GEELONG teenage cycling sensation Leigh Howard yesterday became the sixth most successful rider in the history of the 12 year-old Scody Cup National Cycling Series.

Howard, 19, won his sixth career race in the Caribou Publications promoted series and although he is still well behind runaway leader Robert McLachlan (19 wins), he has Brett Aitken (9), Wesley Sulzberger (7), Robert Tighello (6) and Grant Irwin (6) in his sights.

Howard produced a whirlwind sprint finish to win the 33 km criterium, which was the second leg of the Australian Cycling Grand Prix (ACGP) which forms part of the 2008 Scody Cup.

The Scody Cup is the new name of the series once known as the Tattersall's Cup and last year, the Timbercorp Cup, and it includes 145 individual races dating back to the 1996 Bellarine Peninsula one day tour.

Whilst Howard ended up on the number one position on the podium yesterday, he was rarely spotted throughout the 30 laps, instead preserving his energy for the final sprint.

Virgin Blue Cycling team-mates David Kemp and Bernard Sulzberger, the current leader of the Scody Cup, were staging their own private war for the intermediate sprint championship.

Kemp won the first two sprints and a couple of minor placings had him holding a handy lead over the Tasmanian, but Sulzberger was not wearing the number one saddlecloth for no reason.

Sulzberger won the third, seventh, 10th and 11th sprints to edge past the Queensland based Kemp.

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