It was a hot steamy Gold Coast day, but it didn’t stop hundreds of fans rocking up to the Nerang Cycling Centre for the annual Bendigo Bank New Year’s Day Criterium staged by Cycling Queensland’s “Club of the Year” the Gold Coast Goldstars.

The Carnival started at 10am with a series of Junior races and the crowd continued to build up as the program moved towards the staging of the 2009 Daniel Bennett Memorial Race.

Dozens of tents and shades lined the Nerang course, and fans spread up into the higher slopes to catch all the climbing action.

The feature race, the Daniel Bennett Memorial, attracted a high class field including the likes of Rabobank rider Matthew Hayman, criterium specialist Jon Cantwell and Virgin Blue high flyer, Stephen George.

Cantwell was very aggressive in the early stages of the main race, and Hayman did a power of work to make sure the peleton stayed in touch with the numerous breaks.

The eventual winner though, was the in-form Michael Jackson (Fusion Teschner) who sprinted away in the final straight to record an easy, impressive victory over Stephen George, South Australia’s Chris Luxton and Brad Nightingale (Lifecycle). 

“I could have been a bit optimistic, but I was hoping to win today” Jackson told CSN after the race.

“I’ve been training very well and doing some long Ks, and I was just very happy that it turned out well for me today”.

“It was very steamy today, and the constant hill climbing every lap took its toll on the field. I just tried to use my legs, use some easy gears”.

Jackson had his share of problems during the race, but as riders approached the pointy end of proceedings, Jackson made a jump and went as hard as he could.

“I knew the race would end in a break, and once I was in the break I just had to make sure I looked after myself, and the rest took care of itself”.

“I was worried about Matthew Hayman, of course, and Jonathan Cantwell and Steve George..There was a bunch of good guys out there today”.

Jackson will now focus his attention on doing well at the National Road Race Championships in Ballarat which begin on the11th January.

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