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Be Active Cycle Instead Criterium Series - NE
Perth, Australia, January 2-5, 2004
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Race 4 - January 5: W J Moncrieff Pty Ltd Leederville Loop, Leederville
Sutton takes out Perth International Criterium Series
By Tracey Tilsed
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Nineteen-year-old Chris Sutton captured the overall Yellow and Green Jerseys in the Be Active Perth International Series. The final race of the series, the W J Moncrieff Pty Ltd Leederville Loop, secured the victory for the Sydneysider, who won the second race in the Victoria Park criterium the previous night.
The finale of the 2004 series attracted a large, vocal crowd to the streets of Leederville and the conditions for racing were cooler than previous nights. A number of attempts were made to sneak a break on the field but as per previous races, all breakaways were covered.
WA's Nic Brown opened a 50m break at around the twelve-minute mark of the race and held the front position for 3 laps. Queenslander David Betts made a similar attempt to clear out from the leading group, however with the pack, led by Hilton McMurdo, chasing hard, he was soon bought back into the bunch.
Nic Brown made a move and broke away, only to be joined minutes later by David Betts and Rod McGee. With 10 minutes remaining, the trio had opened up a substantial lead of about 250 metres. The lead group continued to increase their lead over the remaining field, clearing out to a 24 second gap over the chase group. The break proved to be a decisive move, with Rod McGee crossing the line first, ahead of Nic Brown, with David Betts in third place. Chris Sutton finished fourth.
30 year old McGee was happy to win a leg of the series and with his ride. "With the points so close I couldn't leave anything to chance. I had to hold my position in front as it was such a tight circuit," McGee said. "It was a hard race from the start, had to defend two jerseys," he added. McGee said the race was as close to a European type circuit he had seen in Australia.
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Sutton, who has been riding for 9 years, was thrilled to have left the Perth Criterium Series with both jerseys. Sutton was awarded the overall yellow jersey winner on a count-back and his impressive form earned him the prestigious green sprint king jersey.
"I went out fast. I wanted to retain the yellow jersey," Sutton said. "The series was tough, and all races were very difficult. I have never done anything like this before but I hope to come back again next year."
The St George Cycling Club rider was not under any pressure to following in the footsteps of his father, champion cyclist Gary Sutton. "I played lots of sports when I was young. Soccer, cricket, little athletics. I was never forced to do anything. When I made the State Team in 1998, I started to think that I may have a career in cycling, and dropped everything else to concentrate on becoming a cyclist."
Sutton rates the Junior World Championships in 2002 as one of his finest moments, winning two silver medals - in the madison and teams pursuit, and is now setting his sights on the Under 23 Road Worlds in Italy later this year, and the Senior Worlds in 2004. Next on the agenda for Sutton is the Bay Series in Victoria, followed by the Road Nationals in Melbourne.
The winning team for the overall series was the Be Active Cycle Instead team, made up of Peter Dawson (WA), Aaron Kemps (Qld), Joel Pearson (Vic) and Andrew Sime (WA).
Photography
Images by Bruce Hunt/www.idealcycles.com
- David Betts as he has been all week: attacking
- The race winning break Betts, McGee and Brown
- Steven Evans (WA) gives the VIP's an impromptu floorshow.
- Leederville stage winner Rodney McGee leads Jason Rigg (WA)
- Chris Sutton in Yellow until the end plus 4th place on the stage.
- Nic Brown shadowed by all the main players.
- Grit and determination as you would expect from a Vogels (Leon Vogels, WA)
Results
1 Rod McGee (NSW) Asset 15 pts 2 Nic Brown (WA) Apex 14 3 David Betts (Qld) Vogels 13 4 Aaron Kemps (Qld) Be Active 12 5 Chris Sutton (NSW) Asset 11 6 Joel Pearson (VIC) Be Active 10 7 Ryan Suckling (WA) WAR 9 8 Leon Vogels (WA) Apex 8 9 Edmund Hollands (WA) 96FM 7 10 Caleb Manion (TAS) PIVoD 6 11 Phil Riemann (WA) WAR 5 12 Hilton McMurdo (WA) Statesman 4 13 Jason Rigg (WA) WAR 3 14 Andrew Sime (WA) Be Active 2 15 Peter Dawson (WA) Be Active 1 16 Hector Morales (Uru) 96FM 0 17 Kieran Cameron (WA) 96FM 0 18 Stephen Harcourt (NZ) Statesman 0 Sprints 1 Chris Sutton (NSW) Asset 3 pts 2 Jaaron Poad (NZL) Balmoral 2 3 Jason Rigg (WA) WAR 1 1 Chris Sutton (NSW) Asset 3 pts 2 Rod McGee (NSW) Asset 2 3 Caleb Manion (TAS) PIVoD 1 1 Nic Brown (WA) Apex 3 pts 2 David Betts (Qld) Vogels 2 3 Kieran Cameron (WA) 96FM 1 1 Nic Brown (WA) Apex 3 pts 2 David Betts (Qld) Vogels 2 3 Rod McGee (NSW) Asset 1 1 Rod McGee (NSW) Asset 3 pts 2 Nic Brown (WA) Apex 2 3 David Betts (Qld) Vogels 1 Green Jersey 1 Nic Brown (WA) Apex 8 pts 2 Chris Sutton (NSW) Asset 6 3 Rod McGee (NSW) Asset 6 4 David Betts (Qld) Vogels 5 5 Jaaron Poad (NZl) Balmoral 2 6 Kieran Cameron (WA) 96FM 1 7 Jason Rigg (WA) WAR 1 8 Caleb Manion (Tas) PIVoD 1 Team Standings 1 Asset Special Projects 26 pts 2 Be Active Cycle Instead 25 3 Apex Car Rentals 22 4 Team War 17 5 Vogels Plumbing Svc 13 6 96FM 7 7 PIVoD Technologies 6 8 Statesman Homes 4 Final general classification 1 Chris Sutton (NSW) Asset 45 pts 2 Joel Pearson (Vic) Be Active 43 3 Ryan Suckling (WA) WAR 42 4 Nic Brown (WA) Apex 41 5 Caleb Manion (Tas) PIVoD 40 6 David Betts (Qld) Vogels 39 7 Hilton McMurdo (WA) Statesman 37 8 Andrew Sime (WA) Be Active 31 9 Edmund Hollands (WA) 96FM 22 10 Jason Rigg (WA) WAR 22 11 Aaron Kemps (Qld) Be Active 18 12 Ashley Hutchinson (Qld) PIVoD 16 13 Rod McGee (NSW) Asset 16 14 Leon Vogels (WA) Apex 15 15 Luke Roberts (SA) Balmoral 14 16 Phil Riemann (WA) WAR 9 17 Nathan Clarke (Tas) Bike Force 9 18 Hector Morales (Uru) 96FM 7 19 Kieran Cameron (WA) 96FM 6 20 Adam Hansen (Vic) Apex 4 21 Tyson Lawrence (WA) Bike Force 2 22 Peter Dawson (WA) Be Active 1 23 Stephen Harcourt (NZl) Statesman 1 24 Brendan Rowbotham (Vic) PCS 25 Jorge Libonatti (Uru) 96FM 26 Keith Evans (WA) Balmoral 27 Mike van der Putten (Ned) Vogels 28 Steven Evans (WA) PIVoD 29 Nathan Jones (WA) Asset 30 Rhys Sherborne (WA) WAR 31 Jaaron Poad (NZl) Balmoral Green Jersey classification 1 Chris Sutton (NSW) Asset 18 pts 2 Rod McGee (NSW) Asset 11 3 Jaaron Poad (NZl) Balmoral 11 4 Nick Brown (WA) Apex 8 5 Kieran Cameron (WA) 96FM 7 6 David Betts (Qld) Vogels 7 7 Hilton McMurdo (WA) Statesman 4 8 Caleb Manion (Tas) PIVoD 4 9 Ryan Suckling (WA) WAR 3 10 Luke Roberts (SA) Balmoral 3 11 Joel Pearson (Vic) Be Active 3 12 Jason Rigg (WA) WAR 2 13 Stephen Harcourt (NZl) Statesman 1 14 Edmund Hollands (WA) 96FM 1 15 Andrew Sime (WA) Be Active 1 Team classification 1 Be Active Cycle Instead 93 pts 2 Team War 73 3 Asset Special Projects 61 4 Apex Car Rentals 60 5 PIVoD Technologies 56 6 Vogels Plumbing Svcs 39 7 Statesman Homes 38 8 96FM 35 9 Balmoral Cycles 14 10 Bike Force Australia 11 11 Perth Criterium Series
