Marlon Castillo wins M & M Tour

Good Evening I’m James Adderley and we welcome you to this hefty portion of Sports Monday. So, let’s quickly jump into Stage 8 of the M & M Engineering Cycle Tour where the Yellow Jersey and the other leaders in the various categories are poised in the front of the pack for the big blast off on Saturday.

As the race leaves the Benque Viejo Border Area, Bjorn Anderson, the Swede of Comfort Air is the man to beat and the Yellow Jersey comes into this 112 mile stage 1 minute and 30 seconds ahead of his nearest challenger Todd Hendrickson of Santino’s.

Heading into San Ignacio Town, Shane Vasquez, in familiar territory, mounts this attack that does attract attention.

This view of Shane Vasquez hugging the downhill curve at the foot of the cement hill in San Ignacio certainly demands skill.

Nevertheless, at Central Farm it’s Eric Keim, an American riding for Santino’s, stepping out to take the sprint points.

Heading south on the Hummingbird highway to the turn-around point at Dangriga, Shane Vasquez goes for the over the top hill top points and this time it’s Rayan Dewald, an American of Sun Digital, burning him for the mountain points.

At the turn-around point in Dangriga Eric Keim, in the polka dot jersey, is the first around the round about and of course we do see the defending champion Marlon Castillo in 5th position already on the way back to the finish at the Gap on the Hummingbird Highway – and there’s no Yellow Shirt present right now.

But here is Bjorn Anderson, some 6 minutes later, making the turn at Dangriga’s Drums of Our Fathers Monument.

By the time the race reaches Pomona, it’s Marlon Castillo, the defending champion, who comes in 4 minutes, 44 seconds off the lead in stage 8 behind Anderson, leading a breakaway four that includes John Morales & Carlos Hernandez both of the Guatemala National Team and Walter Gaiten of Nicaragua riding for the Roaring Creek Cycle Club.

The lead 4 sprints for the title at the top of the Gap but it’s Carlos Hernandez, the Guatemalan, who came in 6 minutes, 45 seconds behind the leader, taking the stage win in 4 hours, 39 minutes, 11 seconds; John Morales hangs on for 3rd place while the Nicaraguan Walter Gaiten finishes in 4th; Mike Norton of Sun Digital pulls up 5th and Shane Vasquez round out the top 6 finishers in stage 8. It was over 11 minutes later that the yellow-shirted Bjorn Anderson arrives.

Marlon Castillo
“I noh know if he mi di tek lick when he mi di climb the Gap but I see the team-mates seh da bout time fi attack ah, so di Cuban tell me attack, so I attack. Then di rest of guys she mek I just drive so I just continue and I drive and then we start work with the Guatemalans till we catch the front break. Then we relax wan lee bit, then when we swing two Guatemalans gone, so Eric tell me mek wan attack and go, so I attack and I went and I catch the two Guatemalans.”

Of course, Bjorn Anderson gives us his perspective on the loss of the Yellow Jersey.

Bjorn Anderson, Loses Yellow Jersey
“In our group no one…they had a lot of guys and he had some team-mates there and they didn’t want to any work and there was a big group up ahead that worked well, so you know then the time just flies away.”

James Adderley
“Bjorn did you get the kind of help you would have needed from Comfort Air/Medina House today?”

Bjorn Anderson
“They did the best they could but I would have…to keep the Jersey I would have needed to have guys to help me set a good pace off the climbs and cover all that”

James Adderley
“Welcome to Stage 9 of this M & M Engineering Cycle Classic, 2007 edition. We’ve got to say that after 8 days we’ve got a bunch of riders who have been giving their all so far. However, this is the final stage and after a very magnificent performance by Marlon Castillo, he is back in the Yellow Jersey. Today we say, it’s the last stage, may the best man win”

On day 9 of the M & M Tour the toll is beginning to show on some of the riders, after all we have covered some 502 miles so far. And just before the start of the 90 mile run, from in front of the newly renovated San Ignacio hotel, we can see that there’s a new face amongst the race leaders – and he wears the Yellow, and he is Belizean.

Folks, on the way to Belize City the Santino Team does a very wonderful job of protecting the new race leader, Marlon Castillo. But it quickly becomes obvious that after 8 stages and 502 miles legs are not so fresh, the attacks are far and few in between, and, in fact, Marlon Castillo is enjoying what we call a taxi-ride in the business.

When the race rolls around the Northern Highway for the 1st of 2 laps to conclude, it’s John Morales of the Guatemalan National Team, who came in 44 seconds off the pace, who is in the driver seat since Marlon Castillo has suffered a flat on Central American Boulevard and things are looking muy dangerous.

In fact here’s the race leader trying to get back to the front, being assisted by team-mates Eric Keim and Mateo Cruz.

Now here’s the sprint to the tape and can you believe it people – Gregory Lovell, who had won 3 stages earlier, picks up his 4th stage win by turning on the after burners; Todd Hancock of Bike America is 2nd; under 23 rider Darnell Barrow of Benny’s Megabytes played big today – he finishes 3rd; Seth Handsley, also of Bike America, finishes 4th while his team-mate round out the top 5.

And here’s the Yellow Shirt finishing 19 seconds behind his team-mate Gregory Lovell in stage 8 – of course he finishes on a strange bike.

Nevertheless, 19 seconds behind today, people, is enough to give Marlon Castillo, the defending champion in the M & M Tour, his 2nd M & M Engineering Tour title in a row and we say congratulations.

Marlon Castillo, Winner, M & M Tour
“You noh know how I feel right now. I feel good because I noh think nobody else mi wah do weh I did yesterday and today, so it feel very good man”
“Today, weh all lef fi do, just sit down and relax and mi team will keep everything steady noh, nothing noh fi go lef me so deh do a great job bredda.”

Of the 122 riders that started, only 83 finished the 592 mile tour. Among them is Kenneth Butler, a veteran, who finished almost an hour behind the pace – somehow this Belizean is able to keep his dream alive.

Kenneth Butler, Veteran Cyclist
“Well, as the day go by I find that I was getting stronger and stronger because the workout – as weh I say, I tek it fi di workout. I never did train that hard fi tek par in this tour, so I just tek it as di training and everyday I getting stronger and stronger so I fell like maybe if I was training in the hills I would have done better.”

Walter Gaiten a Nicaragua, riding for Roaring Creek, finished 5th overall – 4 minutes, 57 seconds behind. Mike Norton of Sun Digital Photo finishes 4th – 4 minutes, 38 seconds behind. Carlos Hernandez of the Guatemalan National team, who won Stage 8, finishes 3rd – 2 minutes, 1 second behind the leader. John Morales, also of the Guatemalan National Team, has to settle for 2nd – 44 seconds behind. And, of course, our very own Marlon Castillo is the 2007 M & M Engineering Tour champion.

Eric Keim of Santino’s takes home the Polka Dot, which means that he is King of the Mountains. David Wiswell of Sun Digital winds up with the Sprinters Green. Marlon Castillo also won the best under 23 rider in the Tour, he ends up with the White Jersey. Mike Mille of Bike America winds up with the Masters Red. And we say congratulations to Teddy Vasquez, brother of Shane Vasquez, riding for DX-Cable Decorabanos, he winds up with the best category 3-4-5 Jersey.

So we say to Roque Matus of M & M Engineering, all his sponsors, and all the cyclists and all the entire Belizean community, yeah, we’ve got a good thing – now let’s do it again next year. And, finally, we also say good show to the Guatemalan National Team which emerged as the best team in the Tour. I say to the Guatemalans, Buena trabajo!

In other cycling news, the big Mountain Bike Cross Country for barber shops and base boys comes up this Sunday, February 25th, in a package that runs from the Garbutt Service Station inside Roaring Creek to the Burrell Boom highway junction on the Northern highway. Stay tuned because it’s gonna be big.

In cricket news, play in the National Cricket Competition saw Excellence of Double Head trash St. Paul’s Bank 266 to 54 over the weekend. Sunrise of Lord’s Bank scorched Western Eagles of Rancho Dolores 122 to 36. Brilliant outshone Bright Star 170 to 39 and Wicked 11 of Flowers Bank overwhelmed Campari Fever of Bermudian Landing 105 to 43.

Turning to the B.P.F.L. Pre-season – yesterday at the M.C.C. Grounds saw F.C. Belize hosting Suga Boys Juventus of Orange Walk as Oliver Hendricks tries to give his team the early lead.

We’re at the 37th minute when Rogel Alamilla’s centre into the danger zone is allowed to roll to Christopher Hendricks, who gives Juventus a 1-zip lead to take to the locker room.

In 2nd half F.C. Belize comes out roaring back – goalkeeper Venatio Sutherland fumbles the easy floater – Jeremy James makes him pay by tying the ballgame.

10 minutes later, Jeremy James is at it again – staying with this play to score his 2nd of the match – F.C. Belize goes on to club Suga Boys Juventus – 2-1 in regulation play.

In other results Tex Boys bombed Revolutionary Conquerors 5-1; Belmopan edged Santel’s 1-nil and Alpha blanked san Pedro Costa Del Sol/Nairi’s 2-zip.

Hey folks, certainly hope you enjoyed the show. That’s it for today though. We invite you back same time, same place, next week. Jah over all, I’m James Adderley.