September 10/04 3:41 am - Mississauga Midweek

Posted by Editoress on 09/10/04
 

Harris + Harris 2004 Midweek Criteriums Hershey Centre, Mississauga
Courtesy Peter McCaffery, Midweek Club

Scratch Criterium Event September 8th

30 Laps Of 1.55km Circuit (46.5 Km)
Av. Sp. 40.4kph

Lousy weather kept many of the regulars away. Only 18 started But most of the top riders in the series were present. Heath Cockburn and Chris Atkins went from the gun, with Heath doing most of the work and the duo soon established a 25 second
lead over a chase group of 4 (, Ed Maset, Ed Makarchuk, Darko Ficko, Andrew MacDonald).

After 5 laps, the 6 were all together but the next lap, Heath Attacked again and this time escaped solo. The 5 chasers kept him at around 20 seconds for the next 5 laps. After lap 11, Heath extended his lead to over 30 seconds and, in the process, lapped the main pack of 12. He then sat up and, realizing that no-one was trying to chase him
down, sat up and let the chase group, who by now had also lapped the bunch, catch him.

Then with 10 laps to go, Darko Ficko launched an attack and stayed away for the rest of the race. The 5 remaining riders in the chase group continued on, with Ed MacDonald getting dropped in the final stages.

Meanwhile, the lapped bunch had split, with James Gildener and Mark Shaw managing to put some time between themselves and the remnants of the pack.

At the line, it was Darko finishing a good half minute up on the chasers, with Chris Atkins taking the sprint from a tired Cockburn, and Makarchuk and Maset bringup the rear. Gildener dropped Shaw for 7th place but MacDonald had avoided being lapped and snuck into a well-deserved 6th. place.

Shaw claimed 9th. and Superdave Britnell won the bunch sprint to fill the top ten. A good race for such a small field.

Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Atkins for helping with cones

1. Darko Ficko (La Bicicletta - S1), 1:09:08
2. Chris Atkins (Midweek Elite - S1), at 0:33
3. Heath Cockburn (La Bicicletta - S1)
4. Ed Makarchuk (KHS - MA)
5. Ed Maset (Pavan - MA)
6. Andrew Macdonald (Pavan - S3), all s.t.
7. James Gildiner (Independent - S3), At 1:37
8. Mark Shaw (Chain Reaction - MB), At 1 lap
9. Dave Britnell (Hummingbirds International - MB)
10. Paul Greene (Chain Reaction - MA)

Series standings with 1 event to go
1. Heath Cockburn (La Bicicletta - S1), 143 pts
2. Chris Atkins (Midweek Elite - S1), 116
3. Dan Lefebvre (Gears Racing - S1), 105
4. Darko Ficko (La Bicicletta - S1), 99
5. Peter Morse (Midweek Elite - S1), 75
6. Ed Maset (Pavan - MA), 67
7. Ed Makarchuk (KHS - MA), 62
8. Don Zuck (Pavan - S1), 57
9. Kevin Speacht (Cavern Cycles - S2), 44
10. Mark Shaw (Chain Reaction - MB), 35
11. Jeff Hansen (Jet Fuel - S1), 31
12. James Gildiner (Independent - S3), 29
13. Jeff Schiller (Gears Racing - S2), 29
14. James Wadden (Cavern Cycles - MA), 28
15. Mauro Martini (Pavan - MB), 26
16. Merrill Collins (La Bicicletta - W1), 23
17. Attila Hadju (MBRC - S2), 23
18. Paul Rego (Coach Chris - S1), 23
19. Jason Valenti (MBRC - S2), 23
20. Tim Lefebvre (Jet Fuel - S1), 22
21. Thorben Wieditz (Jet Fuel - S1), 22