Michael Matthews on his way to cleaning up all sprints at Stromlo Forest ParkPhotos courtesy of Greg Long
Michael Matthews (Suzuki/Uno) utterly dominated the tenth edition of the SuperCrit Thursday series, taking out all six sprints to win the race with three times more points then any other rider.
Matthews, fresh from roaring up Mt. Hotham in Victoria's Tour of Bright last weekend, used his sprinting prowess to haul in the majority of his points, before breaking away with hardy escape specialist Marc Williams (Rideshop) to finish the race off with a handy lead over the main field.
Placing second overall was Fabio Calabria (Team Type 1) with Graeme Allbon finishing in third.
Matthews, who was just recently informed of his inclusion into the Australian Institute of Sport for next season, was happy with his win in the windy conditions.
'I've been hanging for another win for a while now' stated Matthews after the race. 'I always enjoy racing hard and today was perfect for me. I like it when the race is tough, but I also like it when there is a bunch sprint, so I guess a pointscore suits me really well because they are hard and there is lots of sprints!'
How it unfolded
Riders were informed just prior to the start that in celebration of the SuperCrit hitting double figures that the race would be in the format of a pointscore rather than the usual standard criterium style of the first 9 rounds.
Upon the starting hooter being sounded the race quickly gained momentum with a few strong surges in pace keep the bunch ticking along prior to the first of six sprints.
Riders haul their way through the hay bales early on
Riders were seen jostling hard for position leading into the whistle for the first sprint with regular racers Justin Tomlinson and Marc Williams pushing up near the front.
First sprint saw Michael Matthews open the scoring with a nicely timed sprint to grab maximum points straight up, closely followed by Allbon, Calabria and Williams.
With the speed being maintained by regular contributions of pace from several riders, the second sprint also commenced all together. Again Matthews preyed on the competition, this time with hard man Simon Niemeyer taking second followed by Calabria and Matthew Meisel-Dennis.
Simon Niemeyer: doing it the hard way off the front
Again the third sprint was conducted with the main group intact. Matthew's demonstrated clearly why he is worth an AIS scholarship with another well timed sprint. This time Calabria managed second with Allbon in third and Adam Phelan sneaking the last points on offer in fourth.
Despite some strong racing and aggression, the fourth sprint was again tackled by a full bunch. Matthews made it four from four, with Calabria snaking in some more big points, Justin Tomlison in third and Meisel-Dennis taking fourth.
Matthews takes sprint four ahead of Calabria, Tomlinson and Meisel-Dennis
This time Matthews, sensing a victory already tied up in his points haul to date, launched up the road with Williams in a bid to seal his win. The duo swapped hard turns to open up a handy advantage over the main field. This aggressive pair maintained their lead to sprint number five, with Matthews out gunning Williams for the big points. Allbon gobbled up the third place on offer from the main group, with Adam Phelan taking fourth.
Dylan Cooper and Graeme Allbon chasing hard
Deane Rogers drives the remnants of the peloton
Strong surges of pace and late attacks marked the final portion of the race leading into the bell lap.
The break on FIRE; Matthews leads Williams in the race to the line
As Matthews nailed his second SuperCrit win of the season by pulling away from Williams in the last run to the line, Allbon fought hard back in the peloton to grab what was left of the double points on offer for the last sprint. Allbon managed get get there in the end, with Calabria pushing him all the way to the line just ahead of Adam Phelan in fifth.
In the final washout of the points, Matthews was clearly the victor, with Calabria just holding on for 2nd place one point clear over Allbon in 3rd. Marc Williams, despite his hard racing in the break finally finishing in 4th with Simon Niemeyer in 5th.
Top 10 Race Results SuperCrit Round #10 - Pointscore Edition1. Michael Matthews 35 points
2. Fabio Calabria 12 points
3. Graeme Allbon 11 points
4. Marc Williams 10 points
5. Simon Niemeyer 3 points
6. Justin Tomlinson 2 points
7. Adam Phelan 2 points
8. Matt Meisel-Dennis 2 points
9. Neil Skipper
10. Simon Dwyer
Photos Courtesy of Greg Long Photography
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