Aussies Tahiti-bound
Illawarra Mercury
Tuesday August 1, 2000
Former Figtree cyclist Danny Hennessy now lives and works in Canberra, but his thirst for elite international road cycling has not diminished.
With attention focused on the recent Tour de France, Hennessy will again be leading an Australian team to the seventh annual Tour de L'amitie on August 8-12 in Tahiti.
Once again Hennessy has assembled a strong team for this year's Tour de L'amitie (the Friendly Tour) which will be increased from five to eight days in 2000.
Competitors will come from France, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Tahiti and Australia.
Hennessy has been in all seven Friendly Tours - winning in 1993 and 1996 and runner-up in 1995, 1997 - and he will ride for Team Wheels in Motion.
The team consists of team manager/captain Hennessy, Marek Jankowski of Newcastle, David Browne of Maroubra, Josh Fleming of Sutherland, Nigel Dunstone of Leeton and masseur Malcolm Coulter, of Canberra.
Jankowski has been the mechanic for the successful MROZ/Poland team in the Commonwealth Bank Cycle Classic.
The team competed successfully at the NSWCF (NSW Cycling Federation) Two Day Tour at Tamworth on July 22-23.
Browne was first in stage one B grade, Jankowski second in stage three and fourth overall in B grade, Fleming eighth overall in A grade, Dunstone 16th overall in A grade and Hennessy second in stage three and fourth overall in A grade.
As one of Australia's leading mountain bikers, Fleming adds strength to the team.
Currently ranked four in Australia and first reserve for the Sydney 2000 Olympics, Fleming placed 48th at the recent world championships in Spain.
Other team support has come from Euro Sunglasses, Vittoria, Bell Sports and Rebel Sport.
Berry cyclist Guy Mathiske will be riding in the Tour de L'amitie with brothers Teva and Jonathan Crawford in a Tahitian team.
***
For the first time in three years it didn't rain at Oakdale for round four of the interclub series, much to the relief of riders, officials and spectators.
Known as a fast course, it didn't disappoint last Saturday.
Even the bunches around the outer marks were still able to record average speeds in the mid to high 30s.
This obviously made it difficult for the scratch riders to make time on the other groups.
In fact Chris Brown pulled out after two of the three laps and said the scratch bunch had almost been averaging 50km/h but was making little inroad in the gap to the next bunch.
As with previous races the 16-minute bunch looked good with Pat Delahunty and Sarah DeJong doing a lot of the work.
The main move was coming from the 11min and 12:30 bunch, both had closed down the gap to the next group by a minute on the first of three laps.
The bunches further back just seemed to be keeping pace with each other and not decreasing the gaps at all.
Illawarra was well represented in the back bunches with riders contributing to the momentum of their respective packs.
Mick Lockyer, Frank Soto and Frank Tortorici were pushing the three-minute bunch along as was Marcus Arnold, Lou Palermo and Austin Pitman in the 5:30 bunch.
Dave Gray and Rob Calladine were the pacesetters in the 7:30 bunch with Dylan Forbes and Lionel Covington trying to keep the speed up in the 9:00 bunch.
Other riders trying their hardest to get their bunch up were Dave Morris, Adam Hotchkis, Andrew Telford, Sid Brown, Joe Pereira, Scot Turnbull, Anthony DeBoer, Jason Johnson and Phil Jones.
At the start of the third and final lap it was apparent that the large group consisting of the 11:00, 12:30 and 14:00 bunches was going to supply the winner.
The 16:00 bunch was swallowed up creating a group of around 40 riders.
As the riders came around the final corner into the uphill straight there was a smattering of Illawarra shirts at the front.
The speed built up as the sprint started and the front of the group thinned out dramatically.
Johnson was on the front and having one hell of a battle with Mick Shannon from Nowra, with two more Illawarra riders on his wheel.
The two swapped the lead several times over the final 100m but Johnson prevailed on the line for a well-deserved win.
Hotchkis came in third and Andy Shannon (no relation to Mick) a creditable fifth.
In an excellent sprint, Lockyer led the three-minute bunch over the line to claim fastest time.
In the overall series standings Sarah DeJong is fourth and Frank Tortorici equal fifth.
Chris Brown is still the leader in the fastest time competition and Illawarra has moved into second place in the club competition.
Next week's event is a 56km scratch race, three laps to Marshal Mount hall, group one to supply the marshals.
The following week is the club time trial championships.
***
Illawarra teenager Brendan Cato scored the best result of his short cycling career when he won the highly competitive under 19 division of the State time trial championships at Calga on Sunday.
Cato's winning time was 39:41 for the tough 28km course.
What makes it even more impressive is that Cato is only a first-year under 19.
He beat a top field consisting of second year under 19 riders as well as the NSW team fresh from the national road cycling championships held in Tasmania a fortnight ago.
This 17-year-old rider, who is a member of the Illawarra Academy of Sport Ansett cycling squad, obviously has a bright future.
In true Illawarra club spirit, Jason Micaleff lent Cato a time trial bike.
Maybe due to his triathlon background, Cato is featuring as a time-trial specialist.
Several other Illawarra riders also went up to Calga for the titles.
Rob Calladine rode well to claim bronze and Frank Soto was pleased with his ninth place in a hot field.
One rider who just seems to improve with age is John Groom, who added the State gold medal to his collection after winning three at the recent NSW Masters Games.
Groom won by more than a minute to the second placegetter.
© 2000 Illawarra Mercury