Murtho Road, 17/4/2016
Sunday the 17th of April saw the Riverland Cycling Club hold their annual Bob Francis Memorial Handicap Road Race. Bob’s son Peter Francis was there to meet and greet the riders and enjoy the action as the riders’ race in Bob Francis’ memory.
11 riders nominated to race today on the notorious Murtho Road, with a 50km road race in store. First group to leave was the quartet of Glen O’Brien, Terry Bond, Peter Weston and Angelo Ylia. Nine minutes later the terrific trio of Clayton Bond, Lee Rasheed and Peter Burr were away. A further 8 Minutes later the dynamic duo of Ken Ridley and Lee Stevens set off. At 22 minutes from the limit riders was the solo scratch man of Matthew Benson. Last but not least was Tyler Stevens 28 minutes behind the first riders but only needing to complete 30 km.
All riders took full advantage of the tail wind for the outward leg recording fast average speeds. Peter Burr pushed the pace in his trio, dropping Lee Rasheed early with Clayton Bond eventually succumbing to the pace before the turn around. Ridley and Stevens swept these two riders up and set about catching the other riders left in front of them. In the chase group Benson caught the remaining riders left in front of him and subsequently left them eating his dust. Unfortunately his effort was to no avail as Weston, Ylia, O’Brien and Terry Bond proved too good. After catching Tyler Stevens they rode to the finish line untroubled with these riders filling the top five placings.
Peter Francis was there to present the trophies and medals to the place getters. All riders were appreciative of Peter’s continued support of this event. Next week the Riverland Cycling Club will be racing at Lyrup with a 0930 race start.
Result
1st Terry Bond
2nd Peter Weston
3rd Glen O'Brien
4th Tyler Stevens
5th Angelo Ylia
6th Matthew Benson Fastest Time)
7th Peter Burr
8th Clayton Bond
9th Lee Stevens
10th Lee Rasheed
11th Ken Ridley