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Norwood CC Regency Park Criteriums

South Australia, December 6, 2003

Small groups of riders entered both E and D grade so both bunches started together. The racing was very quick for these riders as the weather was just perfect for criterium racing. Paul Wilson from the D grade bunch decided to clear out early and went off the front for a solo effort leaving behind him both bunches working together to catch him. Time was against the bunch getting the extra help from E grade to catch Wilson with his large lead. Dave Ogden, Jacob Jacobs and Nathan Hubbard were all dropped from the bunch when the pace came on harder. That left the E grade riders with two laps to go and four riders fought hard in the sprint with Shane Kelly just pipping a fast finishing Alan Braggs and James Guy with Peter Teickert in fourth. Once these riders had finished no-one wanted to commit to chase Wilson down so he was left out in front and took the win by a big margin. The rest of D grade had a fierce sprint to the line with David Peake unable to match the pace of Sam Warden at the finish.

C grade rode very conservatively today with a few riders wanting to break but the bunch not letting them ride away. It is time for the riders in this bunch to start to communicate with each other to work out some sort of tactics, especially with one ‘team’ having a number of its own riders in this grade. Mark Davies tried an early break but the bunch just pulled him back. He wasn't going to let that deter him. Later in the race Davies went again and this time he had an accomplice Bernd Froessler, these two riders just casually rolled off the front and opened a gap. Once they realised this they committed themselves 100% and then received two laps to go. It looked like it was going to be a close finish if the bunch chased. They didn't quite get to the break and Froessler took the win in front of Davies with Nigel Willoughby leading the bunch home in the sprint.

Having a number of riders moved down from A grade in the past few weeks, the racing in B grade has been quite hard, but it should have been raced in that manner from the start of the season. Michael Davies prior to the start said the competition had been excellent and the pace very fast in the last few weeks and he looked forward to the racing. Smart riders like this are always aware of what to expect and as a result he has read the racing and placed in the last few weeks. Dominic McNamara from the Hobart tried a couple of solo efforts early in the race to break away but was bought back. While the pace was quite high a few of the riders were dropped from the main pack and a break formed by seven riders opened up a gap. Only eight riders were left in the bunch chasing but none worked together to bring the strong break back which was really pointless with so many riders up the road. In the end the break stayed away and the sprint was easily won by Chris George strolling across the line as he had jumped well ahead of his rivals and yes Michael Davies read this race right again and was also in the placings!!

A similar race was run in A grade. Not far into their hour criterium a five man break went on the attack with the in form Mat Rex, Chris Luxton, Ryan Milton, and internationals Adrian Laidler and James Hannam. It was obvious the bunch was not thinking when they let these five riders go. The breakaway riders just kept on swapping off turns riding at a nice even tempo. Olympic Champion, Brett Aitken who has ridden into form riding interstate tours pulled out of the race early giving up all hope. When Aitken pulled the pin on the race so did a number of other riders from the bunch. After this no-one in the main bunch could organise a chase or commit themselves to lay it down and chase. A lot of arguing took place from certain riders after the race blaming others for their effort but they only had themselves to blame. A fine example was set out in front though from these five riders to take the win by the biggest margin yet this season. Rex again took the win in a very fast sprint over James Hannam and Adrian Laidler from Ryan Milton and Chris Luxton. It is now Rexs tenth place in eleven races and he is leading both consistency awards.

Results

A Grade
 
1 Mat Rex (SASI/Bicycle Express)
2 James Hannam (SASI/Fairmont Homes)
3 Adrian Laidler (SASI/Rio Coffee)
4 Ryan Milton (Polar Heart Rate Monitors)
5 Chris Luxton
 
B Grade
 
1 Chris George (Rio Coffee)
2 Shaun Lewis (SASI . Bicycle Express)
3 Mike Wheeler (Herb Valley/Art Ceramics)
4 Mike Davies
5 Cameron Spears
 
C Grade
 
1 Bernd Froessler
2 Mark Davies
3 Nigel Willoughby
4 Jean-Noel Seneque
5 David Miller
 
D Grade
 
1 Paul Wilson
2 Sam warden
3 David Peake (Main North Renault)
4 Con Bastiras
5 Peter Winter
 
E Grade
 
1 Shane Kelly
2 Alan Braggs
3 James Guy
4 Peter Teickert
5 Jacob Jacobs
 
Juniors
 
1 Edward Petney
2 Nat Sanders
3 Tiffany Cromwell (Bicycle Express)
4 Craig Mattingly (Trak Cycles/Ciombola)