Brett Hickford and Rhys Gillett push each other to the maximum in a close finish to A Grade criterium at Hoppers Crossing on Saturday. 76325 Picture: KRISTIAN SCOTT
SUNSHINE’S Brett Hickford narrowly held off gun guest rider Rhys Gillett to take out Footscray Cycling Club’s A Grade criterium at Hoppers Crossing on Saturday.
Very early on in the race, Gillett, soon to be heading off to Italy to begin his contract with Italian team US-Fracor, initiated a breakaway with Paul Anders and Brett Hickford – two experienced riders who could handle the effort required to make a successful breakaway.
The trio set about lapping, and then passing the bunch, leaving the trio to argue over the podium positions and the bunch to scramble for the scraps.
But it was 42-year-old Hickford who led the trio up the Victorian University Track straight, just managing to hold off Gillett in the sprint to take the win.
“I thought Rhys might hit us at the end, because he is always saying he can’t sprint, but I got onto his wheel in the last lap and jumped him at the end and managed to hold him off,” Hickford said.
B Grade’s race saw newly promoted 20-year-old Arron Liley take a surprise win, out-sprinting Darren Payne in a hotly contested sprint.
Liley, from Tarneit, has only contested a handful of B Grade races and this was the first race he had finished.
“I took the advice of some more experienced riders on how to get to the end of the race, just to survive, but towards the end, I managed to grab fifth wheel and I just lunged as hard as I could at the end and won by a few centimetres,” he said.
C Grade saw Rod Nesbitt take the sprint from Andrew Galliano to step up to B Grade next week, and in D Grade`s race commissaire Mark Zanatta couldn`t separate the first two riders, even after a video review, so it was a dead heat and equal first to Dean Maclennan and Matt Defreitas. Thursday night’s racing saw ex-motorbike racer, 2011 Melbourne to Ballarat and 2012 Bay Crits Individual Support Series winner Shannon Johnson take the A Grade sprint convincingly from Dom Dudkiewicz, with Matt Johnson taking out B Grade’s sprint in a narrow win from Antonio Marino. Year 11 student Stephen Liley took out C Grade’s sprint in a tight finish from Frank Crifo.
“It was pretty windy; pretty tough. All the boys were driving the pace at the end, but I came around the last corner in the right position, I had to chase Frank Crifo and I just got him on the line,” Liley said.
The young Tarneit resident wants to consolidate his skills and stay in C a little longer.
Peter Bloink is looking at a promotion given his win in the D Grade race, taking the sprint from evergreen veteran Dal O’Brien.
