BERBICIAN Romello Crawford made it two wins in two weeks when he won the Benjamin Bakery 40-mile cycle road race in Berbice last Sunday and has now established himself as the man to beat for the remainder of the year.

Crawford returned a winning time of one hour 32 minutes 47.47 seconds for the event.

The race pedalled off from outside Benjamin Bakery at Chesney Village, Corentyne and proceeded to Number 43 Village before returning to the point of origin.

With all eyes on Crawford following his win seven days before, another Berbician, Andrew Hicks, took the initiative and went out in an early break, followed closely by the ever-improving Deeraj Gurbarran who is a relative newcomer in the junior category.

The two led the peloton about three quarters of a mile, with Crawford and Alonzo Ambrose finding themselves between the two groups.

The latter pair caught the leaders at the 18-mile mark and together the quartet rode at a slow pace allowing Paul DeNobrega, Christopher Griffith, Dwayne DeAbreu, Junior Niles and Jebon Crawford to pedal their way back into contention with ten miles still left in the race.

In the end Crawford and Ambrose escaped from leading group. The young Berbician proved that he was the better man with a final sprint that forced Alonzo Ambrose to concede well before the finish line.

DeNobrega finished third, Niles fourth, Jebon Crawford fifth and Hicks sixth.

In the junior category, by winning the overall race, Crawford was adjudged the winner with the second place going to Hicks and third to Garbarran.

The event was organised by coach of the Flying Ace Cycle Club (FACC), Randolph Roberts.

The first FACC rider to cross the finish line was Wilber Benjamin followed by his brother, Gary and Curtis Dey in the third position.

In the Under-16 category, the top three finishers were Zamal Khan, Kerri Collins and Chamsehwar Ghanie in that order.