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Norwood CC Weekend Criterium Series
Regency Park, South Australia, December 20, 2003
This is what summer is all about, as perfect weather greeted the best weekend field of riders we have had to date.
D & E Grade
D & E Grade raced together as we still need to improve on the numbers in these grades, so come on guys you will only get better with experience from racing, it’s the best form of training! At times the bunch was strung out with new rider Krysztof Barkowski learning the difference from general riding to racing, but it was good to see him still continue to the finish. The other riders had a very tight sprint finish with Peter Sabine turning the tables this week on Peter Teickert with Bradley Crawford taking third. The force in D grade has to be Alan Braggs with his long hard turns of pace stringing out the bunches. Braggs has recently come from the E grade group and looks soon to be elevated to C grade. Sam Warden is also another rider who has now shown what it takes to move up a grade. The bunch sprint win went to Thom Edwards who is on the improve from Braggs, Warden, Martin Middlemiss and Simon Spurling.
C Grade
The most aggressive rider in C Grade today was by far Tony Mingnorance breaking away no less than three times pushing his 53x12 to open a gap and making the bunch chase him down. The first break was Mingnorance and Ross Bate, they went on the attack for a few laps then they were then caught by two more riders in Jarrod Cross and Jeff Wheeler. This four man break opened a good lead until strongwoman Rochelle Gilmore revved the bunch up and bought them back. Gilmore was recovering from being hit by a car during a training ride last week where she almost lost an eye. Mingnorance was not perturbed by being caught and went on the attack again this time with Paul Wilson, again they were chased and caught by Wheeler and David Miller and all four worked together. They were later caught by the bunch and with two laps to go Daniel Smith went on the attack again for the fourth week running, he escaped the bunch and won last week but they didnt let him do it again this week. It came down to a bunch sprint with Miller taking it out easily over Mark Davies and Michael Lampp.
B Grade
B Grade today rode a relatively high paced race with anyone attempting a break being bought back to the bunch very quickly. Michael Ward tried a couple of times but they were just keeping him out in front at a safe distance. When Todd Rolton went on the attack to join him an automatic response came from the bunch to let him go. I guess this is one way to tire out the sprinters. Making a comeback into the sport after a period of time is Nick Wood making a statement with a very impressive ride that he means business. On the attack with two other riders Woods was looking for the two to go but didnt get it as he passed the start finish line, next lap he attacked his rivals and went for it solo with two to go. The bunch caught the other attackers but not Woods who took an easy win with impressive style from the past. Julian Blackwell won the bunch sprint fro second with Rolton and Ward taking third and fourth.
A Grade
The line up in A Grade today was very impressive with Brett Aitken, Alan Gill, Adrian Laidler, Stephen Cunningham, Russell Van Hout and sensation Mat Rex. It certainly looked on paper to be no easy race and as the riders got the official start Aitken was off in a shower of speed. In years gone by, this was the way every criterium started; if you did not respond or hesitated you were out. Attack after attack kept the pace on with no-one gaining a break until young Dane Cheers saw an opening and went for it with Adrian Laidler. These two riders opened a gap and held it with strong man Laidler fixing his gaze like last year in the TDU when it was 48 degrees on the road: no pain and here to win. From nowhere came Mat Rex to join these two riders and the pace lifted yet again. The bunch floundered behind with no-one taking control to bring them back. It was 20 riders in the bunch versus the three breakaway riders and the bunch could not make any ground. The bunch fell apart with Aitken pulling out and the rest racing for fourth. By almost the full length of the finishing straight, the three breakaway riders sprinted with Rex taking the win from Laidler and Cheers. Just promoted to A grade, popular Adrian Stevens won the bunch sprint fro fourth from Shane Gill.
Judging by the forecast this Tuesday night it looks like it will be good racing for the last crit of the year. Hopefully riders will be attending to make amends for poor performances so far this season and look forward to a better start for 2004.
Results
A Grade 1 Mat Rex (SASI/Bicycle Express) 2 Adrian Laidler (SASI/Rio Coffee/Main North Nissan) 3 Dane Cheers 4 Adrian Stevens 5 Shane Gill (Bianco Cycling Team) B Grade 1 Nick Wood 2 Julian Blackwell 3 Todd Rolton (Bicycle Express) 4 Michael Ward (Bernie Jones Cycles) 5 James Sampson C Grade 1 David Miller 2 Mark Davies 3 Michael Lampp 4 Daniel Kelsh 5 Brendan Handel D Grade 1 Thom Edwards 2 Alan Braggs 3 Sam Warden 4 Martin Middlemiss 5 Simon Spurling E Grade 1 Peter Sabine 2 Peter Teickert 3 Bradley Crawford 4 Krysztof Barkowski Juniors 1 Michael Davies 2 Tiffany Cromwell (Bicycle Express)
