Clarke beats Kiwi Godfrey

Hilton Clarke (Fuji-Servetto) took a convincing win in the Kenosha criterium. The ProTour rider lapped the field with three other strong riders, Hayden Godfrey (Subway-Avanti), Sergio Hernandez (Rock Racing) and Bradley Andrew (Gourmetfein).

Karl Menzies (OUCH), drove the pace higher to ensure the bunch was relatively strung out, but this did not deter in-form Clarke from taking the sprint in his first appearance at the 2009 Superweek. Clarke was able to maneuver himself through the pack on his own in the final stages and showed why he is one of the most successful criterium riders in the US.

“There were quite a few Aussies in the field, some are going for the overall and I was going for the stage win, so we just all looked after each other and got the result we all wanted,” said Clarke

Hayden Godfey, the Omnium Track World Champion, was a close second ahead of Sergio Hernandez (Rock Racing).

A good carnival crowd was present lining all around the course and it was game on from lap one when a flurry of attacks flew up the road. Early on, there was a large breakaway that was hovering out the front with riders dotted in-between. This put a lot of pressure on the bunch so the pace was kept high and when the threatening breakaway was caught, a counter-attack by Hilton Clarke (Fuji-Servetto) and the three others disappeared up the road while the peloton was still breathing hard from the effort.

According to Clarke, initially the break was not difficult, but when “I heard we had 20 seconds up on the field, I started pulling a lot harder than the other three to get the lap, because I had no teammates”. They lapped the field in good time and were able to settle into the field to recover for the final sprint.

After the breakaway lapped the field, there was a dangerous breakaway of a dozen or so riders up the road. According to Godfrey (Subway-Avanti) “we had help from Karl Menzies, Jonny Clarke (Hilton’s brother) and my two teammates Josh England and Jason Allen all chasing very hard on the front to bring back the break.”

After 60km into the criterium, it started to rain and threatened to cause havoc in the field. As soon as the first rain-drops fell, the pace shot up dramatically and it was single-file for more than a dozen laps as riders were trying to cause splits in the field and ensure themselves to be in the front in-case crashes happened. Since it was quite slippery, about half the field dropped out at this point.

Godfrey commenting on the final laps, “the last five laps there were two things going on, you have guys racing for the overall and other guys who have not been here for the series gunning for the stage win. It was quite sketchy and dangerous those last few laps on this kind of course but it finally cleaned up and was single file. I was ten wheels back and used too much energy to get onto Hilton’s wheel so I was pretty much a passenger down the finishing straight to finish a bike length behind Hilton.”

The Subway-Avanti team had three riders, all from New Zealand, take part in the Kenosha criterium and they are here to compete well on the United States criterium circuit. “The Superweek races have been excellent, I’m just getting back on the top of the game now, preparing for the upcoming Tour of Elk Grove and for the Track World Champs. I really enjoyed the course tonight, fun race, really fast course and an awesome crowd,” Godfrey said. He further expounded, “The crowd support for our team since we arrived in the US has been phenomenal, people identify with the Subway brand and this has been great to spur on our performances.”

Jay Thompson (Team MTN) further extends his lead over closest rival Robert White (Team Geargrinder) and has all but secured his APC Nutrition Red Jersey, provided he finishes the final day at Whitefish.

Sulzberger (Fly V Australia), who has been wearing yellow since day one, finished comfortably with 7th position behind team-mate Cantwell and Hans Dekkers (Garmin Slipstream) to keep extending his lead. “I will be glad when the series is over and be able to rest, I have not been able to afford days off when I am wearing yellow so there has been some pressure to perform each day. Jonny (Cantwell) has been my anchor man this series so far and has guided me many times to the finish.”