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By Garry Doughty
Danny Hennessy continued on his winning way by taking out the 37.5km A grade scratch last Sunday. Fourteen riders made up a good size field in the A grade race but they didn't stay together for too long.
On the climb up Marshall Mount on the first lap a few riders applied the pressure and they were able to get a small break. Adam Rourke, Josh Wall and Paul Forrest pressed their advantage and had a few hundred meters on the bunch at the bottom of Hooker hill.
Richard Lorenc saw the danger and tried to bridge the gap, unfortunately he blew near the top. Hennessy, who had an armchair ride on Lorenc's wheel, easily came off the wheel and joined the other three riders.
The four worked reasonably together, and despite the concerted effort of riders such as Rob Calladine, Mark Walters, Dylan Forbes and Andrew Stewart in the chase bunch, they were able to almost put 2 minutes into the chasers by the end of the race.
Wall led the sprint out early but was quickly challenged by Hennessy on one side and Forrest on the other. In a very close finish Hennessy just held Forrest off followed by Wall and Rourke. Marcus Arnold led the bunch home.
With his strong ride and decisive sprint finish in winning the B grade race Mark Davis has secured his elevation to A grade. A good effort for someone who has only been competitively cycling for about six months.
Davis was prominent throughout the race putting in a strong effort on every climb. Ben Lohse also didn't shirk the work. Overall the riders were very evenly matched so no one was able to get away.
Other riders who worked well included Adrian Cooper, Kerry Moroz, Mark Owen, Lionel Covington and Joe Pereira.
In an all up sprint Davis was too quick and won by over a length. Second place was very close with Moroz just edging out Covington.
As with B grade the C grade riders were also evenly matched so they stayed together throughout the race.
Scott Turnbull rode strongly and wasn't afraid of going to the front when the pace slowed. Actually all of the riders, Dave Morris, Peter Kelly, Paul DuBois, Terry Welsh and Ross Irwin shared the workload reasonably well and gave a bit extra to try and see if they could drop someone at one point or another.
Wayne Farrugia continues to improve with each race and was disappointed when he punctured.
Turnbull led the sprint out and quickly put several lengths into the other riders, he was not challenged all the way to the line. DuBois and Kelly came down the finishing straight level pegging all the way, but Kelly was just able to edge ahead in the last few meters to take out second place with DuBois third.
Next week's race is an 18km time trial with group 9 providing the marshals.
A Grade 1 Danny Hennessy 55.10 2 Paul Forrest 3 Josh Wall 4 Adam Rourke 5 Marcus Arnold 1.51 6 Andrew Stewart 7 Gerard Donaldson 8 Dylan Forbes 9 Mark Walters 10 Rob Calladine 11 Doug Pollack DNF Adam Hotchkis DNF Paul Hooper DNF Richard Lorenc B Grade 1 Mark Davis 1.00.33 2 Kerry Moroz 3 Lionel Covington 4 Adrian Cooper 5 Joe Pereira 6 Peter Evans 7 Joe Chiaverini 8 Kirk Brown 9 Ben Lohse 10 Mark Owen DNF Neil Midgley DNF Tony Pulo C Grade 1 Scott Turnbull 1.04.45 2 Peter Kelly 3 Paul Dubois 4 Terry Welsh 5 Ross Irwin 6 Dave Morris 7 Wayne Farrugia