Post date: Feb 02, 2015 12:55:16 PM
Hello Vets,
In this week's Bleat;
• From the President
• Handicapping
• Interstate Events
• Racing this Week
• Race Reports
Please send me your contributions at: TheBleat@actvets.cc
Ian Morton
Welcome back Vets Members to 2015. While January has seen our Criterium and Track program continue, we are starting to ramp up the road program - see the calendar included with the 12 January 2015 Bleat. Our first road race for the year will be on Sunday 15 February at Lookout a Hill/Apollo Road, and the following Sunday will be a time trial at Uriarria. The President will be making a welcome return to racing starting at these events - fit or otherwise - following an injury interrupted 2014 and encourages other members, not recently seen out on the tarmac, to do likewise.
The President and Committee extend sincere condolences to the family of noted Canberra cyclist and former Vets member who passed away from his injuries following an accident at Deakin last week. The family has asked for privacy at this tragic time in their lives.
Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Special General Meeting (SGM) Financial members will have received papers in the mail (that's the old style 'snail mail') advising of these two meetings on 18 February 2015. The SGM is to vote on resolutions to modernise our constitution to conform to the 2012 ACT Government model rules and with some very sensible changes: - like being able to do such things electronically, i.e. without sending out 'snail mail'; - changing our financial year to end 31 December; - make some sensible changes to committee numbers and flexibility; - avoid impractical strictures in issuing receipts, etc. In my opinion, these desired changes are uncontroversial and sensible. If anyone has any issue with them, I invite you to contact me at president@actvets.cc.
Members are invited to the AGM on 18 February to have their say in the running of the club, including the election of the 2015 Committee. I will be re-standing for President in 2015 and will be encouraging the 2014 office holders and committee to re-stand in 2015 to continue the good work that they have achieved in 2014. Any items for the General Business agenda item should be advised to the secretary 14 days in advance of the meeting.
Following the notable Blick/Franklin case in Canberra last year where one cyclist was successful in suing another cyclist for damages due to negligence in causing his injuries, your Committee sought assurances from our peak body, the Australian Veterans' Cycling Council (AVCC) that our insurance policy covers such events. Our 2014 insurance underwriter, could not clarify this sufficiently, consequently the AVCC has had its broker place our insurance with another underwriter from 1 January 2015 which does. We are awaiting finalisation of the policy details, but have been assured that we are now covered for such events on a 24/7 basis. I will keep members updated on this important topic.
Regards
Alex O'Shea
President
From the Handicapper this week;
• Luke Austin B -> A
And a reminder that riders are not to downgrade themselves without approval from the Handicapper.
• 2015 Riverina Rush Cycling Classic - Narrandera
- 28 Feb - Twilight Criterium
- 1 Mar - Road Cycle Classic
for more information contact Gerry Daly
Where: Stromlo Forrest Park
Sign on: 15 mins before scheduled start time wearing your registered number.
Race Description:
G Grade@ 5:45 - 13min + 2 laps; C/D Grade@ 6:07 - 30min + 2 laps; E/F Grade@ 6:45 - 25min + 2 laps; A/B Grade@ 7:18 - 40min + 2 laps
Race Director: Mick Donaldson
Contact: Email: mdonaldson@netspeed.com.au Ph 0418 486 367 or 6241 8294
The nominated marshals for this event are;
• Damien Obst
• Alex Sommariva
Please confirm with the Race Director that you are available. If you unable to make the date that you have been rostered please find a replacement.
The Program for Wednesday is as follows:
5.30pm – 6.00pm: Warm-up and free practice;
6.00pm – 6.20pm: 12-lap Graded scratch race;
6.20pm – 7.10pm: 2-Lap Handicap;
7.10pm – 7.20pm: 6-Lap Snowball;
7.20pm – 7.40pm: 6-Lap scratch (All in with B Grade early start).
Where: Dairy Rd, Fyshwick.
When: Starting at 8:00 am
Sign on: 15 mins before scheduled start time wearing your registered number.
Race Description: Points Race - C/D @ 8am – 40 + 1 lap; A/B @ 8:50am – 50 + 1 lap; E/F/G @ 9.50am – 30 + 1 lap; Sprint Prime 2nd every lap.
Race Director: Nick Boylan
Contact: Email paddlepower@grapevine.com.au Ph 0450962680
The nominated marshals for this event are;
• Paul Scherl
• Paul Robey
• Ben Robey
The nominated marshals for the next two weeks are;
- Feb 10 @ Stromlo: Ben Vagnarelli, Braham Hart
- Feb 15 @ Lookout Hill: Des Brown, Richard Gorrell, Mark Harris, Peter Harding, Phillip Walker
- Feb 17 @ Stromlo: Sue Frost, Luke McGowan
- Feb 22 @ Uriarra: Tom Hartley, Simon Milnes, Marc Vroomans, Bruce Jones, Terrence Merrigan
It was a cool evening with an Easterly cross wind of about 20-25kph. Consequently most grades came right down the grandstand edge of the track. This led to a fall in B Grade as John Thorn found he had nowhere to go and slipped off the track into the gravel. There was also a fair lip on the edge of the track at this point. It is surprising how many falls occur in the straight, especially when there is a cross wind causing riders to weave around and cram up on one side of the track.
Otherwise it was a good night of racing. Paul Frankcom won A Grade from a field of 15 riders after Mark Carmody and Marc Vroomans attempted a break early in the race. Luke Austin won B Grade in the largest field of the night, 24 riders, with a couple of riders including Tim Minehan trying to get away early but they were back in the bunch with 25 minutes to race.
C Grade had a small field of 5, and they rode together like a teams pursuit squad with Chris Con winning the sprint. It seemed to me that Michael Chant did much of the work, but he lost out in the sprint. Michael Hanbury won D, but there were plenty of chances coming into Collarbone. With two and a half laps to go the tandem of Emert and Barlow swept past the field in the back straight and no-one followed, it looked like they might stay away, but that was not to be.
Alex Sommariva won E Grade from 12 riders and Anthony Hulme won F Grade from 7 riders. Both bunches pretty much stuck together. Bernie and Heather raced in G with Heather finishing in front.
Prior to each race I reminded everyone not to overtake on the inside or cross wheels on the inside coming into corners. Again I’ll make that point here as I believe this is one of the most scary practices in criteriums. I hate to hear that last second call for room from a rider who has snuck up on my inside and is sitting behind my peripheral vision. One: if I open up my line I may collide with the rider on my outside and Two: I have the right to take the fastest line, which means I want to cut the corner.
Thanks to the Marshalls, Pauline Thorn, Sean Fleming, Henry Beaverstock,Paul Robey who did a great job.
Steve Schwenke
There were 16 starters for the Wednesday 28 January track session. Early attendees to the Bundadome were greeted with a depressing drizzle and soaked track for the second time in succession. Fortunately, around 5.30 pm, the rain stopped and sun appeared. Within 10 minutes, the track had dried. The author likes to think this was due to turbulence from some blistering warm-up laps. However, warm concrete may have played a part.
The A and B Grade scratch races were each 10 laps. In A Grade, Ben Davis broke from the pack early. His break was soon joined by Steve Jones and Michael Langdon, who sensed the danger. Ben’s enterprise went unrewarded as he faded in the final lap. Steve Jones took the win. Michael Langdon held off a fast approaching Aaron Sedgemen for second and third respectively. In B Grade, the three place getters set a fast tempo and soon dropped all remaining riders. The sprint saw Phil Anderson take a win from Steve Hirsler and Bruce Griffin.
All riders undertook a timed 200 metre sprint from a flying start. With only 200 metres to accelerate into a strong headwind, the fly event had its challenges. Michael Langdon judged it perfectly and snared the only time under 13 seconds (at 55.6 km/hr average). Aaron Sedgemen and Steve Jones set the second and third best times.
A and B grade had separate Mystery races. For these races, the finish lap is initially unknown to riders and secretly set by the starter between lap 5 to 8. In A grade, Ben Robey made a calculated break at lap 5. He was slightly early for the bell lap, giving Steve Jones time to overhaul him for the win. Ed Garnett scored third. In B Grade, the usual suspects took off at a solid pace and shared the honours with the same result as the earlier B grade scratch race.
The track session concluded with a 6 lap race in which B grade were given a handy start. B grade worked well initially, but became a bit ragged as Kerry Knowler from A grade took up the pursuit in earnest. Eventually, B grade were caught, with Steve Jones, Michael Langdon and Ben Robey taking first to third places. Kerry faded in the end, but had the satisfaction of energising the race and overhauling all but Phil Anderson from B grade.
Major place getters were as follows:
10 Lap Scratch: (A Grade) Steve Jones, Michael Langdon; Aaron Sedgemen (B Grade) Phil Anderson, Steve Hirsler, Bruce Griffin.
200m Fly: Michael Langdon (12.94s), Aaron Sedgemen (13.34s), Steve Jones (13.37s).
Mystery Race (A Grade): Steve Jones, Ben Robey, Ed Garnett (B Grade) Phil Anderson, Steve Hirsler, Bruce Griffin.
6 Lap Scratch (with B Grade early start): Steve Jones, Michael Langdon; Ben Robey.
Graeme O'Neill
Sunday’s event of the Teams point race is one of the rare opportunities where Vets riders get the opportunity to place nicely in a team format with the objective to get “their” team over the line, so while it looks and feels like a good format and presents a challenging ride with bonus points for lower grade riders in the sprints, from a referee perspective I would think some better work done on the advertising as a combined rider count for (A+B were 17 riders), (E+F+G were 13 riders) with C and D grade riders almost universally with the exception of 5 hearty souls opting for latte’s in town on what were ideal racing conditions.
Thanks to Al Bontjer for allocating 17 riders into four teams, the combined group went out with bonus points for B graders in the sprints that would occur every three laps for the next 50 odd minutes. Messrs Young and Bourne being B grade points contributors and all up, points were shared amongst 10 riders and the racing was of a really good standard. Mark Harris earning his team early point with some measured efforts in the first 3 primes sharing the effort with Paul Scherl, with Messrs’ Vroomans and Hartley making cameos in the early efforts. As the race progressed through the halfway point, Harris took control and while Tom Hartley and Rohan Verco went the journey sharing the spoils of the last 4 primes, in and individual effort Mark had amassed enough points to almost take the day on his own. Results Team Harris 23 points, Team Hartley 20 points, Team Scherl 23 points, Team Ifland 6 points.
The last race on the program was the E-F-G Team points race, once again four teams took the track and for the first two primes it looked just like a criterium before it sunk in that you only had to do efforts every so often. It was pretty much a case of Alex Sommariva please come as he played a major role in all five primes with solid efforts from Dave Turner, Anthony Hume and John Ignatius. Steve Hirsler took the final sprint points but it wasn’t enough to get his team over the line, with Team Ignatius taking 14 points with both Teams Sommariva and Turner sharing 13 each and Team Hirsler with 6. In all 7 of the 13 riders shared in the points during the race.
Special thanks to John Thorn, Alex O’Shea, Graham Hendrie and Ben Davis for assisting during race day, and special thanks for the race committee in getting this on the race calendar, it’s well worth preserving with this type of event.
Steve Dean