demonstrated on Sunday when he just kept going and going to win Bermuda Bicycle Association's 55-mile road race.

Payne edged out Kevin Topple in an exciting finish to take Category Two honours with both recording the same time. Most of the top riders were in action in preparation of the upcoming Bermuda Grand Prix next month.

The course, the conditions and the way the race unfolded suited Payne perfectly as his renowned ability to stay with a hard but consistent pace enabled him to take charge in the latter stages on a hot and humid day.

The four-mile loop course had a mixture of hills, fast, flat stages and right technical turns, none of which on the day appeared to trouble Payne who was able to counter all moves during the race.

In the early stages, with all the categories racing together, the top juniors and veterans played an active part in the way the race unfolded with Tyler Butterfield and Nuri Lathan watching each other's move and veterans Jim Butterfield and newcomer Peter Eccles covering each other every turn of the pedals.

As the junior race moved into its final two laps, the main field agreed to ease off their pace to allow the youngsters their own space to compete for honours.

Butterfield and Lathan broke away from Jonathan Herring and from there on it was a cat and mouse race between the two which saw Lathan, renowned for his finishing sprint, overcoming a hard working Butterfield for the victory by a mere three seconds.

It was the same story as the veterans came to the end of their race but this time it was Jim Butterfield who had the speed to pass Eccles, who had won the previous two races, for a close finish which saw them recording the same time.

In the Category Three race, which finished one lap later, Vance Stevens was an easy winner. Having stayed with the top riders, he finished eight minutes ahead of Pete Matcham and 14 ahead of Duncan Simons. It was an equally impressive performance by the Island's top female cyclist Melanie Claude who finds herself having to compete against the men as she finished 12 minutes ahead of Kim Mason.

With the field now left to the Category Two riders, Payne, Kevin Topple, MacInnis Looby and Greg Hopkins, enjoyed a big lead over the rest of the riders left in the race. Hopkins was the first to fall off the pace with two laps to go, leaving the other three to fight for podium places.

On one of the many hills on the course, Topple broke away and appeared to be the strongest until the never-say-die Payne bridged the gap to leave Looby in no-man's land and that's the way remained for the last lap.

Payne and Topple traded the lead until the final hill when Topple went for the finish early but a determined Payne was having none of it as he matched Topple all the way and edged him at the finish as both recorded a time of two hours, 19 minutes, 13 seconds.

Looby finished third, Hopkins fourth and Mel Bennett fifth.

In other categories Mike Jeffries was first novice, Nick Taylor won the 13-14 boys, Matthew Herring the 11-12 boys and Rashun Burch the under 10s.