SATURDAY marked the second-last race in the Summer Points Series and A Grade riders were greeted with sunny skies and a hot, blustery north wind for Footscray Cycling Club race day.
From the start, Miles Da Costa was on the attack and when he was caught, he attacked again.
Soon he had his wish and he was joined by Dom Dudkiewicz and Nathan Page.
The peloton behind continued to work steady turns but they had no answer for the threesome in the lead who shared the workload well and eventually lapped the rest of the field.
With two laps to go Dudkiewicz attacked and slightly dropped the other two, however when he saw Nathan had caught him and was glued to his wheel he slowed slightly allowing Miles to get back to them.
Miles, showing grim determination, lead out the sprint but the fast finish of Dudkiewicz was too much for both him and Nathan, with Dom winning by several lengths with Nathan second and Miles third.
In B Grade results, an early solo breakaway attempt by Iain Clark was on and did not look like slowing.
Vito Depetro was his aggressive self and after 15 minutes of racing he looked behind and realised that there was a small break in the field behind.
A decisive and one would think a winning break formed consisting of Darren Ward, Vito DePetro, Ian Clark (Bwk), Murray Crawford, Travis Small and Tim Robertson.
The peloton were in total disarray, with no organised chase for several laps allowing the break to gain some 20 seconds very quickly. With the race slipping away from them the peloton responded and the ensuing chase blew the bunch apart with Richard McCorkell (Bwk), Bob Shannon, Glen Hutchinson and Bernie O’Sullivan giving chase.
We were then treated to what almost looked like a track team pursuit with the lead team being slowly pulled back by the chasing four, the catch was finally made and the 11 rides spent several laps trying to see who still had the legs to go on with it.
They soon had their answer as Travis Small, Murray Crawford and Ian Clark again attacked, this time the attack was strong and consistent and the three set about gaining a winning margin.
The win was taken by Travis Small.
