Cycling Fowler dominant again at end of road season

Press, 25 September 1989, Page 24

Cycling Fowler dominant again at end of road season

By

MALCOLM CONDIE

Two hard days of racing ended the Canterbury Cycling Centre road season at the week-end, in the same fashion as it started, with Brian Fowler dominating. Fowler won the centre’s first open race for 1989, the Amanda Wilks in April, and he won both open events at the week-end.

On Saturday Fowler won two of the three stages in the Blue Diamond graded scratch race, and yesterday he won the sprint for an A grade victory in the Shell Templeton Ashburton to Christchurch event. Fowler demonstrated his cycling class at the week-end. Instead of the display of sheer power that he has demonstrated in several races this season, he rode tactfully and was seen nearer the back of the bunch than the front several times. Sidewinds made for ideal conditions for Fowler, making every stage of the Blue Diamond equally difficult for everybody. In the first, Belfast to Oxford stage of Saturday’s three-stage event a group of six riders finished a minute ahead of the rest of the field, setting them up well on time differences for general classification placings. Fowler beat Jason Smith home. Smith was followed by Carl Crowe and Stuart Lowe. Fowler won the second stage, sprinting Crowe to the line. In the third stage, from Rangiora to the Papanui club’s

circuit, cross winds again meant for a high rate of attrition, and only the stronger riders survived. Crowe won the sprint from Chris Nicholson. Fowler was third, followed by Aaron Lauder. It was an impressive ride by Nicholson who is still recovering from a broken collarbone. Considering the limited time he has had back on his bike, his form is improving rapidly. He must be asking himself whether or not his trip to the national road championships in Auckland this week-end will be worthwhile. Andrew Dickison was the outstanding rider in the B grade section of this tour. He won the first and third stages, and was second, to John Rastrick, in the second stage.

Although Dickison was 20 minutes and 10s ahead of the second fastest B grade rider, he was 7min 38s behind Fowler’s winning time in general classification. As well as winning the event, Fpwler also took the king of The mountains title. Jason Smith and Stuart Lowe were second and third respectively. In yesterday’s event, which started at the Ashburton clock tower, and finished at the glassworks in Hornby, Christchurch, there were no successful breakaways. Several times riders made breaks and stayed away for a kilometre or two, but it was a bunch sprint which decided the title.

Unlike many of the races in this province this season, some positive riding was seen in the 94km from Ashburton to Christchurch. Those that did break from the bunch tended to breakaway hard, and in most cases those that chased, chased hard and did not incur any wrath from the bunch. Again cross winds made the race difficult to manage for some riders. Those that were left unsheltered after taking a turn at the front suffered from the wind, but there were no big upsets. Evan Blake and Ross Bush managed to breakaway in the B grade, and put Imin 9s between themselves and the bunch by the. finish. This was the only successful breakaway in the three grades in Sunday’s event. Blake beat Bush home and Tim Carswell lead the bunch home.. Murray Cameron won the sprint home in the C grade, . followed by Glen Swart and Ross Cameron. For those riders keen to go directly on to the track racing season from the road season, they will have only two days of rest. Denton Park opens up to the riders for the first time this season on Wednesday. All that remains on the road now are the national events. This week-end is the road nationals, followed by the various tours around the country. Results from the week-end were.— Blue Diamond three-stage,

graded classic.— A grade: Stage one, B. Fowler (Woolston) 1, J. Smith (Woolston) 2, C. Crowe (Papanui) 3, S. Lowe (Hornby) 4. Stage two: B. Fowler 1, C. Crowe 2, R. Ownsworth (Papanui) 3, D. Kircher (Hornby) 4. Stage three: C. Crowe 1, C. Nicholson (Woolston) 2, B. Fowler 3, A. Lauder (Hornby) 4. General classification: B. Fowler 3:36.18, 1; C. Crowe at 2s, 2; S. Lowe at Ils, 3; P. Coates (Papanui) at 12s, 4; C. Nicholson at 1.06, 5; A. Lauder at 1.08, 6; W. Rastrick (Papanui) at 1.09, 7; C. Marryatt (Hornby) at 1.09, 8. B grade: Stage one, A. Dickison 1, M. Wilkinson 2. Stage two, K. Rastrick 1, A. Dickison 2. Stage three, A. Dickison 1, R. Scott 2. General classification, A. Dickison 3:34.56, 1; R. Scott at 20.10, 2; S. Rusbatch at 24.14, 3; G. Wengler at 38.05, 4. King of Mountains: B. Fowler 13 points, J. Smith 11, S. Lowe 8. Ashburton to Christchurch, graded scratch:— A. grade: B. Fowler 1, J. Andrews (Papanui) 2, C. Crowe 3, C. Marryatt 4, W. Rastrick 5. Time: 2:24.23. B grade: E. Blake (Timaru) 1, D. Wildermoth (Papanui) 2, T. Carswell (Papanui) 3, S. Thomson (Hornby) 4, S. Keown (Woolston) 5. Time: 2:35.21.

C grade: M. Cameron (Hornby) 1, G. Swart (Hornby) 2, R. Cameron (Hornby) 3, K. Jones (Hornby) 4, T. Clarke (Woolston) 5. Time: 2:40.40.