cycling season.

Jeff Payne and Steve Sterritt will battle the humidity and some stiff marking from their opponents when they compete in tomorrow's National Road Race Championships at Clearwater Beach.

The race gets underway at 8.00 a.m. in an effort to provide some relief from what is expected to a demanding day, with top riders racing 70 miles on a hilly five-mile loop.

And in a sport where tactics play a big part of the outcome, Payne, who won last week's National Time Trial Championship to go along with his Heritage Day upset, and Sterritt, who has consistently been the top rider locally this season, figure to draw most of the attention.

Sterritt, back on the Island after competing in the Isle of Man Race Week recently, and Payne will receive challenges from the likes of Mike Lee, Greg Hopkins, Tim Palmer, Mel Bennett, Aaron Schindler and junior sensation Kris Hedges.

These riders will undoubtedly test everyone else's stamina and durability to break the field up. But "should things stay together, the advantage will certainly turn in favour of the sprint specialists such as Damion Wilson, Sinclair Packwood or Wayman Butterfield,'' said Hopkins.

Payne, for one, thinks it's a wide open affair.

"There are probably 10 or 12 people who, if they put it together, can win,'' he said earlier this week.

He also noted one intangible that could ruin even the best plans: Potholes and other obstacles on the course, which weaves through the former US Naval Air Station. "The surface leaves a lot to be desired,'' said Payne.

Melanie Claude, Shona Palmer, Julia Hawley and Laurie Orchard will battle it out for the 30-mile women's crown. Claude outduelled Palmer for the Time Trial Championship last week.

Category Three riders will race over 60 miles, novice and veterans over 50.