15.09.09 | Strong Performance for Port Cyclists at Grafton to Inverell
Port Macquarie Cycle Club was well represented at the epic Grafton to Inverell Classic Road Race, in what turned out to be a weekend of high drama.
Port’s Lauren Kitchen and Tracy Flintoff lined up for the women’s Celtic Tour de Femme, a 95km road race from Glenn Innes to Inverell. Lauren wasted no time in creating a breakaway in the early stages of the race, which was brought back just before the main climb by the chasing peloton which included Flintoff. Lauren, however, used the hills to her advantage and again pulled away from the main bunch with two other riders. The trio worked well together to increase their lead and in the final stages it was a cat and mouse game to see who would lead out the sprint. Lauren timed her sprint perfectly to take the win from Sue Forsyth and Lauren Rooney who came a dead heat for 2nd place.
In the hotly contested U19’s Race, Port Macquarie was represented by Kevin Hawes and Lachlan Morton from the Real Aussie Kids Team. They were also joined by team mates, Ethan Kimmince and Sam Spokes looking to claim the $1,000 prize purse. They were up against some tough competition in Junior World champion Alex Carver, Aaron Donnelly who also recently returned from the Junior Worlds Championships in Russia and Scott Law a 2008 Junior World Champion and Australian Record holder. The Real Aussie Kids’ team tactics worked a treat when Kev Hawes rode off the front of the bunch early in the race taking another rider, Conor Trott from Bathurst, with him. The two were able to consolidate and increase their lead with the assistance of the RAK riders chasing down any attacks from the peloton. Kev Hawes took out all the KOM points on his way to victory in Inverell. The last turn caused heated controversy when the two lead riders followed the lead vehicle rather than turning into the finish straight. Initially, the win was awarded to Ethan Kimmince and second place to Sam Spokes, however after protests were aired, the Commissaires officially awarded the win to Kevin Hawes from Conor Trott and Aaron Donnelly in third.
Meanwhile, the 80 strong A Grade riders were on their way from Grafton to Inverell in what is classed as the toughest one day cycle race in the Southern Hemisphere. The grueling 228 km ride attracts riders from all over Australian and beyond. This year several professional teams entered including Fly V Australia, Pratties and Budget Forklifts, three of Australias top cycling outfits.
Port Macquarie fielded an impressive line up of riders in Chris Jory, recently returned from his first year racing professionally in Europe, Brendan Brooks who heads up the Shortis Cycling Team, Angus Morton from Drapac Porsche, world 24hr mountain bike champion, Jason English and Ironman legend Tim Berkel. Morton got off to a nervous start when his bike fell off the roof of the car in transit to the race badly damaging it. It was Darcy from Gordon Street Cycles who immediately came to the rescue loaning Morton his own bike, which was still being fine tuned on the start line.
After commissaries held the bunch in an unusually long neutral zone at the beginning, it didn’t take long for the impatient riders to make a move once free to race. Chris Jory was in a good position to go with the move of nine riders who quickly put a large chunk of time into the peloton. By the start of the 18km climb up the Gibraltar Range, the break had a seemingly uncatchable six minutes. Three riders were dropped from the lead group, initiating a concerted effort by a bunch of 25 riders, to chase down the break, which was successful as the race approached Glen Innes at about the 160km mark. The group of 30 or so remained intact until the short climb at Wire Gully, 30km from Inverell. Again, Chris Jory showed his savvy by judging the best attack to go with and got away in a bunch of 10 riders, and was looking a fair bet for a win until he was suddenly overcome with fatigue in the last 8km of the race and couldn’t stay with the leaders. He crossed the line in a very credible 10th place in 6hours and 30mins only 4 min off the winners. Angus Morton crossed the line another 3 minutes down from Jory in 26th position. Jason English and Brendan Brooks came across the line together in 6hour 41minutes and Tim Berkel, who rode in the main bunch until the final 60km, rode a time of 6hours 56mins.
The only Port Macquarie rider in Division 2, David McDonald, seemed to find his legs in the second half of the race and had a extremely strong finish, coming into Inverell mid field.
Col Turner, was Port’s rider of the day, in Division 3 the largest group of riders. He looked like he was out for a Sunday ride as he powered seemingly effortlessly over the Gibraltar range, and was the best placed Port Macquarie rider. Todd Cockshutt and Gareth Davies gave each other moral support finishing in the top half of the field, while Lloyd Newell found out that two training rides in preparation for the epic event was not quite enough, pulling out after 117kms.
For futher information please contact Julie:info@portmaccycleclub.com.au
Champagne wrap up that! Want a job on SBS? .Well done . Kev’s outdone the two blonde birds in the hair stakes , again. Legends
— Mike Tomalaris Sep 18, 03:33 pm #