Shannon Lawrence and Julia Hawley won the men’s and women’s categories in the Bicycle Works Criterium yesterday.

Matthew Oliveira made an early break with Lawrence in the Adult A category and pulled away with his more experienced competitor to lap the entire field.

Lawrence was clearly the strongest in the category and when he chose to put in a surge to drop Oliveira, the youngster held on to second place to leave the chasing pack battling for the final podium place. Darren Glasford snatched third place out of a group of five riders.

In the B race, teenagers Dylan Hill and Kaden Hopkins took Mark Lombardi and Andrew Soares into an early break and pushed out a lead that nearly lapped the rest of the group. In the final sprint it was down to just three as Hopkins crossed the line in first place, followed by Hill and Lombardi.

Ben Edwards, just 13, turned in a good performance in the C race where he finished third.

Malik Joell, the only Junior A entrant and racing at the same time, stayed with the C leaders and scooped the series points. Joell was part of a four-man group that was leading before the race was marred by a crash just before the finish line as Joell did well to stay with the leaders. Category C was won by Terry Thomas followed by Bradley Matthews and Edwards.

Experienced competitor Hawley topped the women’s category with Earlena Ingham finishing in second place and Tristan Narraway third.

In the Junior C category, Blake Oliveira finished ahead of Adrian McPhee, while newcomer Liam Flannery raced well for third. It was a one-man show in the Junior B division, with Micah Cook taking the win followed by Ensue-Nico Davis and Malik Smith.

The Winners Edge Road Race will take place on Sunday, which will start and finish at Prospect Primary.