Steele, Fowler win cycling

Press, 30 January 1984, Page 17

Steele, Fowler win cycling

By

JANE DAVIDSON

Murray Steele and Brian Fowler were deserved winners of the South Island open madison cycling championships at Denton Park yesterday. The pair finished with 51 points, 18 clear of Craig Adair and Jamie Nisbet, with Greg Fraine and Peter Coates in third on 15. William Rastrick and Shane Smith recorded 46 points, and Steve Woods and Tony Smith 27, but they finished a lap down on the remainder of the field and consequently were not placed. If the secret to successful madison riding is changing team riders regularly through the event, Steele and Fowler proved masters. They shared the sprinting and the hard work equally, a move which paid dividends in the long run. Craig Adair, as expected featured in the sprints, but his partner, Jamie Nisbet, was strangely quiet, preferring to stay in the bunch most of the time. However, when the strong work was required during the end, he did his share, and crossed the line first in the final sprint, for which double points were awarded. But if Fowler and Steele won the crowd's applause at the end, another combination, which did not figure in the first three placings, had surely earned their admiration. Steve Woods and Tony Smith, who had fallen back to a lap behind the bunch quite early on, began their bid to regain the field during the four sprints held after the event had been going an hour and a half. Smith, in his first senior madison, was most impressive and the two took all four sprints, taking them to within two points of the leaders, but the real slog was still to catch the field, and, finally, with 69 of the 250 laps remaining, Smith caught the back of the bunch. Shane Smith and Rastrick too tried to repeat the process half an hour later, but although they pulled half a lap back, the battle proved too much. Then not long after, the toil and sweat of Woods and Tony Smith proved to no avail, for they were lapped again, with neither the time nor the energy to set off in chase again. The junior madison, over 50km, was not decided until the last sprint. Any of three teams — Wayne Eyre and Andrew Macbeth, Darryl Kircher and Shane Hendren, and Phillip Gibbs and Darren Rush, were in with a chance, with the first pair eventually taking the honours. Julian Stokes and Geoff Searle also had their moments, coming at one stage to within 150 m of lapping the field and therefore taking an automatic victory. The Invercargill visitors, Gary Smith and Glen McLeay, were the only ones to challenge Brendan Kiesanowski and Nigel Donnelly for the novice title over 30km. The only disappointment was the enforced non-appear-ance of the professionals, Colin Ryan and Steve Doherty in the senior madison. The two failed to produce proof of registration to their governing body, and officials therefore prevented them from racing. The decision was not universally welcomed by some of the amateur riders and a few of the crowd, but it was the only choice officials had. Results: — (all names Christchurch unless otherwise stated). Senior, 100 km: M. Steele and B. Fowler, 51, 1; C. Adair and J. Nisbet 33, 2; G. Fraine and P. Coates, 18, 3. Junior, 50km: W. Eyre and A. Macbeth 33, 1; D. Kircher and S. Hendren, 32, 2; D. Rush and P. Gibbs, 29, 3. Novice, 30km: B. Kiesanowski and N. Donnelly, 39, 1; I. Curd and J. Sands, 26, 2; G. Smith and G. McLeay (Invercargill), 24, 3. Senior sprints: 1, Steele, Fraine, Rastrick; 2, Fowler, Rastrick, Woods; 3, Adair, Smith, Matthews; 4, Steele, Adair, Coates; 5, Rastrick, Lauder, Hockey; 6; Adair. Rastrick, T. Smith; 7, Fowler, Adair, J. Matthews; 8, Lauder, Coates, Steele; 9, Coates, Steele, Lauder, 10; T. Smith, Fowler, Adair; 11, S. Woods, Steele. Adair; 12; T. Smith, Adair, S. Smith; 13, Woods, Fowler, Rastrick; 14, S. Smith, B. Fowler, Adair; 15, Rastrick, Steele, Adair; 16, S. Smith, Adair, Fowler; 17, Rastrick, Fowler, Nisbet; 18, Smith, Steele, Cooks; 19, Nisbet, Steele, Coates, Lauder.