Graeme Moffett claims
Joseph Sunde Memorial 2003
by John Sunde
(Click on images for larger
view)
Sydney rider
Graeme Moffett, celebrated the announcement of his new Clarence St Cyclery/Trek
team in superb style with an impressive win in the prestigious Joseph Sunde
Memorial Criterium at Heffron Park today.
The 2003 edition
was the 10th anniversary of this popular event, which is conducted by
Eastern Suburbs cycling club and is dedicated to the memory of Joseph Sunde, who
passed away in 1993 after an 18 month battle with leukemia (see about Joseph).
The elite field
of 55 riders boasted the cream of Sydney cycling talent which once again put on
a great display of aggressive racing on the demanding 2km Heffron Park circuit
.
What made Moffett’s win even more impressive was that he was able to
completely out smart and out sprint the 4 Eastern Suburbs riders who were part
of the winning 6 man break which dominated the majority of the race. It would
appear Easts ‘D.S.’ Frank Conceicao still wasn’t able to engineer a win even
when all the cards were favourably stacked.
Stuart Dangerfield looks to see what sort of gap the early break
have on the bunch
With a very
strong southerly headwind blowing down the finishing straight, St George/FRF
Couriers rider, big Troy Glennan was the first to stir up the race when he was
able to create and maintain a 200m gap on the bunch for the first 5 laps. Almost
immediately after he was reeled in, a 4 man break of Easts rider’s Stuart
Dangerfield and Paul Rowney, St George/FRF rider Peter Milostic and Graeme
Moffett settled into establishing a smooth rhythm which managed to hold the
chasing bunch at a comfortable 20sec.
During the past
10 years of the event, no rider has yet won the elite race more than once and 3
riders, Anthony Spurgeon (Caravello), last year’s winner Jeff Hopkins (Jittery
Joes) and English time trialist Stuart Dangerfield were racing today to attempt
to be the first to claim this honour. At the halfway point of the race this
advantage was clearly with Englishman Dangerfield who was looking very
comfortable in the break and one of the main drivers.
Then came what
was undoubtedly the ride of the day when Stewart ‘Computer’ Campbell almost
single-handedly rode down the break with club mate Dave Stewart in tow, leaving
the more fancied sprinters back in the bunch.
With the break
now 6 strong and Easts rider’s Rowney, Campbell and Dangerfield doing the
driving with plenty of advice and encouragement coming trackside from ‘D.S.’
Conceicao, an Easts win was looking predictable.
Not to be
intimidated, especially by Dangarfield’s potent power and ability to simply ride
away on his own in the closing laps, Moffett, sporting his new team colours for
the first time, rode masterfully at 5th or 6th wheel just watching the
Englishman.
In the headwind
sprint, it was Graeme Moffett who made the first jump some 200m out and he was
able to maintain his initial gap and hold off a strong finishing Stewart
Campbell all the way to the line, with Peter Milostic claiming
3rd.
Results
1. Graeme
Moffett
2. Stewart
Campbell
3. Peter
Milostic
4. David
Stewart
5. Stuart
Dangerfield
6. Paul
Rowney
7. Troy
Glennan
8. Jeff
Hopkins
9. Anthony
Spurgeon
10. Nathan
Russell
Clarence St
Cyclery
Eastern Suburbs
St
George/FRF Couriers
Eastern
Suburbs
Eastern
Suburbs
Eastern
Suburbs
St
George/FRF Couriers
Bankstown
Caravello
North Sydney
Top 10 placegetters pose with 'D.S.'Conceicao
John, Christine,
Edward and Portia Sunde and the Eastern Suburbs Cycling Club would like to thank
all those riders and spectators who attended the event and again donated
generously to Childrens Cancer Institute of Australia. If you would like to make
a donation online to the Institute, please visit their website at www.ccia.org.au
A big thank you
also to the sponsors who generously donated prizes for the 3 events
The largest
field of the day was the group handicap race which is conducted on the same
format as the popular Tuesday night summer series at Heffron Park. The handicap
was clearly weighted to the 33 strong middle bunch of C grade riders.
The smaller D
grade bunch of 20 riders set of first, with a slightly smaller group of 18 B
grade riders giving away almost 1’30” to the 2 front groups.
It was clear in
the windy conditions that once the C & D grade bunches amalgamated halfway
through the race, the B grade group were going to find it very tough going to
catch the front markers and with 3 laps left were still 1min adrift.
In a keenly
contested sprint finish which covered the entire width of the track, Randwick
Botany rider Will Gray narrowly held out Tuesday night C grade pointscore
leader, Craig Dempsey, Easts.
In the minor
placings, John Buckton, backing up from the earlier Masters race claimed
1st D grade rider outside the top 5 and club mate Matt Lucas won the
sprint for the B grade to round out the Randwick Botany clean sweep of the
handicap grades.
Handicap
Results
1 Will Gray
Randwick Botany
2. Craig
Dempsey
Easts
3. David
Johns
North Sydney
4. Clive
Hammerson
Randwick Botany
5. Luke
Picton
Sutherland
1st B Grade
Matthew
Lucas
Randwick Botany
1st D Grade
John
Buckton
Randwick Botany
Women Equal
1st
Renee
Fortunato
Sutherland
Emma James
Turramurra
Pat Johnson presents Will Gray of Randwick Botany the
trophy for the Handicap Event.
Masters,
30km
Although the
field for the Masters race wasn’t as large as last year, the racing was, as
always, just as fast and keenly contested. Claiming on the start line that he
had consumed a few too many ‘sherbets’ the day before, Sutherland strongman
Geoff Butler made a miraculous recovery when the gun went and taking Manly rider
Sean Vale with him, almost disappeared from sight on the first lap.
Sensing an early
upset, especially with the advantage of the tailwind over the back section of
the course, ‘super vet’ Laurie Vignes, Parramatta set about getting the race
back together. But his move had the opposite effect when after the
2nd lap he had managed to get himself and Dr Bob Hampshire, St George
across to the leaders.
And that was it,
4 away after 2 laps and nothing anybody who was left in the 25 strong bunch
could do about it. A couple of riders tried, the most successful attempt coming
from defending champion Liam Kelly, looking resplendent in his new Randwick
Botany team gear.
At the halfway
point, the few too many ‘sherbets’ Geoff Butler had enjoyed the day before
obviously caught up with him as he drifted back to the chasing bunch, leaving
Laurie Vignes, Sean Vale and Bob Hampshire with a comfortable advantage till the
finish.
Kevin Nichols,
St George decided with 5 laps to go he was going to make a race of it and with 3
others rode away from the completely disintegrated field. His efforts partly
paid off as he won the gallop for 4th place, while up front, as was
more or less expected, Laurie Vignes once again showed his impressive form by
outsprinting Dr Bob Hampshire and Sean Vale to back up his win in 1999 and win
his 2nd Joseph Sunde Memorial Masters race.
Results
1. Laurence
VignesParramatta
2. Rob
HampshireSt
George
3. Sean
ValeManly Warringah
4. Kevin
NicholsSt George
5 .David
BarrowSutherland
Thanks to Peter Pagidas and Tony Horneman for the photos
included in this story. All photos in this report are subject to
copyright. Please seek permission for reproduction from Peter or Tony
before reproducing them. Thanks to John Sunde for a great report. Thanks
to the Sunde family and the Eastern Suburbs Cycling Club for a fantastic days
racing. Thanks to Jenny Spurgeon and Joanne Buckton for doing all the
entries and issuing race numbers etc.
Thanks to Fred & Helen Vella and Richard
and Maria Jenkins who manned the canteen and BBQ and made sure everyone had
plenty to eat and drink. This also assisted in making the day a great
success. Thanks to all the Randwick Botany riders who supported the
event and congratulations to the winners. I know two blokes who
certainly enjoyed their bacon & egg rolls
