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There was a brutal wind at Burleigh on Sunday, March 10, 2002, which made for difficult racing in various ways. In the back straight (downhill) there was a roaring headwind, which at one stage had A Grade riders in a break struggling to maintain 34kmph. The other extreme was the finishing straight (flat), where junior riders on their junior gears were spinning their backsides off at speeds of up to 64kmph.
Despite the wind the first break in A Grade was up the road on the first lap, but it was short lived. After five minutes Crackles Cahill, Dave Costanzo and Steve Polomba had a go, and for the next twenty minutes they were away, with a maximum lead of 30 seconds. Things started to fall apart when first Costanzo and then Polomba were dropped, leaving Cahill to battle the wind by himself, but five minutes later he too was back in the bunch.
With 15 minutes remaining Cahill was at it again, this time with John Kane, but the bunch was having none of it. Just when it looked like a mass sprint coming up, Chris Thompson and Craig Reston slipped off the front, their lead was only 50 metres at three to go, but nobody was prepared to bridge the gap and they were allowed to stroll away with the race. Thompson first, Reston second with Jon Cantwell leading the bunch home for his first losing ride at Burleigh this year.
Former Olympian Geoff Skaines was having his first race in nearly six months, but he still showed a clean pair of wheels to the B Graders, attacking with three to go and holding on for a clear win in the tough conditions, with Shane Scott and Peter Spencer filling the minor placings.
C Grade had their biggest field of the season with 40+ riders, and with a fast pace throughout there was no opportunity for anyone to escape. So it was like the charge of the light brigade through the "S" bend and into the straight, with Geoff Allars proving too fast for Andre Bondeson and Mathew Wood.
Andrew Healey slipped under the handicapper's guard to win D Grade, while Robyn Francis produced a race winning sprint in E Grade.
Racing next week (Sunday, March 17) is at Nerang starting at 7 am, conducted by the CATS Club. Information on the Gold Coast CATS Cycling Club is available on the CATS web site at www.goldcoastcats.com.
A Grade - 60 minutes + 3 laps 1 Chris Thompson 2 Craig Reston 3 Jon Cantwell 4 Dean McMahon B Grade - 50 minutes + 3 laps 1 Geoff Skaines 2 Shane Scott 3 Peter Spencer 4 Rob Driver C Grade - 40 minutes + 3 laps 1 Geoff Allars 2 Andre Bondeson 3 Mathew Wood 4 Dave Barber 1st Lady: Diane Monk D Grade - 30 minutes + 3 laps 1 Andrew Healey 2 Stan James 3 Len Hering 4 Manuel Pereira 1st Lady: Gail Zinn E Grade - 20 minutes + 3 laps 1 Robyn Francis 2 Alan Hunt 3 Bill Phillips
Australian results from the past week |
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