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The Canadian Champon, Friday August 21, 1998 -1 7 SPORTS TE eCANADIANdCsAMPION FRIDAY AUGUST 21, 1998 Cseffi rebounds to win national downhill title By STEVE LeBLANC The Champion Eric Cseff is still the downhill dominator. The local mountain bike racer successful- ly defended his national men's downhill crown Saturday at Silver Star, British Columbia. Negotiating the two kilometre course and its dread- ed 1,000 foot vertical drop in near flawless fashion, the two time champion clocked in at 3:08:03 - almost a full minute ahead of silver medalist Brant Lyon of Victoria. "Training went really well last week and I felt pre- pared for the race," explained 20-year-old Cseff. "I just had one minor bobble up top but I relaxed after that and went clean and smooth. "You have to be on your game at nationals. If you make one mistake, there'll always be somebody who will capitalize on it and beat you." The victory was a big boost for the five-year racing veteran, whose season has been marred by an ear infection. As a result, his plans to repeat as Canada Cup series winner were quashed. Saturday's race - the last on the seven-event circuit - pushed him into third place. Said Cseff, "The ear infection made racing very tough. Overall this wasn't a great season for me." Silver for Redden Twenty-four hours after Cseff dominated downhill competition, fellow Milton area rider Chrissy Redden struck silver in the women's cross-country race. It was ber third national medal in as many years. The 31-year-old Campbellville native suffered leg cramps over the final stretch of the grueling trek, which cost her a legitimate shot at overtaking eventual champ Alison Sydor - who's ranked number one on the World Cup scene. She finished the 36 km course in 2:12:15, seven minutes behind Sydor and exactly two minutes ahead of bronze medalist Amber Chomey of Victoria. "I had raced in Silver Star, BC twice before but both times the course was quite wet," Redden recalled. "This time around it was bone dry, which made cer- tain parts very loose and much more technical. "My strategy was to stay as close to Alison (Sydor) as I could and wait for her to make any kind of mis- take. Unfortunately, she had a stronger run than I thought she would." As the race progressed Redden gained more and more time on the third and fourth place riders, which afforded her some breathing room over the last lap when an aftemoon cold front caused her legs to cramp up. "The day before had been extremely hot so the sud- den, drastic change really played with my system. All things considered I guess I had a pretty good perfor- mance," she said. Redden is currently enjoying her best-ever season on the international front. She sits eighth in the World Cup series with just one race remaining next month in Bromont, Quebec. Her overali top 10 standing comes on the strength of seventh-place finishes in Germany and Portugal this summer. Both she and Cseff will cap their respective seasons on September 20 at the World Championships in Mount St. Anne, Quebec. "I've raced there on four previous occasions so I'm hoping to improve on last year's (World) perfor- mance, hopefully with a top 40 showing," said Cseff. Bantams ride streak to crown, win central loop championship me pnoo oy unAHArMAINmE Eric Cseff has overcome some reverses this year to successfully defend his downhill racing championship. Hudak gets to quarters Milton's Dave Hudak reached the quar- 6-2 to third seed Bil Anderson and Derek terfinals of 45-and-over men's doubles at Thomas of London. the recent Canadian Outdoor Senior In singles play, Hudak lost 6-1, 6-3 to Tennis Championships. Toronto's Lou Marteaux in the second He and partner Daryl Howes-Jones of round. Kitchener defeated a Toronto duo 6-3, 6-3 "The competition was extremely tough," in tbe round of 16 before falling 6-0, 6-7, said the local player. Milton's major bantams rode a three-game win streak to the Central Ontario Baseball Association (COBA) single A crown last weekend in Mississauga. The Red Sox sewed up the championship Saturday with a 4-2 decision over Cawthra, whose offensive spark was silenced by Michael Volpe's superb pitch- ing. Providing the go-ahead run was Mark Black, who belted a fourth inning double that cashed in Paul Duff. The title gaine was a return engagement from the night before when the local boys outdistanced Cawthra 5-2 - thanks in large part to Volpe's two- run homer in the third. Kevin Cooper and Rich Gostlin combined for an effective one-two punch on the mound, with Cooper bearing the brunt of the work over the opening five frames. Sandwiched between their two-game sweep of Cawthra was a 14-2 annihilation of the Bloor Jays, who were no match for the Red Sox' ferocious attack. Duff crushed a two-run dinger in this one while Volpe lashed out a pair of doubles. Evan Jeans - who did a great job catching in all three contests - hit a two-bagger as well. Holding Bloor batters in check were Gostlin and Ryan Harper. Milton came up with near-flawless defence at the COBA championships. Cooper, Black and Jeff Shouten handled the infield bits in expert fashion while Volpe and Justin Mastrangelo made some high- ly impressive fly ball catches. "We've had strong defense all season long and I knew that could carry us through," said manager Herlo Hatje, who leads the team alongside coaches Larry Black, Gary Cooper and Jeff Harper. Making up the rest of the COBA championship squad are Zack Cosby, Chris Dumencu, Robert Hatje and T.J. Monaghan. 17