Race Results
Footscray CC Club VUT Crits (2012) - 18 February 2012
A strong field of riders ventured out to the V.U.T. circuit in Hoppers Crossing to contest the Footscray Cycling Club’s Max Campbell Memorial Criteriums with perfect conditions making for fast racing. A-Grade’s race was dominated by a series of attacks that gradually saw the bunch tire; to the point that a break began to form at the half way mark. Eventual winner Matt Heath, Paul Anders, Daniel Hopper, Marco Duys and Steve Antonello formed into a strong break that the bunch could not reel in, with Tarneit resident Heath unleashing his trademark Cavendish sprint and taking the win from Anders and Hopper.
In B-Grade, Phil Tehan and Antonio Marino set the tone of the race by driving the massive bunch hard; until Travis Small saw the opportunity to instigate a break that included Anthony Rebesco, Damian Harris, and Darren Payne; unfortunately all that work saw an exhausted Small and Harris drop out of the break and back to the bunch. Payne and Rebesco looked like they would stay clear of the bunch, until Ryan Kenny wound up the bunch on the bell lap; the bunch swamping the breakaway on the finishing straight, with the mass bunch sprint going to teacher Paul Young from Richard Conejo and Paul Sheean.
In C-Grade, riders including Jeremy Canny-Smith and Simon Perryman pounded out strong turns and attacks in an effort to break up the bunch and instigate a break, but the race came together towards the end; the bunch sprint saw young 16 year old student Stephen Liley jump through a narrowing gap and take the sprint from Canny-Smith and the ever-consistent Ross Schubach.
In D/E Grade, a surprise sprint from first time racer and E-Grade rider Gerard Zammit saw him cross the line and take the E-Grade win and cross the line ahead of all of the D-Grade riders; Rob Stonehouse getting the win in D-Grade and earning himself a likely promotion to C.
A: 1st Matt Heath, 2nd Paul Anders, 3rd Daniel Hopper, 4th Marco Duys, 5th Steve Antonello, & 6th Dom Dudkiewicz.
B: 1st Paul Young, 2nd Richard Conejo, 3rd Paul Sheean, 4th Colin Morris & 5th Andrew Schieseck.
C: 1st Stephen Liley, 2nd Jeremy Canny-Smith, 3rd Ross Schubach, 4th Ian Duffin, & 5th Leo Brunato.
D: 1st Rob Stonehouse, 2nd Graeme Wilson, 3rd Tom Gray, 4th Tim Marcus & 5th Dennis Hobbs.
E: 1st Gerard Zammit, 2nd Rob Wood, 3rd James Lawford.
