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Results and Reports for May 11-17, 2002

Australia

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Murwillumbah Cycle Club

May 11, 2002

By Phil Ruge
A good field of 57 riders turned out for the Murwillumbah Cycle Club's road races on Saturday 11 May 2002 after the previous week's event had to be cancelled due to wet weather.

The course for this week was Upper Crystal Creek, a journey of some 57 kilometres which took the riders out through Chillingham to Numinbah before returning via Upper Crystal Creek to the finish at Dulguigan. This particular course is generally undulating with a few short but testing climbs thrown in to help stretch the riders legs!

With only five starters A Grade combined with the 14 riders in B Grade for their respective races. This larger bunch only managed to keep together for about 10 kilometres when two of the A Graders, Craig Reston and Chris Sheldon, managed to break away at Crystal Creek on the outward journey. They opened a gap of several hundred metres and despite some determined chasing maintained their lead out to Numinbah and back into Upper Crystal Creek.

It was here where they looked as though the bunch might catch them but the chase faltered momentarily and Craig and Chris were off down the road. The chase never really got going again after this which left the larger group to fight out a sprint finish. First home was Tony Sunderland with Graham Harvey second, Paul Howard third and Victor Temesi in fourth place whilst in A Grade Chris Sheldon was first, Craig Reston second and Andrew McPhan third.

A good field of 17 riders started in C Grade and wasted little time in getting down to business. This group managed to stay basically intact until Numinbah where John Anderson jumped away and opened up a small gap on the rest of the field. Anderson rode very well but with an organised bunch chasing he was brought back into the fold at Upper Crystal Creek. The attacks didn't stop there though and they continued to be a feature of the rest of the race. At the end the stronger and faster riders came to the fore with Errol Ellis showing a clean pair of wheel to take first place with the venerable Stan Brims second, Paul McRoberts third, Alan Devine fourth and 'never give up' John Anderson in fifth spot.

D Grade had 18 starters for the afternoon. Things got serious in this group after only five kilometres of racing with a number of riders sharing the work to pick up the pace considerably. This splintered the field before the turn at Numinbah with only seven riders left in contention. They kept together until Chillingham where Tim Beck broke away. He was caught at Upper Crystal Creek but broke away again on Kaehler's Hill with about five kilometres left to race. The other riders tried to chase him down but with a good lead he was not going to be caught. It was a this point that Sarah Rota surged off the front and managed to keep clear of the quickly closing pack until the finish to pick up a well deserved second place. In the ensuing sprint 'fast' Fred Mason was third with Phil Ruge fourth and Rolli Tombilis in fifth place.

E Grade raced over a shorter distance of 37 kilometres to Upper Crystal Creek and return. The three riders in this group worked well together but at the end Trevor Brennan was too strong for his compatriots to take first place with Alan Downs second and Kevin LeRoy in third spot.

Racing next week is over the tough Nobbys Creek course with a 2.00 pm start from Pat Smith Park, Dulguigan. The next Club meeting will be held on Wednesday, 15 May at 7.30 pm at the Tweed Tavern, Murwillumbah. All members are encouraged to attend.

Results

A Grade - 57km
 
1 Chris Sheldon (Gold Coast)
2 Craig Reston (Murwillumbah)
3 Andrew McPhan (Gold Coast)
 
B Grade - 57km
 
1 Tony Sunderland (Murwillumbah)
2 Graham Harvey (Murwillumbah)
3 Paul Howard (Murwillumbah)
4 Victor Temesi (Brisbane)
 
C Grade - 57km
 
1 Errol Ellis (CATS)
2 Stan Brims (CATS)
3 Paul McRoberts (Murwillumbah)
4 Alan Devine (CATS)
5 John Anderson (Murwillumbah)
 
D Grade - 57km
 
1 Tim Beck (Murwillumbah)
2 Sarah Rota (CATS)
3 Fred Mason (CATS)
4 Phil Ruge (Murwillumbah)
5 Rolli Tombilis (Murwillumbah)
 
E Grade - 37km
 
1 Trevor Brennan (GoldStars)
2 Alan Downs (CATS)
3 Kevin Leroy (Murwillumbah)