Three-minute lead is not huge ... but it’s a good lead, says Boros

BRIDGETOWN: It was another strong day from Hungarian star Adrián Boros who took stage two honours, as Bianca Beavitt continued to dominate the ladies race yesterday.

Boros had a slender lead going into the second ‘King Maker’ stage and he showed his prowess in growing his lead over Graeme Solomon to just over three minutes.

“I did make a stupid mistake that got Graeme back into the race when I had to portage,” Boros said.

It was a shortened stage two which means energy levels will not be as depleted as in the past going into the 75km third stage to Zoutkloof today.

“My three minute lead is not huge but it is a good lead to have,” said Boros.

For Bamboo Warehouse’s Graeme Solomon the stage was one to forget.

“With about six kilometres to go I ran too far at the one portage which meant that the bank was too steep for me to get back in whereas Adrian got in a bit earlier where it was shallower.

“He had about one minute, ten seconds on me and I tried to hold that gap but I made one more mistake at a tree block just up from the finish which cost me another couple of minutes,” Solomon said.

Third place overnight Keith Moule finished in a different boat after he did irreparable damage to his kayak.

Taking control of third place was Varsity College’s Tom Lovemore. The Under23 title-seeker finished with Czech paddler Petr Mojžíšek.

Century City/Pink Lady’s Beavitt was more fluent compared to her opening stage offering and with her solid performance came an increase in her overall lead to 31 minutes.

“I saw today as a fresh start despite my lead and the 30km distance is something that we are very used to from our preBerg races so that was good for me,” Beavitt said.

“After about nine kilometres I managed to get into my rhythm and worked hard on the group with the guys.

“You never know what could happen on such a long stage like tomorrow. A lapse in concentration can lead to a costly error so I will have to stay mindful.”

There is an interesting battle playing out behind Beavitt for second and third with Kirsten Penderis holding a 30 second advantage over Robyn Henderson.