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By Carl Cubitt
Coburg's Andrew Ward and Carl Cubitt dominated the inaugral Northern Combine Criterium Championship at Lakeside Drive.
The race got off to a fast start with Paul Kenny (Melton) setting the early pace. Luke McDonough (coburgcycling.com) and Mussie Akgun (coburgcycling.com) in pre arranged tactics brought the bunch back together after a lap. Aaron Wilson (Brunswick) sensed the drop in speed and slipped away down the back straight on the second lap, with Andrew Ward (coburgcycling.com).
The Coburgcycling.com team blocked at the front of the peloton and the bunch did not react, with several riders not knowing a break was away. Aaron worked furiously in the break in the first 10 minutes and the escaped duo established an almost 3/4 lap lead. With no one in the bunch willing to do any decent work and the CoburgCycling.com team sitting at the front of the peloton, the pace was slackened with most of the peloton still oblivious to the break. Wilson's efforts did not do him justice, and he slipped off the wheel of Andrew Ward going up the rise at the top end of the circuit after approximately 20 minutes. Wilson was caught by the chasing duo of Xavier Csar (coburgcycling.com) and Steve Pounditis (coburgcycling.com) who sensed the race for first was already over. Ward used the masters and U19 grades to leap frog onto the back of the Elite men's bunch and after asking about any further breaks was informed that he had lapped the field. Ward proceeded to go straight to the front to cover any moves.
Twenty-five minutes into the race, Wilson, Csar and Pounditis were caught by the bunch. Cubitt (coburgcycling.com) attacked and built up a 15 second gap on the bunch. At one stage he came to within 8 seconds of being caught, and then defiantly took it back out to 20 seconds. The Melton team got together and sacrificed themselves to bridge the gap to Cubitt. The increased pace decimated the field and by 40 minutes, the lead bunch contained just ten riders.
With three laps to go, Paul Kenny (Melton), launched a furious attack and gave it all in his quest to stay away to the checkered flag. There were a lot of tired legs in the bunch and Kenny was able to draw away from the bunch. Andrew Ward lead the bunch out down the back straight on his last lap (two to go for the main bunch), Jake Sunderland (Brunswick) wearing No. 1 as the most consistent Combine Crit rider at Lakeside Drive continued to keep the pace high. Going into the last corner, Cubitt attacked and lead home the chasing bunch up the finishing straight. In a thrilling sprint finish, Kenny's final kick at the line held off the fast finishing Cubitt by half a wheel.
In the Masters event Brunswick's Laurie Noonan used his knowledge of the circuit and his blistering sprint to win the event. The minor placings where hotly contested in a bunch sprint with Peter Sharman (Brunswick) taking out second and Steve Di Tullio (Northcote) edging out Mel Humphreys-Grey for the bronze medal.
In the J19 race, by the half way mark of the race it was down to three U/19's and one of the U/17's Mitchell Docker. On Mitchell's last lap, he attacked hard breaking the small bunch to bits. Wil Walker chased hard and caught Docker while Reece Ingram and Adrian Hanson continued chasing by themselves. Reece and Adrian were holding a steady pace together, with Ingram surging on the top corner rise each lap. With two laps to go, Walker caught the chasing pair and attacked again to take an easy race with a 'hands in the air' finsh! Ingram lead the sprint out and on the final corner Coburg's Adrian Hanson unleashed a powerful sprint, crossing to the far side of the road to claim second place ahed of Ingram (Brunswick).
Mitchell Docker (Brunswick), named as an emergency for the Victorian team for the national title's in Alice Springs took out Gold with Chris Steffanoni (Sunbury-Hume) and Jordan Sutherland (Brunswick) taking out the minor medals.
Elite Male - 1hr + 3 laps 1 Andrew Ward (coburgcycling.com) 2 Paul Kenny (Melton) 3 Carl Cubitt (coburgcycling.com) Masters - 45min + 3 laps 1 Laurie Noonan (Brunswick) 2 Peter Sharman (Brunswick) 3 Steve Di Tullio (Northcote) Junior Under - 19 45min + 3 laps 1 William Walker (Brunswick) 2 Adrian Hanson (coburgcycling.com) 3 Reece Ingram (Brunswick) Junior Under 17 - 30min + 3 laps 1 Mitchell Docker (Brunswick) 2 Chris Steffanoni (Sunbury-Hume) 3 Jordan Sutherland (Brunswick)
Australian results from the past week |
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