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Results and Reports from AustraliaPromoters wishing to submit results should send them to Cyclingnews Norwood CC Weekend Criterium SeriesRegency Park, South Australia, November 29, 2003Peter Winter completely outclassed Dave Ogden by lapping him in the E grade field and attacked again prior to the sprint, blowing Ogden away to take the win with arms raised to the heavens. D grade saw Len Underwood put in a strong performance today which kept the pace high. Heintje Lange and Paul Wilson also controlled the pace and all three riders figured in the placings, when Underwood led out and opened a gap just managing to keep ahead of the bunch in the sprint. C grade had an exceptionally high-paced race with AIS riders Rochelle Gilmore and Amy Safe leading the charge. These girls took the initiative at the start and attacked from the word go, with some of the regular C grade riders unable to handle the high pace and were dropped. Later Gilmore and McCorquadale teamed up to force the pace, but McCorquadale paid for it by not having the legs in the sprint. Greg Ford looked to have the sprint at the finished all sewn up, but Gilmore flashed home on the outside with some fine sprinting form to take the win by a few inches over Ford. Brad Simpson and Mike Wheeler went out early in B grade to open a large gap, Wheeler ended up going back to the bunch and was replaced out front by James Kelly. Simpson and Kelly opened up a large gap of almost the length of the straight over the small B grade field. In the last ten minutes, the bunch was pulling these riders back strongly, and with a lap to go, Michael Davies launched an attack to come up 30 metres short at the finish. Simpson took the win but will have to prove his form once again in B grade with a larger field on Tuesday. A grade was a race with a difference with a point score criterium, having sprints around every ten minutes with points for first, second and third. The pace was very high around 45km/h and with the only way to win the race by collecting points the sprints were highly contested. The first three sprints had different riders in all three positions. When Ryan Milton and Joe Underwood decided to sprint down the right hand side of the road in the gutter for the fourth sprint, they were disqualified from the points which threw the race into turmoil and a small break of four riders formed. The bunch later regrouped. More confusion later in the race when a learner semi driver didn't know which way he was going at a corner travelling at 30km/h causing the bunch to take evasive action and some going one way and the other making a split. Later again the bunch came together. Then after the fifth sprint, the sprinters stayed on the attack and opened a gap, the bunch gave up and the race was over. Team tactics came into play and no one wanted to work and others that weren't in teams were too stupid to launch an attack and make a difference. Three of the four break riders Alan Gill, Chris Luxton and Ben Biggs shared the points in the sprints, Joe Underwood was also in the break but didn't sprint going on to finish well ahead of the bunch with only one point putting himself out of the top five. An interesting format and result, overall a concept the riders found hard to grasp, the point being not adding extra placings in the sprints, but NOT to let a break get away! Well done to Chris Luxton by backing up his win from last week to outsmart his opposition by taking the most points this week. ResultsA Grade 1 Chris Luxton 12 pts 2 Alan Gill (Polar Heart Rate Monitors) 10 3 Ben Biggs (Mittiga/Norwood Parade Cycles) 9 4 James Russell (Herb Valley/Art Ceramics) 3 5 James Hannam (Fairmont Homes) 2 B Grade 1 Brad Simpson (Bicycle Express) 2 James Kelly (Mittiga/Norwood Parade Cycles) 3 Michael Davies 4 Michael Wheeler (Herb Valley/Art Ceramics) 5 Danny Eckert C Grade 1 Rochelle Gilmore (AIS) 2 Greg Ford 3 Jean Noel Seneque 4 Ross Bate 5 Giac Cirillo D Grade 1 Len Underwood 2 Heintje Lange 3 Paul Wilson 4 Tim Henderson 5 Paul Doecke E Grade 1 Peter Winter 2 Dave Ogden Juniors 1 Jack Rhodes (Bicycle Express) 2 Casey Danvers (Bianco Cycling) 3 Edward Petney 4 Tiffany Cromwell (Bicycle Express) |
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