Close Finish for Novices
16.05.09
Chris
Margaritis was the first rider off in the Novice 7.5km handicap
along the Cowell Road Saturday. Chloe Hellowell off five
minutes followed closely by Tegan Wood (5 min 30 sec) and Connor
Margaritis (5 min 40 sec). Scratch riders Justin Burke and
Jacob Hughes off six minutes 15 seconds put in a strong effort
working well together to reel in the rest of the field before the
finish at the wetlands. In the sprint for the finish it was
Hughes and Burke who were side by side, however Burke was just in
front as they crossed the line. Connor was third not that far
behind them with Wood fourth ahead of Chris and Chloe with Burke
taking out the fastest time.
Sam Campbell was the only junior this week so he decided to race
with the seniors in their 47.3km handicap race from the Velodrome to
the Iron Baron turn off and return to finish at the wetlands.
Gary Anderson elected to ride with him and they were the first off.
Paul Waring who had mechanical troubles on the start line had
dropped off the back of Jai Sutton and Scott Cramer (12 mins) before
they turned onto the Cowell Road and wasn't able to get back on.
Hayden Gill and Pierce Sutton (off 6 mins) were joined at the top
off the falls by Cramer while J Sutton had used the climb to power
away and try to reel in the front two riders. Scratch riders
(off 29 mins) Rhyse Carpenter, Malcolm Clasohm, Ben Young, Tony
Kingdon, Wil Symons and Neil Paterson had set a steady pace from the
start but had dropped Steve Brown before the turn around and had
almost made up the four mins to the bunch in front. Nicole
Goldring (25 mins) struggled to match the pace of her group and had
dropped off the back before the Iron Baron Turn off.
Kelvin Rohrlach, Peter Werner, Adrian Wilson, Ron Versteegh and Nick
Hellowell were joined by the scratch riders as they made the decent
to the Nonowie station straight. The increased pace saw Werner
loose contact with the back of this group at the Nonowie turnoff.
Cramer was able to join on the back of this bunch as it caught him
although Rohrlach and Hellowell lost contact before the finish.
J Sutton was slowly closing the gap to Campbell and Anderson and was
about 1km behind as the front two riders passed the Jenkins Avenue
extension and looked to be able to reel them in before the finish.
The front two however managed to hold him off with Campbell first to
the line ahead of Anderson and Sutton finishing two minutes behind
them for third place.
The next group to finish was the big bunch of nine riders mainly
from the scratch and chopping block groups. All riders were
intently watching each other to see who would be the first to make
the move for the sprint to the line, which started at Keith Street.
It was a fiercely contested sprint by all with just three seconds
separating the nine riders as they crossed the line giving the
officials quite a challenge. Young was first a bike length
ahead of Carpenter, Kingdon, Clasohm, Wilson, Versteegh, Symons,
Paterson and Cramer with Young also finishing in the fastest time.
FULL RACE RESULTS
HERE
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