March 6, 2005 – It’s becoming a very familiar site: Gord Fraser of the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis crossing the finish line of the McLane Pacific Downtown Grand Prix, arms raised in victory. This afternoon, under sunny skies, Fraser won his fourth consecutive Downtown GP.

The 50-lap race didn’t really get interesting until the final 12 laps, when Colavita-Sutter Home massed its troops at the front to try to control the end of the race. But with three to go, several Health Net Presented by Maxxis riders began to infiltrate the bunch.

“Colavita had a lot of guys up there,” Fraser said, “but we have so much experience with (John) Lieswyn, (Mike) Sayers, (Chris) Wherry and Ivan (Dominguez), and we had some good work from Doug Ollerenshaw, too.”

Going into the first turn of the last lap, Wherry and Sayers pulled Fraser and Dominguez up to the front on the inside. “We were patient until a lap to go,” Fraser said. “We wanted to wait as late as possible and not be the first team to commit. We pretty much overpowered them on the last lap.”

A minute later, Fraser crossed the line ahead of J.J. Haedo and Sebastian Alexander of Colavita. After finishing his lead-out, Dominguez held on for 5th place. “I felt good in the sprint,” Fraser said. “It’s good to start the NRC with win.”

Sunday, Health Net Presented by Maxxis is back in action at the McLane Pacific Foothills Road Race, which Fraser also won in 2004.