Marino rides off with Beacon opener

CUBAN Joel Marino held off a strong challenge from national road race king Emile Abraham to win the 14-lap event as the Beacon Insurance Cycle Series — The West Indies vs The World — wheeled off around the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain.

It was a neck-and-neck tussle between the duo throughout Wednesday night’s race, organised by Phillips Promotions Limited but, with 300 metres to go, Marino surged ahead to get the chequered flag in one hour, 11 minutes and 40 seconds.

But Tobago-born Abraham blamed a burst chain during his final burst cost him victory on the night, but was pleased with his performance under humid conditions. “The race started extremely fast but I made a tactical move to go on a breakaway with Marino early in the race,” said Abraham. “We worked well together,” he continued, “at one point I thought we could have maintained the gap (with the chasing pack) but coming down to the sprint my gear slipped and he got the better of me.” The crowd of approximately 1,500 watched the see-saw battle between Marino and Abraham, with the Cuban maintaining his advantage for the first eight laps before Abraham took over on the ninth.

The lead continued to alternate between Marino and Abraham during the 10th to 13th laps before the Cuban p edalled to victory on the final lap. It was a clean sweep for the West Indies riders as Guyanese Tyrone Hamilton followed in third spot, ahead of Jamaican Horace McFarlane, the Trinidad and Tobago duo of Roger Farrell and Ako Kellar, and the first “Rest of the World” rider Petr Klimer of the Czech Republic. Sprint events will hold centre stage this weekend at Skinner Park, San Fernando, with today’s events beginning at 7 pm.