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Eastern Suburbs Cycling Club
Heffron Park, Sydney, January 10, 2006
New kid on the block Watzlaff wins solo
By John Sunde
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18-year-old newcomer to cycling Paul Watzlaff (St George) powered his way to an impressive solo win in Round 1 of the 2006 Trek Bikes Summer Series at Heffron Park last night when he rode away from his two C grade breakaway companions into the 60kph headwind on the bell lap. The ex-GPS cross country runner and HSC whiz has only been riding for 12 months but he can look forward to more cycling wins if he continues to show the determination and strength he displayed in the hot, windy conditions at Heffron Park, especially under the expert guidance of his coach and mentor, St George stalwart Jimmy Beer.
A new year, a new series, a few new faces and some old faces like Dr Bob Hampshire making a comeback to racing lined up to launch the Trek Bikes 2006 Series which has a Trek Madone 5.9SL frame waiting for the winner of the 12 week series. Trek have also supplied some very handsome Nike footwear and apparel prizes for the A/B grade Sprint King Competition and the C grade pointscore. Numbers for the first race of the series were slightly down on normal with many of the big hitters competing in the Australian Road Titles and many other riders still enjoying their Xmas holiday break. One rider glad to be in Sydney was Seattle-based web designer Mike Hone who was pleased to be away from the 12 days straight rain back home. No rain in Sydney, just hot summery conditions and as always, lots of wind.
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B grade had the biggest field of the night with 25 starters, but made a hash of things right from the start by not coming to grips with the blustery headwind conditions and after some reasonable efforts from Easts riders Johnny Peppard, Scotty Callum and Nick Rathbone it all settled down to get ready for the first sprint prime of the series which was unsurprisingly won by Mathew Lucas (Randwick Botany) after he had spent the previous seven laps sitting on the back waiting for the opportunity.
The small, but very efficient A grade filed had dual Olympian and world teams pursuit champ Steve Wooldridge (Comnet Senges) to keeps things smooth, along with new masters riders Anthony Spurgeon (Caravello) and Stewart Campbell (Easts), hard man Brad Mills (North Sydney/Cannondale), super vet Liam Kelly (Sydney) and Clarence St Cyclery duo of Matt Fleming and Jose Rodriguez all pitching in to keep things moving.
And move they did. With B grade rounded up just after the 7 laps to go sprint it appeared a formality C grade would suffer the same fate in the closing laps and King Spurge would go head to head with old foes Rodriguez, Kelly and Campbell to hopefully claim first points in the series in his bid to win back to back titles. Possible, except up the road Paul Watzlaff, a name likely to become more common in cycling circles in the future, had decided to test his considerable anaerobic capacity and go it alone with two fellow C grade escapee's Aaron Richardson (Easts) and Marko Turner (Randwick Botany). Into the headwind just before the bell lap, Watzlaff drilled it one more time to escape alone and solo home to record his first win at Heffron Park. Marko Turner managed to find the energy for one last dig down the home straight to finish second in front of Darlo fireman Aaron Richardson.
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In the battle behind, Brad Mills had made an escape from the strung out A and B grade field with 2 laps to go, but an aggressive move by Jose Rodriguez on the last lap saw Rodriguez narrowly sneak into fourth place and collect a valuable 2 points in the series. Shane Howley had another strong ride in C grade when he picked up 5th spot just in front Brad Mills, who held on to pick up the prize money for 1st A grade. John Sunde (St George) showed that the miles on the dead roads around Orewa, New Zealand over Xmas with Harry, Cibo, Kelvin, Daryl and Matt paid off when he stormed home to take B grade honours.
The Trek Bikes Summer Series 2006 continues every Tuesday night through to 28 March 2006. Racing starts promptly at 6pm. You'll need a current Cycling Australia licence and an Australian Standards approved helmet.
On Australia Day, Thursday, January 26, the 13th Annual Joseph Sunde Memorial Criteriums will be held - race entry details on Cycling NSW's website.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Stuart Baker
- Marco Turner (RBCC) sucks in some big air to sprint home for second place
- Alfie Brown always puts in a solid ride to keep C grade honest
- Mike Hone from Seattle enjoying the Sydney summer on the front of B grade
- Brad Mills has the A grade field powering along
- Barry Maroud (centre) getting in amongst the C grade action
- Dave Evans leads the Sprint King competition after Rd 1
- Paul Watzlaff drives the break with Aaron Richardson on his wheel
- B grade winner John Sunde styling Rudy Project's new ImpactX lenses.
- Jose Rodriguez with the numero uno salute before realising the breakaway has already taken the first 3 places
- Paul Watzlaff powers home to a well deserved win
- Steve Wooldridge putting his teams pursuit skills to good use in A grade
- Liam Kelly (left) and Steve Wooldridge go head to head to claim the last sprint point
Results
1 Paul Watzlaff (St George) 2 Marko Turner (Randwick Botany) 3 Aaron Richardson (Easts) 4 Jose Rodriguez (Clarence St Cyclery) 5 Shane Howley (Easts) 1st A Grade Brad Mills (North Sydney) 1st B Grade John Sunde (St George) Trek Bikes Poinstcore 1 Paul Watzlaff 7 pts 2 Marko Turner 4 3 Aaron Richardson 3 4 Jose Rodriguez 2 5 Shane Howley 1 A/B Grade Sprint King 1 Dave Evans 9 pts 2 Matthew Lucas 8 3 Chris Reynolds 6 4 Brad Mills 6 5 Jose Rodriguez 5 6 Scott Callum 1 7 Steve Wooldridge 1 C Grade Poinstcore 1 Paul Watzlaff 5 pts 2 Marko Turner 3 3 Aaron Richardson 1 Sprint primes 7 laps to go 1 Matthew Lucas 2 Dave Evans 3 Chris Reynolds 5 laps to go 1 Chris Reynolds 2 Matthew Lucas 3 Dave Evans 3 laps to go 1 Dave Evans 2 Brad Mills 3 Scott Callum Final 1 Jose Rodriguez 2 Brad Mills 3 Steve Wooldridge
