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Eastern Suburbs Cycling Club
Trek Summer Series #5 - Heffron Park, Sydney, February 1, 2005
Reid battles the wind for a solo win
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Tom Reid (Easts) won his third race at Heffron Park from as many starts when he held off a late charge from A grade to win round five of the Trek Bikes Summer Series, and record the first C Grade win in the Series. Reid rode away from his three breakaway companions Todd Dunn (Easts), Andrew Hall (Randwick Botany) and Danny 'Gino' Innazzo (BRATS) to finish just in front of the A grade sprint which was narrowly won by Sammy Lee (NSWIS/St George) when he pipped Stewart 'Computer' Campbell (Easts) on the line.
Computer's third place enabled him to close the gap to seven points to series leader, Anthony Spurgeon (Caravello), who posted a DNF in last night's race which was raced in hot and extremely windy conditions - wind gusts were recorded at 75kph by the weather bureau. Spurge now holds a seven point advantage in the race for the series first prize of a Trek Madone 5.9 frame.
The windy conditions made racing really tough for all grades and although B and C Grades boasted over 30 starters in each grade, the smaller than usual A Grade bunch of only 10 riders demonstrated once again what power riding is all about. Adding to the A grade firepower this week was Tour of Wellington stage winner Shaun Higgerson (MG Xpower), Jeff Hopkins (Jittery Joes) and mountain bike pro Josh Fleming. Lining up for his first start in B Grade for 2005 and hoping that his 'LA red carpet holiday' would get him through 15 gruelling laps was Rob 'Dr Bob' Hampshire, while saying 'Auf Wiedersehen' was amiable German student Sebastian Hardt, who heads back to Frankfurt next week to train in -5°c temperatures!
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By the midpoint of racing, the A grade group had whittled down to a chasing group of only 4 riders - Liam Kelly (Randwick Botany), Stewart Campbell, Shaun Higgerson and Sammy Lee, while just in front of them the B grade bunch had disintegrated to only six riders. In the following laps Liam Kelly comfortably set about winning the sprint primes at five and three laps to go, which now puts him eight points clear in the Sprint King competition. With two laps to go the A/B Grade train, powerfully driven by Higgerson and Lee, rounded up the remenants of C Grade except for the C grade breakway of Reid, Gino, Dunn and Hall, who still held onto a slender winning margin. Not content to wait, Reid used his rapidly improving strength to go it alone just prior to the last lap. He bravely held on for the solo win which must now have him earmarked for a start in B grade - but the Handicapper will have his form guide on that decision.
With a fired up Sammy Lee just edging out Computer on the line for second place, Liam Kelly took the points for fourth, while John Kenny (Easts) continued his recent string of strong finishes by nabbing fifth spot. Higgerson unfortunately punctured on the last lap, and although out of the sprint still crossed the line to take the envelope for 1st A grade (not in the top 5) while Scott Callum again had a strong finale to take the 1st B grade prize Todd Dunn held on for second in C Grade to hold onto a slender one point lead in the C Grade competition, while Andy Hall rounded out the top three.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by John Buckton
- Auf Wiedersehen Seb Sebastian Hardt has enjoyed his summer of training and racing in Sydney
- US Pro Jeff Hopkins always happy to race at Heffron Park
- The A grade bunch amble off the start line
- Ben Isaksen cranks up the A grade chase in the early laps
- Brad Gleenan leads B grade while in the background (left) the handicapper appears to have lost his bunch.
- Tom Reid has his C grade breakway companions gasping for air
- Shaun Higgerson drives the chasing A/B grade bunch in the closing laps
- Stewart Campbell (left) checks the whereabouts of the break
- Tom Reid solos across the line as the bunch sprint winds up behind
- Sammy Lee (right) just edges out Stewart Campbell on the line in the sprint for second
Results
1 Tom Reid (Easts) 2 Sammy Lee (NSWIS/St George) 3 Stewart Campbell (Easts) 4 Liam Kelly (Randwick Botany) 5 John Kenny (Easts) 1st B Grade Scott Callum(Easts) 1st A Grade Shaun Higgerson (MG XPower) Trek Bikes Poinstcore 1 Anthony Spurgeon 18 pts 2 Stewart Campbell 11 3 Steve Wooldridge 7 3 Matthew White 7 3 Tom Reid 7 6 John Kenny 6 7 Mark Renshaw 4 7 Ben Isaksen 4 7 Liam Kelly 4 7 Sam Lee 4 11 Mathew Lucas 3 11 Chris Jenkins 3 13 Peter McDonald 2 13 Brian Appleyard 2 15 Jeff Jones 1 15 Louis Treuba 1 15 Scott Callum 1 A/B Grade Sprint King 1 Liam Kelly 31 pts 2 Anthony Iannacito 23 2 Stewart Campbell 23 4 Anthony Spurgeon 14 5 Steve Wooldridge 13 6 Nick Rathbone 10 7 Brent Jenkins 9 8 John Kenny 6 8 Mark Renshaw 6 8 Scott Callum 6 11 Matthew White 5 11 Sam Lee 5 13 Troy Glennan 3 13 Steve Orfanos 3 13 Dave Treacy 3 13 Ben Isaksen 3 13 Mark Stoneham 3 18 John Sunde 2 18 Peter McDonald 2 20 Charlie O Brien 1 20 Mathew Lucas 1 20 Chris Jenkins 1 20 Paddy Jones 1 C Grade Poinstcore 1 Todd Dunn 17 pts 2 Tom Reid 16 3 Joel Xuereb 5 4 Andrew Hall 5 5 Roger Shackleton 2 A/B Grade Sprint Primes 7 laps to go 1 Nick Rathbone 2 Mark Stoneham 3 Paddy Jones 5 laps to go 1 Liam Kelly 2 Scott Callum 3 Stewart Campbell 3 laps to go 1 Liam Kelly 2 Stewart Campbell 3 John Sunde Final 1 Sam Lee 2 Stewart Campbell 3 Liam Kelly
