Lonnie Kennedy of Florissant, Mo., has been returning to the Natchez Bicycle Classic every year since competing in the first one in 1989.

But until this year, Kennedy has never been able to claim a win in any of the state races.

Kennedy won the Masters 35+ 1, 2, 3 Trippe’s Western Auto Downtown Criterium, finishing in a time of 53:49

&uot;The people in Natchez have always wanted me to win a race,&uot; Kennedy said. &uot;It took 11 years

Kennedy broke away from the field with three laps remaining and led by more than 30 seconds.

&uot;That was my plan,&uot; said. &uot;I saw the field was getting tired so&160;I decided to go for it. People’s legs were hurting like mine. I tried to do the same thing in the road race, but they chased me down.&uot;

Kennedy, who finished 11th overall, posted a time of 53:49 in the criterium. Joe Todd of Clarkson, Ga., closed the gap a bit in finishing second at 53:53, while Cal Partlow of Fort Walton Beach, Fla., was third at 53:55.

Todd was the overall winner in the Masters 35+ 1, 2, 3 with a time of 3:28:49. Jeff Austin of Austin, Texas was second at 3:28:53.

In the Senior 4, 5 category, Eddie Corcoran of Kenner, La., was the overall winner at 3:21:03. Corcoran won the criterium in 39:45.

Robin Davis of Leeds, Ala., repeated as the Masters 35+ 4, 5 champion with an overall time of 3:22:09. Davis won the criterium in 41:04.

John Johnson of Birmingham, Ala., was second overall at 3:22:27.

In Women’s 1, 2, 3, Lisa Ferris of Austin, Texas was the overall winner at 3:36:14. Ferris finished second in the criterium to Anna Lang of Birmingham, who won with a time of 40:11.

Julie Mallette of Birmingham finished second to Elise Smith of Birmingham to win the overall title in Women’s 4, 5.

&uot;Me and my teammate (Stacey Ramirez) were tied going into the criterium, so we just wanted to make sure our team won,&uot; Mallette said. &uot;We wanted to make sure the girl in third place (Sheri Brown of West Monroe, La.) didn’t finish first. It was awesome to win it since I never won it before.&uot;

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