UCI codes explained

Results and Reports from Australia

Promoters wishing to submit results should send them to Cyclingnews

Norwood Cycling Club Criterium series

Regency Park, South Australia, December 2, 2003

Perfect conditions greeted riders for Tuesday night's criterium, which had over 130 starters.

E grade had a large field of 26 riders, with four new riders attempting their first criterium race. The pace was kept unusually high and a few riders were not able to hang on. The majority of the bunch though was able to keep together. Michael Pearce-Cane was able to take an easy win with a well timed sprint at the finish followed a couple of bike lengths behind by an ever improving Matthew Kohler. One of the new riders Peter Sabine was also able to take the points and money finishing in the top five places.

The breakaway group tonight was D grade. Stuart Smith, Martin Middlemiss, Thom Edwards, Paul Doecke and new rider Michael Johnstone didn't want to just cruise around in the bunch as it was full of foxy old sprinters. so they increased the pace and rode away from the main pack. Just upgraded form E grade, Peter Winter was leading the pack and swung off as he finished his turn of pace to have none of these foxes wishing to come through to bridge the gap. That was the crucial point in the race and it was over for the bunch as it didn't want to chase. The five man break just kept on opening up their lead and was never threatened. Smith using his new found strength stretched the riders out in the last lap making it hard for them to sprint, easily taking the win.

Early in the C grade race Mark Davies went on the attack, he was soon joined by Jean-Noel Seneque and Daniel Tsiavlis, it looked to be a good break by these three strong men by the bunch thought otherwise. Later Mark Davies attacked again going for the most aggressive rider award and was joined by Dave Kubler. It too was soon gobbled up by the bunch and the pace was kept high for the rest of the race. James Ross had a pretty good sprint and was able to make it to the line easily in front of fellow sprinter Stuart Cathcart. Some riders and their teams need to change their tactics in this bunch to be able to work out a win.

For all the Hoo Ha about riders being dropped from A to B grade, those so called A graders rode less than impressive and the ones who didn't race, that is another sad story. For the real B grade riders it was a very fast race where they used the tactics they have learnt not to let the field split and to dominate the racing. Not a rider could get away from this bunch and there were no obvious tactics to try this. Andy Stevens was dropped from the fast pace in the bunch after 15 minutes, but somehow was able to rejoin the bunch chasing hard. Surprisingly, in the end it came down to a bunch sprint with a very fast Andy Stevens taking the honours after only three B grade races so far this season.

A grade is finally getting into some very fast, non stop racing. A touch of international flavour joined the racing with British rider Russell Williams and top Australian mountain bike rider Sid Taberlay. No rider wanted to be seen sitting on the back, so all riders were doing turns and attacking off the front putting in some good efforts. The only time the bunch had rest was when they had to stay behind C grade for their sprint. With no breakaways in tonight's racing and riders trying to wear each other out with sheer speed for the fifty minutes, it came down to a bunch sprint. What looked like a three way tie between SASI rider Mat Rex and Masters Alan Gill and James Russell, it went to the photo finish with only centimetres separating these three riders. Rex's big throw to the line earned him yet another win over Russell and Gill.

Results

A Grade
 
1 Mat Rex (SASI/Bicycle Express)
2 James Russell (Herb Valley/ Art Ceramics)
3 Alan Gill (Polar Heart Rate Monitors)
4 Ryan Milton (Polar Heart rate Monitors)
5 Tim Moss (Main North Renault)
 
B Grade
 
1 Adrian Stevens
2 Bradley Smith
3 Dale Rycroft
4 Shaun Lewis (SASI/Bicycle Express)
5 Danny Eckert
 
C Grade
 
1 James Ross (JT Cycles Brighton)
2 Stuart Cathcart
3 Nigel Willoughby
4 Ron Jonker
5 Jean-Noel Seneque
 
D Grade
 
1 Stuart Smith
2 Martin Middlemiss
3 Thom Edwards
4 Paul Doecke
5 Michael Johnstone
 
E Grade
 
1 Michael Pearce-Cane
2 Matthew Kohler
3 Ben Tolstoshev
4 Martin Pfitzner
5 Peter Sabine
 
Juniors Div 1
 
1 Craig Mattingly (Trak Cycles/Ciombola)
2 Mat Sanders
3 Russell Taylor
 
Junior Div 2
 
1 Bianca Rogers (Bicycle Express)
2 Tiffany Cromwell (Bicycle Express)
3 Travis Frisby