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Norwood Cycling Club Tuesday series #15
Regency Park, South Australia, February 24, 2004
Aitken schools newbies in scorching A Grade dash
Great weather again brought out a large turn out for this evenings racing. Little wind and a lot of sun meant we were going to be in for some fast racing which was the case in A grade that averaged over 45km/h for their race.
E grade had a smaller field tonight due to the fact a lot of riders have been promoted during the last few weeks. Rebecca Ormsby started the attacking this evening not content to just ride in the bunch and was soon joined by Scott Ferguson and Bradley Crawford. These three riders opened a good break on the bunch and the bunch was put under pressure to lift the pace. The bunch had no organisation and was soon spread out individually chasing the break. The three up front worked well together and soon opened their lead to cruise to a comfortable victory with Ferguson taking the sprint.
A very big D grade bunch rolled off the start line tonight and Daniel Smith was soon on the attack with a solo break. All Smiths efforts were in vain as the bunch was able to roll along behind in the fast conditions. Attacking groups of riders kept the pace high and no one else was able to make a solo break which bought the bunch to a pack sprint. Some of the experienced riders ran out of legs with the fast pace as the bunch rode to schedule this evening and the sprint was taken out by new riders Tom Baxter over Andrew Fon and Craig Lienert.
Again in C grade due to the great conditions just about everyone was preparing for a bunch sprint finish as the bunch started. Mark Smith was the only person to give it a real go with a solo break but with no other help was never really a threat. The bunch of riders rode around in a comatose state for forty minutes until they were awoken with the two to go sign. This pumped the adrenalin of the sprinters and made them come to the front for their first turns. Then came the bell which makes the sprinters get twitchy and get out of their seats and flying up the finishing straight Jarrod Cross takes the win over Jean Noel Seneque.
The same could be said for B grade with the only riders willing to hurt themselves being Darren Hansberry and Michael Ward attempting a break half way through their race. Luckily for both riders they were also able to place in the sprint rewarding their efforts. Damon Stefani from the Coomealla Cycling Club in Mildura easily won the bunch sprint over an ever improving Daryl Margate who now moves into A grade.
A Grade … oh boy, there are a lot of newer bike riders that have moved through the grades into this elite level, but have become stagnant relying on the older experienced rider to show them by example. This is not happening and for the last four races the same scenario has taken place. Four elite experienced riders go up the road in a break and its race over. This time the charge was led by Olympian Brett Aitken followed by TDU riders Mat Rex and Stephen Cunningham together with one of the toughest bike riders in Graham Rootes. These four have awesome power and ability when mixed together, so off they went and their team mates road around the front of the bunch controlling the pace and it turned into race over. Aitken has returned to astonishing form and easily won the bunch sprint over a very fast Rootes, Rex and Cunningham. And like has happened in the last three races Chris Luxton has easily taken the bunch sprint for fifth place.
Results
A Grade 1 Brett Aitken (PT One Fitness) 2 Graham Rootes (Bicycle Express) 3 Mat Rex (SASI/Rio Coffee/Main North Nissan) 4 Stephen Cunningham 5 Chris Luxton B Grade 1 Damon Stefani 2 Daryl Margrate (Bianco Cycling Team) 3 Todd Rolton (Bicycle Express) 4 Darren Hansberry (Main North Renault) 5 Michael Ward (Bernie Jones Cycles) C Grade 1 Jarrod Cross (Trak Cycles/Ciombola) 2 Jean Noel Seneque 3 Tim Cronk (JT Cycles Brighton) 4 Darcy Bates 5 Russell Hodson D Grade 1 Tom Baxter 2 Andrew Fon 3 Craig Lienert 4 Paul Doecke 5 Greg Stanyer E Grade 1 Scott Ferguson 2 Bradley Crawford 3 Rebecca Ormsby 4 Duncan Fairclough 5 Scott Goodwin Juniors 1 Matt Sanders 2 Russell Taylor 3 Tiffany Cromwell (Bicycle Express)
