Riders Face Strong Winds
11.07.09
 A
strong head wind greeted senior riders at the start of their 55.2km
handicap on Saturday. The ride began from the clubrooms out
along the Port Augusta and Point Lowly roads to Telecom Tower and
return to finish just before the OneSteel lights.
With a small field due to several riders competing in Adelaide,
groups were small at the start and riders couldn't get much of a
break at the front.
First off were Dylan Starkey and Peter Werner, and after Starkey
broke a spoke at the flood bend forcing him to retire Werner had to
try to hold off the rest of the field on his own. Two minutes
separated Wil Symons, Ben Young and Adrian Wilson from scratch
riders Malcolm Clasohm and Neil Paterson as they started, and
Clasohm and Paterson put in a strong effort to be a minute behind at
the flood bend with Chopping Block in their sights.
Scratch and Chopping Block were together at the Fitzgerald Bay
turnoff, but the climb up to the tower saw the pair strung out.
Clasohm reached the turn almost four and a half minutes after
Werner.
Young and Wilson made the turn 10 seconds later, with Paterson a
further 10 seconds behind, followed 17 seconds after that by Symons.
As Young lifted the pace to try to reel in Clasohm on the downhill,
Wilson dropped off the back and was soon joined by Paterson.
Behind the pair, Symons began closing the gap, while Clasohm was
working hard to hold off Young when he punctured and was offered a
spare wheel from the follow car. The offering saved him precious
time, although he rejoined the race in last place and set out to
catch the rest of the field.
Wilson, Paterson, Symons and Young caught Werner around the flood
bend and while he jumped on the back as they passed he wasn't able
to keep the pace. Clasohm was a minute behind the leaders as
they turned onto the Port Augusta road, having caught Werner with a
welcomed tailwind for the last 10kms of the race. Young ran
out of steam at the dairy bend, dropping off the back of his bunch,
and was caught by Clasohm on the last bend as they crossed the
railway line.
Paterson was the strongest in the sprint for the line to secure
first place and the fastest time, ahead of Wilson, Symons, Clasohm,
Young and Werner.
Heather Cutting was first off in the novice 10km handicap along the
Point Lowly road, followed five minutes later by Dana Prater and
Ethan Burke, with scratch rider Justin Burke starting seven minutes
after Cutting. Burke rode a steady pace gradually reeling in the
rest of the field while Ethan retired at the half way mark, leaving
Prater to continue on alone. Ultimately, Prater was unable to
hold Burke off, as he crossed the line a minute ahead of her with
Cutting coming in behind them to take out third place.
FULL RACE RESULTS
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