ChampionshipsWetherill Park, NSW, June 10, 2001 ReportBy Brad Hooker Well what a great day for racing, no wind, a bit of sunshine and a temperature around the low to mid 20's. It was great to see 100+ riders turn out for the return, or should we say the resurrected Metro titles. With a new name (Sydney Championships) and a new venue (Wetherill Park - Home of Marconi Cycling Club), it was great to see the support from the riders. With 72 riders in the men's grade, this was one of the best fields seen in Sydney for a long time. With this bunch, the men's race was always going to be hard, officials and judges were hoping that with the calibre of riders that were present that a break may go. The promoting club, Marconi Cycling, were able to spice the race up by adding in a few sprint primes along the way, the 1st and 3rd sprint prizes were kindly donated by Blaxland Cycles (Principia Cycles) and the 2nd prize was donated by Cycling NSW. This made the race more interesting, and the winners of these sprints were even more interesting, with Team Trek taking all sprints. These added sprints didn't shake the race up at all and after 80km we saw 60+ riders coming down the 1 km long finishing straight. All the spectators were in awe, as these sized bunches are hardly ever seen in Sydney. Luckily the video camera was on hand to sort out the havoc that came after they crossed the line. ResultsMen - 25 laps, 80 km 1 Cody Stevenson (Penrith) 2 Brian Appleyard (Sydney C.C./Team Trek) 3 Nathan Russell (Caravello) 4 Nash Kent (Northern Suburbs/Team Trek) 5 Dan Smith (St George) 6 Brendan Shipp (St George) 7 Mark Green (Caravello) 8 Matt Price (Sutherland) 9 Anthony Spurgeon (Caravello) 10 Wayne Anderson (Caravello) Sprint Primes Sprint 1: Brian Appleyard (Team Trek) Sprint 2: Jono McCormack (Team Trek) Sprint 3: Matt Smithson (Team Trek) 72 Starters Women - 15 laps, 48 km 1 Natalie Bates (Parramatta) 2 Olivia Gollan (Kooragang) 3 Simone Poulos (Bicisport) 4 Toireasa Ryan (Bathurst) 5 Jennifer Manefield (Parramatta) 6 Erin Philip (Nowra) 7 Christine Riakos (Northern Sydney) Junior U/19 Women - 10 laps - 32 km (Combined with the Women) 1 Sarah McLachlan (Southern Cross) 2 Lisa Faferko (Southern Cross) Junior U/19 Men - 20 laps, 64 km 1 Chris Sutton (St George) 2 Shaun Higgerson (Randwick Botany) 3 David Young (Bankstown) 4 Andrew Kidd (Hunter Districts) 5 Aiden Lefmann (Manly) Murwillumbah Amateur Cycle Club ResultsCrystal Creek, NSW, June 9, 2001 The Murwillumbah Amateur Cycle Club’s road race on Saturday 9 June 2001 was held over the Crystal Creek course. This route is 55 kilometres long and takes riders out through the hills to Chillingham and then to Bald Mountain before returning to Dulguigan via Upper Crystal Creek. Despite being a long weekend a total of 48 riders lined up for the start. A Grade had 7 competitors who maintained a steady tempo throughout much of the race. However, the pace picked up a bit towards the finish when they were threatened by the next grade catching up with them! First across the line was Troy Stacey with Rob Lyte second and John Guy in third place. All of these riders are from the Murwillumbah Club. B Grade attracted a big field of 18 riders. This race was on from the start with a quick pace and attacks coming from a number of riders especially once they were in the hills. The bunch remained pretty much together until Upper Crystal Creek when a new rider to the club, Tony Brindle, managed to open up a gap on the rest of the field. Tony quickly built up a lead from here and actually caught up to A Grade about 3 kilometres from the finish! Needless to say Tony was first with Paul (AIS) Matthews second just ahead of his coach Jeff Collier in third spot. This will no doubt be Tony Brindle’s first and last ride in this grade! C Grade once again maintained a fast pace throughout their race. The group of 9 riders remained relatively intact over the course which ensured a sprint finish. First home thanks to his powerful sprint was Lindsay Smith closely followed by Steve Gibbs with ‘Mr. Sunshine’ Stuart Chambers in third place. D and E Grades combined for their race to give a total of 14 riders. This group included three women - Sandra Brury, Gail Zinn and Sharon McDowell. A steady but constant pace saw the group keep pretty much together with the three girls often at the business end of the race. In the end however it was club stalwart Rolli Tombillis first across the line closely followed by the ‘Young Gun’ Richard Anderson. Third spot looked to be sewn up by the club secretary but an early sit up before the line saw him pipped at the post by Tom Allen with only a matter of metres to go! Racing next Saturday is over the tough Nobbys Creek course and will start from Pat Smith Park at Dulguigan at 2.00 pm. ResultsA Grade 55km Randwick Botany CC ResultsMaroubra, NSW, June 9, 2001 Juniors Dominant at Heffron ParkRandwick Botany Under 19 rider Shaun Higgerson tested the senior A Grade riders in a 36km cycle race at Heffron Park on Saturday 9 June 2001. Higgerson established a 100m lead over the A grade bunch at the half way mark. The bunch managed to catch Higgerson with 12km to go. What followed was an exciting sprint to the line, with Anthony Spurgeon from Team Caravello crossing first for the third week running in a time of 53 minutes 50 seconds. Second place went to Jorchen Shrider from Fahrradhaus - Scott Racing Team in Germany. Shrider is studying Physics at Sydney University and comes from Badbevensen, near Hamburg, Germany. Third place went to Andrew Foggin from the Randwick Botany Club. Randwick Botany Junior Under 17 rider Chris Jenkins broke away from the B Grade bunch with 6km to go in the B Grade 32km race. The bunch reformed for the last lap sprint with John Kenny from the Eastern Suburbs Club winning in a time of 49 minutes 54 seconds and an average speed of 39km/h. Second was Alex Simmons from the Sydney Cycling Club and third, David Stewart from the Canberra club. David Jackson and junior Luke Cridland broke away from the C Grade 18-rider bunch with 6km to go in the C Grade 28km race. Jackson and Cridland maintained the 200m break to finish first and second respectively. The winning time was 45 minutes 33 seconds. Tony Horneman from Randwick Botany, started the bunch sprint from behind to claim third place, just ahead of Gary Allen. Paul Dimitriou from Bankstown Sports Club lead for most of the way in the 14- rider D Grade 20km event, only to be beaten by Randwick Botany riders Greg Smith, Neil Morris and Ron Sproule, in first, second and third place respectively. The winning time was 34 minutes 0 seconds with an average speed of 35.6km/h. E Grade was won by Julia Guinan in a time of 32 minutes 59 seconds after 16km. Second was Norman Jew. Twenty junior riders competed in 3 events with newcomers Michael and Thomas Murdoch, Pita Vea and Mark Woodhouse competing strongly. The 14km Junior Handicap race was won by Liam Fletcher in a time of 24 minutes 17 seconds, followed by Chris Jenkins and Robert Cater. Fastest time was by Chris Jenkins with a time of 22 minutes 18 seconds. The junior 12km Handicap was taken out by Luke Davison, in a time of 24 minutes 8 seconds, Maxillian Gueniev was second and Thom Richards third. Fastest rider was Thom Richards, 22 minutes 12 seconds. The junior 8km Scratch Race results were Adriano Maradini first with a time of 23 min 2 sec followed by Morgan Stokes and James Warne. The next Randwick Botany Cycling Club race will be conducted at Heffron Park on Saturday 16 June 2001. Juniors start at 1pm and Seniors 2.30pm. Spectators and affiliated riders from other cycling clubs are always welcome. For more information about the club, please contact the club secretary on 02 9667 3307. Results Seniors A Grade, 36km 1 Anthony Spurgeon (Caravello) 53.50 2 Jorchen Shrider (Fahrradhaus-Scott Racing Team) 3 Andrew Foggin (RBCC) B Grade, 32km 1 John Kenny (Eastern Suburbs) 49.54 2 Alex Simmons (Sydney) 3 David Stewart (Canberra) C Grade, 28km 1 David Jackson (RBCC) 45.33 2 Luke Cridland (RBCC) 3 Tony Horneman (RBCC) D Grade, 20km 1 Greg Smith (RBCC) 34.00 2 Neil Morris (RBCC) 3 Ron Sproule (RBCC) E Grade, 16km 1 Julia Guinan (RBCC) 32.59 2 Norman Jew (RBCC) Juniors 14km Handicap 1 Liam Fletcher (Manly Warringah) 24.57 2 Chris Jenkins (RBCC) 3 Robert Cater (RBCC) Fastest: Chris Jenkins 22.18 12km Handicap 1 Luke Davison (RBCC) 24.08 2 Maxillian Gueniev (RBCC) 3 Thom Richards (RBCC) Fastest: Thom Richards 22.12 8km Scratch Race 1 Adriano Maradini (RBCC) 23.02 2 Morgan Stokes (RBCC) 3 James Warne (RBCC) Courtesy of Tony Horneman |