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Eastern Suburbs Cycling Club
Heffron Park Summer Series #6, Maroubra, NSW - Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Rochelle Gilmore adds some glamour with a timely win
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Three time Women's World Cup winner Rochelle Gilmore (Menikini Gysco) added some glamour to the Heffron Park podium when she easily accounted for a full strength C grade field to win round six of the Summer Series. Joining her in the race were newly crowned 10km scratch race champion Skye-Lee Armstrong and Gemma O'Brien who had a another strong race to finish fifth overall.
A and B grade were unable to catch C grade in the closing laps and it was the first time in the series A grade finished out of the series points. This outcome didn't bother series leader Anthony Spurgeon too much as it leaves his twelve point advantage intact. With the opening round of the Geelong World Cup still a fortnight away, the King may just have some competition from the new Queen of Heffron who is no stranger to the spotlight.
Hardly surprising A grade didn't 'get up' as after weeks of perfectly timed handicapping from regular timekeeper Pat Johnston, the stopwatch fell into the hands of none other than DS Conceicao on Tuesday night who has been known to be the odd minute out with his timing in the past. Perhaps it was the slightly smaller fields on a very dull evening after Sydney had just endured an unusually wet two days. It certainly wasn't the added firepower which A grade benefited from with the return of Jose Rodriguez (Clarence St Cyclery), Troy Glennan and Robbie Cater (FRF Couriers) to Tuesday night racing. It was also good to see Anthony Fortuna lining up in C grade after his fall in the opening round.
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The slightly smaller fields and less windy conditions certainly made for smoother racing in all grades and C grade seemed to benefit most by maintaining a steady tempo all the way to end. C grade big motor Scott Simpson (Easts) once again attempted an escape in the closing laps but when this effort was reeled in, Gilmore's finishing speed which has netted her numerous Australian and International wins was always going to be a threat. Mark Ardouin and Andrew Duggan (Easts) duked it out for the minor placings with Ardouin getting the nod, however while their placings count toward the series, they didn't collect any points for the C grade competition. Odd, but obviously it makes perfect sense to someone, so this weeks C grade points went to Phil Kauter, Michael Lynch and Scott Simpson who finished fifth to eighth.
The A and B grade finish was much more clear cut. A grade were racing for one envelope and no points and B grade were racing for one envelope and points for the first three. After A grade finally caught B grade with two laps to go and Jose Rodriguez let everyone know, especially an unsuspecting Robbie Cater that he didn't like riding in the grass, Paul Rowney set about upping the pace on the bell lap. The winning move came just before the last pimple when Liam Kelly finally found the missing 50% power he's been searching for and launched a perfectly timed attack to outlast Pete McDonald and Tim Willing to the line and still leave himself enough time to give a two handed victory salute which even Paolo Bettini would be proud of.
The battle for B grade was won by schoolboy Ben Elliott (Randwick Botany) who has been showing noticeable signs of improvement with every race, when he held off John Sunde (St George) and Warwick Edwards (Easts). John Peppard (Easts) still sholds a slender lead in the comp which like the C grade comp has no clear leader.
Results
Overall 1 Rochelle Gilmore (Menikini Gysco) 2 Mark Ardouin (Easts) 3 Andrew Duggan (Easts) 4 Jason Webb (Randwick Botany) 5 Gemma O'Brien (Sutherland) A Grade 1 Liam Kelly (Sydney) 2 Peter McDonald (FRF Couriers/NSWIS) 3 Tim Willing (Easts) B Grade 1 Ben Elliott (Randwick Botany) 2 John Sunde (St George) 3 Warwick Edwards (Easts) C Grade (not in the top five) 1 Phil Kauter (Easts) 2 Michael Lynch (Waratah) 3 Scott Simpson (Easts) Summer Series Pointscore 1 Anthony Spurgeon 25 pts 2 Tim Willing 13 3 Jeff Hopkins 7 3 Fergus Bermingham 7 3 Peter McDonald 7 3 Rochelle Gilmore 7 4 Steve Fitzpatrick 6 5 Ben Isaksen 5 5 Peter Fitzpatrick 5 6 Mark Ardouin 4 7 Andrew Duggan 3 7 Jose Rodriguez 3 8 Jason Webb 2 8 Stewart Campbell 2 8 Warren Scott 2 8 Joe McDonnell 2 9 Gemma O'Brien 1 9 Liam Kelly 1 B Grade Series 1 John Peppard 6 pts 2 Stan Genakis 5 3 John Sunde 4 4 Brent Dawson 3 4 Steve Griffiths 3 4 Ben Elliot 3 5 Adam Socha 2 5 Brad Glennan 2 5 Matt Carter 2 6 Warwick Edwards 1 6 Scott Callum 1 6 Nic Rathborne 1 6 John Kenny 1 6 Todd Sinclair 1 6 Dave Stevens 1 C Grade Series 1 Scott Simpson 7 pts 2 John Greally 5 2 Frank Conceicao 5 3 Andrew Duggan 4 4 Phil Kauter 3 4 Dave Stevens 3 5 Michael Lynch 2 5 Kevin Vlahos 2 5 Mark Ardouin 2 5 Sen Mitsuji 2 6 Gemma O'Brien 1
