Cycling
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PEGGY Carpenter capped off a memorable season by taking the overall Tom's Cycle City Cup crown with a superb ride in the final round on Sunday.
Carpenter finished second on the day to Frank Signor but it was enough to secure the title in perfect conditions at the Thorne Road course.
With six riders still in contention for the overall title the handicapper split the field into five groups.
All eyes were on the limit group with both Carpenter and Signor in the hunt for the title. They were joined by Alan Jones and Steven Rovere and enjoyed an 18:00 minute start.
Group 4 had another two title contenders in Bron Jones and Jenni Massey along with Paul Muir, Rob Gee and Dick Hore.
This group was chasing 5:00 minutes to the leaders and were 13:00 in front of scratch.
Group 3 contained Gary Polkinghorne, Franz Andres and Damien Giason and had a start of 8:00 minutes.
The chopping block group was three riders strong with Kingsley Massey, Frank Mastrobattista and Phil Twigg awarded a 2:00 minute handicap.
Mal Blake, Paul Clancy and David Alpen were the scratchmen.
At the halfway point it was still anyone's race but the limit riders were riding well despite shedding Rovere.
Massey and Jones in the group behind were riding hard to try to make the catch but with one lap to go they still were chasing a good lead.
With 800m to the line the limit trio had the race sewn up and Signor used his speed to take another win to add to his career. Carpenter took second with Jones in third.
Bron Jones sprinted well to take fourth with Jenni Massey fifth and Paul Muir rounding out the top six.
Paul Clancy took fastest time honours on 60:00 minute neat.
The final Tom's Cycle City Cup results had Peggy Carpenter the winner on 119 points, Bron Jones second with 111 and Peter Stockwell rounding out the podium on 110.
Frank Signor was joint fourth with Jenni Massey on 108, followed by Michael Taylor (107), Peter Budd (99), Kingsley Massey (98), Alan Jones (97) and Mal Blake (96).
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THIS weekend will see the Griffith Cycle club riders saddle up for the final race of 2013 with the running of the Hanwood Cup.
This is a long-standing trophy race in the handicap format with a race distance of 42km.
The back markers have had a tough season chasing the front markers all year without much success.
A month ago they smashed the course record and they will need to be in that sort of form if they are to be able to sprint for the win.
The front markers have ridden well all year with just a little help from the handicapper and there is no reason to think that they won't continue that form for the cup.
Look out for Frank Signor again with his strong sprint but Bron Jones also has plenty of speed.
Racing gets under way at 9am at the Thorne Road course.