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By Mal Sawford
Over 150 riders were in attendance tonight as the Melbourne weather has finally decided to behave, with another still, sunny afternoon providing perfect conditions for racing. The A Grade field was a little depleted, with a few of the stars heading deep south for the Tour of Tasmania, but all other grades had good sized bunches.
The A Grade bunch seem to have fairly quickly worked out that Commonwealth Games contender Robert Tighello (ACR) is the danger rider, and riders were giving everything in the hope of latching on to one of his trade mark early attacks. 20 minutes in, Tighello was on the attack, with Ray Turner (Repco/Diamond Back/Park Tools), Jason Wakelin (Bicycle Superstore) and Brad Edmunds hot in pursuit.
First Turner, then a few laps later Wakelin, found the pace too fierce, and just after the half way point Tim Wilson bridged to the leaders with Russell Newnham (ProMotion Cycles) in tow, and the four front runners worked well to put the main field out of contention.
The quartet stayed together to fight out the finish, and in something of a rarity, made no effort to unload Newnham, who was rapidly running out of legs in the closing stages. As the final sprint started, Tighello took the early lead and was never headed, with Wilson pinching 2nd on the line from Edmunds, and Newnham who did not contest the sprint.
The bunch was lead home by Thaddeus Roos (Bicycle Superstore), with his 5 week old baby amongst the spectators, with Matt Gould (ACR) taking the final place in the generous prize money list.
A late break looked to steal the B Grade win, with 4 strong riders combining well. With 15 minutes to race, Geoff Whiter, Danny Weatherley, Damien Power and Brett Morton had gone clear, and some hesitation at the front of the huge bunch could have sewn things up for the escapees. Sunday's Victorian Masters Individual Pursuit Champion Dennis Bowen-Day (Grand Prix Cycles) saw the danger, and went bridged across to the leaders, but his provided the inspiration the peloton needed and the gap quickly came down.
Whiter and Power weren't prepared to roll over, however, and the pair fought on to still hold a slender lead at the bell lap, but the full field had regrouped to make the turn into the finishing straight. Brunswick policeman Laurie Noonan was quickest to take a good win, with Jamie Goddard, Grant Jamieson and Priska Doppmann taking the minor places in a tight finish.
The podium finish by Swiss star Doppmann makes her only the second woman to take an outright place at this level of competition, behind dual World Cup winner, Anna Millward, and she held off a significant number of the faster male sprinters in doing so. Vanessa Crawford (VIS) lead Helen Kelly home to round out the girls podium.
Chelsea President Ben Noyes took a good win in the C Grade race, and will take the step up to B Grade next week. The race ended in a bunch sprint, but had been quite animated earlier, with Paul Marr, Bicycle Superstore owner Nigel Letty and Hayden Marcollo off the front between the 20 and 35 minute marks. Young Rob Doyle tried to go alone after the regrouping, only to have the young at heart Ivan Collings bring him back, leaving the race to be decided with an all in sprint. Rounding out the podium behind Noyes were Nathan Wise, Russell Collins and the consistent Hayden Marcollo.
A late move from David D'Gama looked like being rewarded in D Grade, but 'bunch captain' Peter Burchall had other ideas, doing the job to pull him back on the final lap, and having so much momentum into the final corner that he cruised across the line for the win himself!
Michael Paul was best of the rest, ahead of Brendan Walker and Tony Puleio, with Tess Downing once again proving too quick for the other girls and taking the Women's prize money.
A Grade (1 hour+ 3 laps) 20 starters 1 Robert Tighello (Balance Carnegie Caulfield CC) 2 Tim Wilson (Geelong West CC) 3 Brad Edmunds (Echuca - Moama CC) 4 Russell Newnham (Balance Carnegie Caulfield CC) 5 Thaddeus Roos (Balance Carnegie Caulfield CC) 6 Matt Gould (Blackburn CC) B Grade (55 mins+ 3 laps) 57 Starters 1 Laurie Noonan (Brunswick CC) 2 Jamie Goddard (Blackburn CC) 3 Grant Jamieson (Balance Carnegie Caulfield CC) 4 Priska Doppmann (Switzerland) Unplaced Women: 1 Vanessa Crawford (Hamilton CC) 2 Helen Kelly (Balance Carnegie Caulfield CC) C Grade (50 mins + 3 laps) 43 starters 1 Ben Noyes (Chelsea & Peninsula CC) 2 Nathan Wise (Balance Carnegie Caulfield CC) 3 Russell Collins (Balance Carnegie Caulfield CC) 4 Hayden Marcollo (Balance Carnegie Caulfield CC) D Grade (50 mins + 3 laps) 33 starters 1 Peter Burchall (Balance Carnegie Caulfield CC) 2 Michael Paul (Blackburn CC) 3 Brendan Walker (Blackburn CC) 4 Tony Puleio (SKCC) Unplaced Women: 1 Tess Downing (Balance Carnegie Caulfield CC) E Grade (40 mins + 3 laps) 1 Dale Reith (Blackburn CC) 3 Tim Sonelli (Balance Carnegie Caulfield CC)