One week after out sprinting Alanzo Greaves to win the third leg of the Cheddi Jagan Memorial event in Essequibo, Godfrey Pollydore took his talents to the National Park and recorded his second victory of the season.
The top veteran who seems to be rounding into form, edged Team Coco’s standout, Michael Anthony in a thrilling two-man sprint finish to cart off the spoils of the feature 35-lap event of the inaugural Star Party Rental 11-race programme.
Besides taking the winner’s trophy in one hour and 17 minutes, Pollydore also sped off with two sprint prizes.
Robin Persaud joined Pollydore and Anthony on the podium while Mario King, Alonzo Ambrose and Paul Choo-Wee-Nam completed the top six paid positions.
Sprint prizes also went to Anthony (one), Persaud (one), King (one), Ambrose (two) and Orville Hinds.
The event rolled off at a fair pace and all the riders were still bunched together at the ninth lap. One lap later Ambrose made a solo move.
He was however wheeled in by the pack five laps later. At this point several groups of riders staged attacks but the main bunch reconnected every time.
In the 25th lap however, the top six riders broke away from the field and were never caught.
Five laps later, Pollydore and Anthony changed gears and separated from the four other wheelsmen.
Pollydore and Anthony journeyed together until 200m from the line. From there, team work was thrown out the window and a fierce sprint to the tape ensued. Armed with superior sprinting ability and experience, Pollydore was simply too much for the 17-year old.
Before the feature event, Junior Niles took the top podium spot and sprint prize in the veteran’s under 50-year, five-lap race, besting Wilbert Benjamin and Shameer Baksh who finished second and third respectively. Linden Blackman won the Over-50 category from Virgil Jones and Courtney Hackett.
Jeremiah Harrison rode away with the BMX Boys’ 6-9 event from Sherwin Sampson and Esau Jaisingh. Thuran Garbarran was the only starter in the BMX Boys’ 9-12 race and subsequently took the winner’s trophy after completing the race.
In the BMX Boys’ 12-14 category, Stephan Wilkinson took the top honours ahead of Sherwin Forde and Tariq Khan while Rawle Small defeated Daniel Vorsey and Keron Rutherford to take the spoils of the BMX open event.
Avish Ramkellawan was the winner of the 12-14 Boys and Girls race ahead of Ovish Leonard. Ramkellawan also won the sprint prize.
Roy Mendonca rode away with the Veterans’ Over-60 trophy (only starter) while Romello Crawford took the top position in the Juveniles 10-lap event. Stepano Husbands and Andre Green occupied the second and third spots respectively. Green however rode away with a sprint prize each.
Ozia MacAulay carted off the spoils for Mountain Bike race along with the prime prize ahead of arch rivals, Clyde Jacobs and Emmanuel Gayrol.
Notes: There were 27 starters for the feature event. CEO of Star Party Rentals, Lennox Cush pledged his continued support stating that “it would not be a one-off sponsorship”. Cush along with organizer of the event, Hassan Mohamed, also congratulated the cyclists for making the event a success.
