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By Andrei Zaitzev
Another great day at Port Melbourne encouraged large fields to assemble for every grade. A number of spectators also saw fit to spend their morning watching the riders circulate around the SKCC criterium course. In other news, Sam Lindsay was presented with her medal for taking out the three-race SKCC Women's Criterium series.
Racing got underway with C and D grade, with a typically large C grade field finding things a little tight at times. The C grade race was marred by a nasty crash that occurred some twenty minutes into the event, taking out a number of riders. The incident no doubt had an impact on the confidence of the other competitors and perhaps dictated that the race would finish in a bunch sprint. David Coppinger took the win ahead of the fast finishing duo of Rob Cutting and David Harper.
The D grade race was won by Mark Scacco who narrowly held off Sarah Starr for victory. Tod Jasper was third. Sarah must surely consider herself ready to make the step up to C grade after her blistering performance! Of note is that all starters in D grade managed to maintain a hold on the main bunch for the duration of the race which certainly could not be said at the outset of the summer season.
It was B grade's turn to try their luck in a teams event, having watched both A and C grade do the same in previous weeks. The four teams consisted of either 6 or 7 riders each and the field included two female cyclists trying their hand at B grade for the first time this season in Sam Lindsay and Louisa Hamilton-White. Fresh from her victory in the women's series, Sam looked strong all day and both she and Louisa were able to stick comfortably with the main bunch to the finish. The win was to be awarded to the first team with two riders across the line and an early break with members of three of the four teams threw the race into turmoil for the only team not in the break (team 'blue'). The three escapees managed to hold their break all the way to the finish line with Paul Anderson taking victory for the 'white' team. Stephen Taylor followed him across the line for the 'green' team, while Nathan D'Arcy finished third for the 'yellow' team. However, the race came down to a bunch sprint as teams rushed to get their second rider across the line. The 'blue' team (the only team without a rider in the break) narrowly missed out on victory as they secured both 4th and 6th places but it was the 'yellow' team that won the day as their second rider crossed the line in 5th place. All in all, the race was both fast and exciting and will no doubt prove to be a popular formula for future races.
Constant attacks typified the day in A grade as four members of the Pro-Motion squad took it upon themselves to work as a team to secure the win. Cam Lester, Phil Indovino, Daniel Nelms and Charlie Bottero attacked and counter-attacked for the duration of the race and it was up to the other competitors to cover the moves. The race was fast throughout and the pace contributed to the inability of any of the attacks to survive more than a handful of laps. Thanks largely to the efforts of riders such as Andy Van Slobbe, Alan Nelson, Finton McCormick and Marcus Balscheit, the race was destined to finish in a bunch sprint and in spite of the last ditch effort of Nelms to get away with just over three laps remaining, it was Paul Anders (a previous winner when he broke away a long way from home with Ben Dougall) who came away for the win ahead of Lester and Andrew Aquilina.
A reminder to all that there will be no SKCC race on the Easter weekend but racing will resume the following week with the SKCC club championships (entry will be restricted to current SKCC members only) and the Victorian Criterium Championships on Sunday, April 14. More information on these events to follow!
A Grade 1 Paul Anders 2 Cameron Lester 3 Andrew Aquilina B Grade 1 Team Yellow (Brad Speller, Russell Wallace, Philip Wrochna, NathanD'Arcy, Andrew Sprague, Peter Sharman, Kel McCulloch) C Grade 1 David Coppinger 2 Rob Cutting 3 David Harper D Grade 1 Mark Scacco 2 Sarah Starr 3 Todd Jasper
Australian results from the past week |
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