Reports

Club and Regional Championships
Modella
Sep 05 2009
Mal Sawford

16 Year Old Winner of the CCCC Open Championship

With only a few weeks left in the Under 17 age group, Calvin Watson (2XU-ARC) made the decision to bypass the junior championship to get an early taste of senior competition. Calvin is no stranger to A Grade competition at club level, having recently earned promotion to the Scratch bunch, and was clearly not out of his depth when he helped power the early break that formed in the cross winds before the first pass over Heath Hill.

He was joined by defending champion Vaughan Bowman (CCCC Elite), Murray Spink (Giant), Brendan Rowbotham (Richmond Cyclery), Tom Leaper (Blackburn) and Daniel Nelms. On the second lap, the chase group led by Michael Vogt, Adam Mulford, Danny Kah (CCCC Elite) and Pete Smith (2XU-ARC) came close, before the Watson and Spink accelerated in the hills again. The lift in pace had Bowman in trouble, and saw Rowbotham and Nelms lose contact.

On the final flat run home, Bowman chanced his had 1500 metres from home without luck: before making a last ditch effort at the 200 metre mark - only to see Watson flash past for his first Open title.

Barcelona Olympic gold medallist Kathy Watt (Kathy Watt Cycling) lived her up to her pre-race favouritism with a commanding win that saw her ride alone for the final 60km. Her early attack was well answered by Irene Digenis (Prime Estate), and the pair were combining well to distance the field with only Bec Domange (Degani) close to getting on terms before mechanical disaster struck Digenis and she was forced back to the then distant chasing bunch.

Watt took an impressive win well clear by race end, with Domange mopping up the sprint for second ahead of the unlucky Digenis and Radele Berriman (CCCC Elite). Eliza Bergin finished with the leaders to take out the Masters division ahead of Alison Raaymakers and Melissa Nicholls.

In the ‘young' Masters race, the early attack came from Jason Kruger and Peter Howard (Great Doherty/Eltham Cycles), before Stefan Kirsch powered out of the chase group to join the leaders. On the second lap, Kirsch showed his dominance, and broke away again to take the win alone.

Howard fought on to claim second ahead of strong men Martin Bole, Nick Palecek and 3 time winner Justin Davis (O'Mara Cycles).

The Masters 4 & 5 race followed a similar pattern, with Roy Clark (Croydon Cycleworks) and Rod Thomas clear at the summit of Heath Hill. Guy Green (Great Doherty/Eltham Cycles) lead the chasers across the gap, before taking the final sprint comfortably from Clark. Ken Ford overhauled Thomas for third, with Mike Fish hot on their heels.

Rob Pagey opened a commanding lead first lap lead in the ‘old' Masters division, but ran out of steam during the second lap and was overhauled by Bruce Will, who has made a welcome return to form after a serious fall last year.

Jack Cummings (CCCC Elite) also lived up to his pre-race billing with an impressive display in the Under 17 race. He forced the pace through the hills, reducing the bunch down to just seven, and led the sprint out a long way from home and hit the line five lengths clear of Jacob Schmid (Bikes de Ver), Clement Boydell and Zane Hunter (Lomo).

In the Under 15 race, climbers Tom Preston, Harrison Dziubinski and Kyle Thompson couldn't shake off Jack Hickey (Peninsula Star) on the Heath Hill climb, but seemed to have burnt their matches too soon when Hickey launched his counter attack and rode well clear to take the win.

Bridgette Thomas stayed with the quartet longest and time trialed home to take the women's division ahead of Ruby Greig-Hertig (Jones Cycles) and Grace Fryer (Degani/CBD).

Courtney Field (Felt) gave the Under 11 and Under 13 fields a climbing lesson as she danced away on the step slopes of the north face of Ripplebrook. The combined forces of Tom Benton (Bikes de Ver) and David Koronkai (CCCC JDP) weren't enough to close the gap on the descent, as Courtney rode to a crowd pleasing victory. Tom's efforts gave him the Under 11 title.

Results