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Event Details - Super Crit Full Length - Series #3 |
| Event: Super Crit Full Length - Series #3 | ||||
| Event Date: Monday, 1 March 2010 - 6:30:00 PM | ||||
| Event Type: Criterium | ||||
| Event Location: SFP | ||||
| State: ACT | ||||
| Event Website : | ||||
| Organiser Details: | ||||
| Name: Simon Dwyer Email: simonadwyer@yahoo.com.au Phone: 0406745488 Fax: |
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| Event Details: | ||||
ResultsTonight’s SuperCrit Championship race was fought out by ten combatants, four of whom wore the Team Velo colours. Two bottles of the finest merlot were on the table tonight, for the overall victory and for the Cannibal Merckx inspired mid race prime. Velo recruit, Felix Pirie, was the first aggressor of the race, putting in several strong attacks and stretching things out from the front. Eventually he was allowed away with Tom Brudo, his team mates sitting pretty in the bunch. First year rider, Tom Behrens, saw the danger and bridged across the 200 metre gap to form a formidable looking breakaway group. The trio sat out front for a number of laps before the following bunch became twitchy and riders surged off the front. The surges brought undone Mark Gillett and Suzuki’s Dale Brede, who were dagged off the back and could not quite make contact again. Also undone was the break, returning to the fold with eight contenders remaining. Several unsuccessful attacks from Velo were marked by a wary Simon Niemeyer representing MACT, but eventually Mick Tolhurst broke free and looked to be ITTing to victory. Tolhurst went through to take out the mid-race prime but had the bigger picture of overall victory on his mind. He wasn’t counting on Tor Lattimore, however, the endurance specialist who was dedicated to his new V-Mobile teammate, Tom Behrens. With most of the field unwilling to chase, Lattimore and Niemeyer swapped long strong turns on the front. Eventually, and impressively, Tolhurst’s threat was neutralised and it was gruppo compacto. At the next surge, early antagonist Brudo and the gallant Lattimore found they had little left to give and were off the back. The race was now down to six and it was none other than series leader Steve Blackburn who countered a teammate’s aggression, with Pirie marking the threatening Niemeyer. There was no one with the legs or will to respond to Blackburn’s move and he gracefully rode away from the front of the bunch. The only counter came from Behrens who made a big effort to get across the gap with just a few minutes remaining. With three laps to go it was Blackburn with daylight to the solo Behrens and a gap of 200 metres to the chasers, now down to Niemeyer, Marty Mullins and Tolhurst. The next lap – two to go - it was still Blackburn out front with Behrens gaining ground and Mullins pulling hard for the group behind. One to go. Blackurn in front, looks behind him and smiles – the hard work is done and it’s in the bag, he bottle of wine is his. In the battle for second, Mullins brings back his leader Tolhurst to the gifted Behrens, then his work is done. On the final straight, Blackburn has time for a victory salute, as coming around the top corner are Vikings club captain Niemeyer and CCC stalwart Tolhurst. Following Blackburn, it is Niemeyer who has the sprint legs with Tolhurst coming in for third and Behrens for a brave fourth. Mullins was the final finisher, just a few seconds behind. In the Championship Series Pointscore, the comeback man Steve Blackburn (3rd, 2nd and 1st in the three races so far) holds a lead of 16 points over his closest rival Simon Niemeyer. All he has to do is finish the final race and he’ll have a few more bottles of Silent Range’s fine red wines to celebrate with his Velo team mates. Race Director: Simon Dwyer, 10 competitors. Special thanks to Velo for consistently supporting the Monday evening race and tonight deservedly taking home both bottles of the Canberra region’s finest wines, the Gallagher merlot. Best wishes from all of us here in Canberra to Brad Lovelock who is convalescing in Albury hospital after a crash at the weekend’s Riverina series race – chicks dig scars, mate, so it’ll all be worth the pain in the long run. RACE 3 RESULTS: 1 Stephen Blackburn CANNIBAL MID-RACE PRIME: 1 Michael Tolhurst POINTSCORE: Stephen Blackburn: 36
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