Bryan McCrystal has now won three races in the National Road Series and looks in a great position to claim overall victory (Photo: Sean Rowe)
By Brian Canty
Bryan McCrystal cemented his position at the top of the National Road Series league table on Sunday when he won the feature race in Leinster; the Slaney CC-promoted Eddie Tobin Memorial in Bunclody.
The Team Asea man crossed the line on his own after dropping runner-up Mark Dowling (DID Electrical Dunboyne) on the last lap and time-trialling his way to the finish.
The win means he’s now taken victories in three of the four provinces; the Wallace Caldwell Memorial race in Ulster and Davis Cup in Connacht earlier in the season, allied to yesterday’s win.
“I wanted to race and it fitted in well because I’m targeting the series so I had to keep my points ticking over,” he said.
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“But I didn’t recruit all the boys in the team to come down and do a job,” he added of the squad new to the scene this year with some of the best riders in the country in its ranks.
“So it was just me and Joe (Fenlon) but looking around the car park there were a good few heads and I thought it’d be a hard day, though it worked out well.”
Big guns McCrystal and Dowling before the Team Asea man managed to shake clear on his own on the final lap to win (Photo: Sean Rowe)
The Dundalk man opted to keep his powder dry in the early part of the race and let the usual fireworks happen.
“Eoin Morton (UCD CC) was very eager and he was lighting matches but nothing was sticking,” explained the eventual winner.
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“A lot of lads were strong and weren’t letting anything away so I just bided my time and let the racing happen. It wasn’t up to me to be the instigator.”
The race began to fragment so McCrystal decided to make his move, going clear with Paul O’Reilly (Fixx Rouleurs) and bridging to two who had already gone clear; the aforementioned Dowling and Dairen Feely (iTap).
“We got working together honestly but the bunch was closing so I put an effort in and Mark came with me and we got working again.
“Then with about three-quarters of a lap to go I just said I’d light one good match and rode tempo to the finish.
“It was a hill finish; Mark knows what I have and I know what he has. So I wasn’t going to leave it until the hill.”
Eddie Tobin Memorial, A1-A2 (130km)
1 Bryan McCrystal (Team Asea)
2 Mark Dowling (DID Dunboyne)
3 Eoin Morton (UCD CC)
4 Dermot Radford (Tipperary Wheelers)
5 Martin Mizgajski (Rossbury Racing Club)
6 Daire Feeley (iTap)
7 Cian Delaney (Stamullen M Donnelly)
8 Robin Kelly (Waterford Racing Club)
Unplaced A2
1 Aaron Buggle (Fixx Coffee)
2 Valerio di Bacco (Galway Bay CC)
3 Darragh Bailey (iTap)
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