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Durban - Team BMC sprinter Dusty Day snatched victory in an incident-laced criterium at the Gateway Theatre of Shopping with a crucial sprint win on the final lap to oust Tasol GT star David Maree.
Maree and Day traded points for the key sprint lap wins throughout the hour long race, held in tricky windy weather, with regular light drizzle making conditions on the cobblestone track tricky for the riders.
"It is a great victory for Team BMC," enthused Day afterwards. "Our year started badly so it is great to be able to win this one. We have had some great tussles with the Tasol GT team in recent weeks. We beat them two weeks ago in the 100 mile race, and it was important to be able to win again tonight."
"I started the race really not feeling very good, but as the race wore on I started feeling better," Day said. "Every time the Tasol GT guys attacked I screamed to my teammates to go harder and make it tough."
"I was struggling with the home straight as well - it felt really bumpy," Day explained. "Then I found that it was a lot smoother down the left and right sides, so that's where I raced, and it helped."
"It was tough out there," said Tasol GT rider Richard Baxter. "As a team we like to control the race, and make it a bit more stop-and-go. But the BMC guys just went flat out. They had numbers at the front and that meant that they could control things."
"The change to the top corner also made the course a lot more technical when they moved the corner closer," he added.
Early on in the race water from the shopping malls sprinkler system was blown onto the track by the strong southerly winds, causing a mass pile-up that took three of the six riders in the Tasol GT team out of the race.
The wind also blew down a section of perimeter fending above the finish but fortunately quick reactions from the event organisers ensured that this did not interfere with the race.
The race commissars kept the race in suspension until the course was changed to avoid the water on the road caused by the drifting sprinkler water, after which the racing returned to full throttle action.
The aQuellé Tour Durban presented by Spur road race takes place on Sunday 29 April 2012.
Summary of results:
Criterium
1.Dusty Day (Team BMC) 22
2.David Maree (Team Tasol GT) 18
3.Dino van Heerden 8
Maree and Day traded points for the key sprint lap wins throughout the hour long race, held in tricky windy weather, with regular light drizzle making conditions on the cobblestone track tricky for the riders.
"It is a great victory for Team BMC," enthused Day afterwards. "Our year started badly so it is great to be able to win this one. We have had some great tussles with the Tasol GT team in recent weeks. We beat them two weeks ago in the 100 mile race, and it was important to be able to win again tonight."
"I started the race really not feeling very good, but as the race wore on I started feeling better," Day said. "Every time the Tasol GT guys attacked I screamed to my teammates to go harder and make it tough."
"I was struggling with the home straight as well - it felt really bumpy," Day explained. "Then I found that it was a lot smoother down the left and right sides, so that's where I raced, and it helped."
"It was tough out there," said Tasol GT rider Richard Baxter. "As a team we like to control the race, and make it a bit more stop-and-go. But the BMC guys just went flat out. They had numbers at the front and that meant that they could control things."
"The change to the top corner also made the course a lot more technical when they moved the corner closer," he added.
Early on in the race water from the shopping malls sprinkler system was blown onto the track by the strong southerly winds, causing a mass pile-up that took three of the six riders in the Tasol GT team out of the race.
The wind also blew down a section of perimeter fending above the finish but fortunately quick reactions from the event organisers ensured that this did not interfere with the race.
The race commissars kept the race in suspension until the course was changed to avoid the water on the road caused by the drifting sprinkler water, after which the racing returned to full throttle action.
The aQuellé Tour Durban presented by Spur road race takes place on Sunday 29 April 2012.
Summary of results:
Criterium
1.Dusty Day (Team BMC) 22
2.David Maree (Team Tasol GT) 18
3.Dino van Heerden 8
