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Joseph Sunde Memorial Criteriums
Heffron Park, Maroubra, Australia, January 27, 2003
Handicap & Women
C Graders dominate handicap, women too close to call
By John Sunde
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The largest field of the day was the group handicap race which is conducted on the same format as the popular Tuesday night summer series at Heffron Park. The handicap was clearly weighted to the 33 strong middle bunch of C grade riders.
The smaller D grade bunch of 20 riders set of first, with a slightly smaller group of 18 B grade riders giving away almost 1'30" to the 2 front groups.
It was clear in the windy conditions that once the C & D grade bunches amalgamated halfway through the race, the B grade group were going to find it very tough going to catch the front markers and with 3 laps left were still 1min adrift.
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In a keenly contested sprint finish which covered the entire width of the track, Randwick Botany rider Will Gray narrowly held out Tuesday night C grade pointscore leader, Craig Dempsey, Easts.
In the minor placings, John Buckton, backing up from the earlier Masters race claimed 1st D grade rider outside the top 5 and club mate Matt Lucas won the sprint for the B grade to round out the Randwick Botany clean sweep of the handicap grades.
In amongst the big sprint finish was the first woman to finish and in a decision which was too close to call, even for the judges, the prize was shared between Turramurra and NSW rider Emma James and Sutherland belle, Renee Fortunata.
Results
1 Will Gray (Randwick Botany) 2 Craig Dempsey (Easts) 3 David Johns (North Sydney) 4 Clive Hammerson (Randwick Botany) 5 Luke Picton (Sutherland) B Grade 1 Matthew Lucas (Randwick Botany) D Grade 1 John Buckton (Randwick Botany) Women 1 Renee Fortunato (Sutherland) 1 Emma James (Turramurra)
