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Results and Reports from Singapore
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Singapore season-opener
March 2, 2003
Record turnout for first race of the season
By Kerrie Crisp
A record 157 riders turned out for the first race of the Singapore racing season with a sizeable increase in the number of juniors contesting the event - a positive sign for future racing here. The day was hot with a slight headwind in the back straight - a fine tailwind for the finish.
Juniors & Men's Sports
The majority of juniors were taking part in their first road race - three crashes marred the event - possibly due to risk taking by the some of the inexperienced riders. Desmond Lee dominated during the various sprint priems, however a crash in the final lap brought Lee and a few other juniors down. The title went to Steward McFarlane with Chui Kit Leong a further 2 minutes back. Jeffery Lee and Kale Buonerba dominated the sport race with Lee taking line honours ahead of Buonerba, Tommy Chiok and Andrew Fang.Veterans
The Veterans category was a hotly contested affair with a solid pace and a fine showing of 20 riders from the Australian & New Zealand Singapore Cycling group (ANZASCG). A few early attacks amounted to little as the long straights made getting away difficult. The breakaways were continually reeled back in and the pace was kept up making future attacks difficult.
Sharp left hand corners strung the group out and the tail enders had to work hard in the 60 plus bunch to catch the field. As the riders swung into the final straight with 1km to go, there was expectation that the teams would lift the pace to lead out their sprinters. The riders however strung out wide across the road and held on. An early lead out from Bo Kratz (ANZASCG) with 400 meters to go wound the group up followed by a counter attack at the 300m by the Schroeder team. Brian Holden (ANZASCG) moved onto their wheels. Bernard Chu came around to clinch the finish with fast finishing Brian Holden in second. Yio Chee Kiang crossed in third place.
Women
The ladies raced with the veterans over the same distance. Risa Suseanty, Sarah Lim and Kerrie Crisp managed to stay with the vets - keeping out of trouble with each watching the other. They were unable to make any attacks or control the race due to the fast overall speed of the men. The race was won on a sprint finish when Crisp passed Suseanty, and kicked past second placed Lim in the final 100 meters. Many of the ladies were first time racers and had to cope with a large and fast field. Congratulations to all of them!
Mens Open
The mens open event fielded some of the Singapore National riders. The pace was modest but a couple of riders made a break. Mathew Loupis chased them down and while they returned to the pack, Loupis kept the pressure on to stage a solo break. The bunch slowed to a quiet pace and seemed to forget Loupis was off the front. Finally, Stromblad, Teo and Yang decided to chase - Swallow, Pearson and others went with them. The gap closed and Loupis was now within 200m. Yang jumped across and joined Loupis and together they worked to keep the chasing group at bay.
They caught the Mens Sport group and Yang took the chance in the confusion to launch a surge which saw Loupis trapped in the back half of the melee. Yang held his advantage in the final two laps to secure victory with Loupis second. In the race for the minors, Teck Wee initiated a sprint 200m from the finish and Stomblad responded with Swallow on his wheel. Pearson was looming behind, hoping for a podium finish in his first open. Teck Wee faded placing Stomblad third, Swallow fourth and Pearson fifth.
Results
Mountain Bikes (20 km) 1 Mohd Fadzli 2 Junaidi Hashim 3 Ben Cher 4 Benny 5 Mohd Yusoff Intermediate sprint prime: Junaidi Hashim Veterans (40 km) 1 Bernard Chua 57.23 2 Brian Holden 3 Yeo Chee Kian 4 Nazzeer Intermediate sprint prime: Chan Yip Seng Women (40 km) 1 Kerrie Crisp 57.23 2 Sarah Lim 3 Risa Suseanty Intermediate sprint prime: Kerrie Crisp Men Sports (75 km) 1 Jeffrey Lee 1.58.00 2 Kale Buonerba 3 Tommy Chiok 4 Andrew Fang 5 Bruce Garretson 6 Kuay Soong Teck 7 Alvin Lim 8 John Clarke 1st prime: Jeffrey Lee 2nd prime: Kale Buonerba 3rd prime: Hairul Nazwa 4th prime: Kale Buonerba Men Junior (75 km) 1 Steward Macfarlane 1.58.00 2 Chui Kit Leong 4.00 1st prime: Desmond Lee 2nd prime: Desmond Lee 3rd prime: Desmond Lee 4th prime: Desmond Lee Men Open (75km) 1 Samuel Yang 1.53.53 2 Matthew Loupis 0.28 3 Per Stromblad 1.12 4 Nick Swallow 5 Colin Pearson 6 Teo Woon Lip 7 Seah Teck Wee 8 Kor Siang Cher 1st prime: Seah Teck Wee 2nd prime: Seah Teck Wee 3rd prime: Seah Teck Wee 4th prime: Matthew Loupis
