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Eastern Suburbs Cycling Club
Heffron Park Summer Series #4, Maroubra, NSW - January 30, 2007
C grade breakaway wins the day, but Spurge is still the King
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While Waratah Vets strongman Fergus Bermingham rode away from the C grade field to cruise home to an impressive solo win on another hot and windy summer night at Heffron Park, Anthony Spurgeon (Caravello) maintained his grip on the series with another blistering sprint finish once again holding out Tim Willing (Easts). Spurge's early season dominance at Heffron Park almost seems as emphatic as big Tom's early season conquests in the Tour of Qatar!
After Australia Day's action packed Joseph Sunde Memorial Criteriums it was a return to a much more subdued club scene at Heffron Park. The Portuguese folk dancing display were just a distant memory of colour and culture, although its been mentioned that CD's for the band can still be obtained from Albion Cycles. The images of the delightful Red Bull girls are now just a jpeg on daily distractions and even some of the riders have moved on with race winner Shaun Higgerson joining Thomas Voeckler and co at the Tour of Langkawi. One rider that was back at Heffron Park after a very successful and impressive weekend at the Australian Mountain Bike Titles was Sydney Olympian Paul Rowney with no less than the National Masters XC title and Elite Short course title added to his palmares. It's amazing how your form improves when you flick training partners like Snr Corona, S Artois and H Eineken and actually spend time riding.
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It was a typically hot and of course windy summers night and the buffeting north easterly wind played havoc with all the bunches. With a few regular B grade riders missing, the sting had well and truly gone out of their chase when A grade had them lined up with six laps to go. Up front C grade still had a sizeable lead although some persistent attacks were beginning to split the bunch. The money move came when Fergus Bermingham, who feels most comfortable when he's riding on his own, head down, going for it. He did exactly that and opened up a sizeable gap despite some serious efforts from the Easts cartel of Scott Simpson and co.
Once B grade had been caught by A grade there was still a lot of hard work to be done, much of it by Peter Hatton who will soon be back in the US with his new Colavita team. These efforts and the anticipated attack by Stewart Campbell soon reduced the size of the chasing group, which diminished even more when a nasty fall in C grade in the closing laps split the lead group even more.
The efforts of the chase group were enough to catch everyone except for Bermingham who coasted home a clear winner by the entire length of the straight. The gallop for A grade supremacy was aggressively contested but it was King Spurge who once again led home the sprint with a fast finishing Tim Willing edging out Stewart Campbell.
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The B grade competition came down to a race of survival and after John Sunde punctured inside the magic three laps to go, it was left to fellow survivor Stan Genakis (Sydney) to claim the victory after putting in a strong ride. Mat Carter's tenacious riding paid off to get second and B grade big motor Todd Sinclair came in third.
The C grade finish was thrown into a bit of confusion after the fall. It appeared some riders may have had the benefit of a shorter lap, but since the C grade competition ladder is exclusively occupied by East's riders it is unlikely there will be a stewards enquiry. Scott Simpson was the clear winner as he was already away on his own. Andrew Duggan finished strongly for second and DS Concy seemed to find his 'second wind' to storm home for third and pick up a valuable point to now share the series lead with John Greally who is sidelined with a broken arm.
Attention this weekend turns to the Dunc Gray Velodrome as NSW Cycling's premier track event the Clarence St Cup celebrates 25 years. General Admission is only $15 and you get the chance to watch Aussie stars Ben Kersten, Shane Kelly and Joel Leonard in action.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Rocky Fortuna
- David Early flys the Easts colours in the opening laps as A grade passes C grade .
- B grade battle the headwind over the pimple.
- The large C grade bunch almost rode away with the race.
- Tim Willing puts his head down as Liam Kelly, Anthony Spurgeon and David Early follow his wheel.
- Alfie Brown was all smiles in this photo but unfortunately had a nasty fall late in the race and ended up with a broken collarbone.
- Just like the Classics! The chasing A and B grade bunch hug the gutter down the straight.
- Pete Hatton did some big turns to keep A grade in the race.
- Fergus Bermingham first, daylight second and the A grade bunch just about to turn into the straight.
- Anthony Spurgeon notches up another Heffron Park A grade victory.
Results
A Grade 1 Fergus Bermingham (Waratah) 2 Anthony Spurgeon (Caravello) 3 Tim Willing (Easts) 4 Stewart Campbell (Easts) 5 Warren Scott (St George) B Grade 1 Stan Genakis (Sydney) 2 Matt Carter (Easts) 3 Todd Sinclair (Nth Sydney) C Grade 1 Scott Simpson (Easts) 2 Andrew Duggan (Easts) 3 Frank Conceicao (Easts) Points after Round 4, January 30 A Grade series 1 Anthony Spurgeon 22 pts 2 Tim Willing 9 3 Fergus Birmingham 7 3 Jeff Hopkins 7 4 Ben Isaksen 5 4 Peter Fitzpatrick 5 5 Steve Fitzpatrick 4 6 Jose Rodriguez 3 7 Stewart Campbell 2 7 Warren Scott 2 7 Joe McDonnell 2 B Grade series 1 John Peppard 3 pts 1 Brent Dawson 3 1 Steve Griffiths 3 1 Stan Genakis 3 2 Adam Socha 2 2 Brad Glennan 2 2 John Sunde 2 2 Matt Carter 2 3 Scott Callum 1 3 Nic Rathborne 1 3 John Kenny 1 3 Todd Sinclair 1 C Grade series 1 John Greally 5 pts 2 Frank Conceicao 5 3 Dave Stevens 3 3 Scott Simpson 3 4 Kevin Vlahos 2 4 Mark Ardouin 2 4 Sen Mitsuji 2 4 Andrew Duggan 2
