Post date: Dec 14, 2015 11:57:32 AM
Hello Vets,
In this week's Bleat;
• Christmas Wheelrace
• Registration Renewal for 2016
• From the desk of the handicapper
• Racing this Week
• Race Reports
Please send me your contributions at: TheBleat@actvets.cc
Ian Morton
Pencil the 15th December in your calendar, the ACT Vets Christmas Wheelrace is on again.
There will be the Annual presentations, plus the club will be providing soft drinks and finger food including spinach pies, sandwiches, mini quiches, Italian meatballs and roulade.
See you there.
2016 membership renewals are due by 31 December 2015. To renew, go to https://memberdesq.imgstg.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=main&OrgID=10244 or follow the prompts via our website www.actvets.cc. Click on the Login link and enter the username and password from last year. If you have forgotten your login and password , after clicking on ‘login’ - go to the tab at the top right hand side of the screen and click on ‘Username & Password’ - then forward your email address as requested in the box that will appear. IMG will then forward you the information.
You need to renew your membership prior to 31 December or prior to your first race in 2016.
It is preferable to renew prior to the end of December if you intend to race in 2016. Before each race, a check has to be done of all those registered to race to ensure they are financial members and covered by insurance. As a courtesy to those committee members who work hard to ensure the club complies with the terms of our insurance cover and also produce the race results, please renew your membership at least 2 days prior to racing. Membership costs are:
A full competitive membership for 2016 is $100
A full competitive membership for a sight impaired tandem cyclist for 2016 is $85
Non competitive membership for 2016 is $5
Upon renewal, your 2016 licence will be emailed to you direct from IMG. Please print out a copy and it is suggested that you laminate it or place it in plastic for future reference during the year ahead. You will need to show this licence if you enter events run by other Veteran Cycling Clubs or the AVCC.
Please ensure that your personal particulars are always kept up to date, in particular your emergency contact details. For those members with First Aid qualifications please also update the site. It is a member’s responsibility to keep these updated via the IMG website.
Barbara Bayliss
Membership Secretary
Upgrades for this week;
- Damian Ruse B to A
- Michael Foulds C to B
- James Mills D to C
- Mark Hutchins E to D
Rob Langridge
Where: Stromlo Forest Park
Sign on: 15 mins before scheduled start time wearing your registered number.
Race Description:
G 5:40 18 min + 1 lap
E/F 6:00 30 min + 2 laps
A/B 6:35 40 min + 2 laps
C/D 7:20 32 min + 2 laps
Race Director: Graham Hendrie
Contact: Email: hendrie@netspeed.com.au Ph 0415552343
The nominated marshals for this event are;
• Felicity Toohey
• Andrew Boyd
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.
Wednesday, 9nd December: Track Racing
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 – 6.50pm: 4-Lap Handicap;
6.50pm – 7.10pm: 8-Lap Points Race;
7.10pm – 7.30pm: Italian Pursuit.
Where: Uriarra Homestead, intersection of Uriarra Rd and Brindabella Rd.
When: 9:00 am
Sign on: 15 mins before scheduled start time wearing your registered number.
Race Description:
Homestead - Blue Range Spur - Top of Crossing - Blue Range Spur - Top of Crossing - Finish
Race Director: Robert Diamond
Contact: Email 7rob07@gmail.com Ph: 0416274161
The nominated marshals for this event are;
• ATC: Brad Sellwood,Belinda Wren, Kevin Hennesy
• Marshals: Ben Carmody, Doug Mclean, Scott Tozer
The nominated marshals for upcoming events are;
- Dec 15 @ Stromlo (Wheel Race): Dan Ashcroft, Stephen Cusack
The racing took place on a hot windy afternoon with a gusty wind across the track from the West or North West. We experimented by running A and C Grades on the track at the same time and B and D Grades together after that. In each case the higher grade passed the lower grade only once, and the passing was quick due to the difference in speeds. Also because the lower grades finished earlier there seemed to be no real difficulties for the race officials to sort out and each grade had a good go in the final laps.
Ed Pellegrino and “The Dominator”(Dominic Romano) attacked from the jump in A Grade and opened up a big gap. After a while Dominic fell back but never lost the enthusiastic crowd support; maybe his job was done helping Ed get away. With about 12 minutes to go Ed Pellegrino was joined by a bunch of 5 more riders. In the end Paul Scherl was able to win the final sprint. Most Aggressive Rider award goes to Ed Pellegrino who finished 4th.
B Grade was a fairly hard fought affair with Mark Terracini attacking in the first lap, Nick Boylan crossing to the break with 10 minutes to go, but fell back with 5 to go, Heath Chester crossed with 3 laps to go, James Jordan tried to cross at least 3 times but getting caught in no-mans land. However, the bunch was all together with 2 laps to go, then an attack from Damian Ruse and again Mark Terracini joined him for half a lap but Damian ended up winning.
The C Grade bunch stayed more or less together for a final sprint which was won by Michael Foulds. The D Grade race also finished in a sprint out of a tight bunch won by James Mills.
In the E Grade race Mark Hutchings pulled away with 4 laps to go for a comprehensive win. Mark tells me he only intended to do his turn on the front but was surprised to find himself clear. Rosemary Robinson’s ride for second was a strong performance. Most Aggressive Rider award goes to winner Mark Hutchings.
The F and G Grade races were small fields of 4 and 3 respectively, tough on a windy afternoon with Mike Hemsley winning F and Tony Weir winning G. The E and F Grade races were shortened by 5 minutes or so when a storm threatened, but the storm never quite arrived.
Thanks to assistants Al Bontjer for timing and advice and Charles Nicoll for finish shute and crowd control.
Steve Schwenke
B grade riding with D presented the opportunity to watch what was going on in 'reserve' grade. Mark 'Terror' Terracini was back with the Vets after a 6-year break. Having studied Dominator's Book of Racing Tactics the night before, he chose Chapter 1 'Attack Early' and off he went. Back in the bunch not much was happening. Had Richard Bourne been about there would have been a few tomatoes being thrown at the lumbering peloton, no doubt. Despite the howling wind, Terror battled on while the bunch waited. Nick Boylan fresh from the Hartley challenge joined him for a while but soon found the going too tough just as it looked like they had a winning break. Soon after that Mark pulled up stumps and rode off the course to the cheers from the mob on Quon hill. A new break formed with Peter Young and others but this group was reeled in with about two laps to go. In the lull when everyone was channeling their inner Cavendish, Damian Ruse attacked and suddenly had a 60m gap! Damian kept the lead to the end to win easily from Tony Rowley who'd slipped off the front in the last lap. Brenden Savage won the battle of the sitters for third.
Rob Langridge
Sixteen riders participated in the 2-Dec track session. The weather was near perfect for the warm up. A stiffening breeze arose as racing progressed.
The 12-lap A grade scratch race saw the bunch circulating for four laps at a solid pace. On lap 5, the tandem pair Kerry Knowler and Lindy Hou launched an enterprising attack with assistance from Michael Langdon. This attack enlivened the racing. However, it went unrewarded, as the trailing bunch gradually wore down the attackers. The bunch was back together by Lap 10. A furious sprint commenced approaching the bell lap. Steve Jones took a close sprint win from Ben Robey and Michael Langdon. The B grade scratch started to open up by lap six with several riders suffering with the pace. Domenic Rideaux was having a first run on the Bundadome and was under-graded. As the laps clicked by, Domenic became more comfortable and ultimately pulled out in front, pursued by Phil Anderson in a gutsy performance. The finish saw Domenic holding off Phil in the sprint. Peta Brill took third placing.
The evening’s second event was a 200 metre flying time trial. This event requires technique, not tactics. It is flat chat all the way. Most riders showed very sound technique. Times were slightly off, due to the stiffening head wind in the take-off zone. Steve Jones set an impressive mark of 12.90 seconds to be the best of A Grade. Peta Brill showed her potential by setting an exceptionally good time of 14.13 seconds to take B grade.
The 200 Fly was followed by a 4-Lap handicap. In A grade, Steve Jones came from the scratch mark to take a close win from Chris Thompson and Michael Langdon. In B grade, Peta Brill capped a good night with a win over Phil Anderson and Domenic Rideaux.
The track session closed with an all-in, Italian pursuit. This race was not as close as last week’s event. However, it is always interesting to see how riders of differing ability gell as the race unfolds. James Meredith had to cover two laps on the front to compensate for uneven numbers in the teams. James went well, but the effort blunted his normally scorching pace, as intended by the handicapper. As the race progressed, Team 2 gained a slight advantage. However, it was never sufficient to fend off a final attach by Kery Knowler, Lindy Hou and Steve Jones, the anchor grouping on Team 1. Eventually Team 1 took a comfortable win by around 15 metres.
Major place getters were as follows:
12-Lap Scratch: (A Grade) Steve Jones, Ben Robey, Michael Langdon; (B Grade) Domenic Rideaux, Phil Anderson, Peta Brill.
200m Flying Time Trial: (A Grade) Steve Jones (12.90s), Michael Langdon (13.28s) Kerry Knowler & Lindy Hou (14.00s); (B Grade) Peta Brill (14.13s), Bruce Griffin (15.09s), Steve Hirsler (15.42s).
4-Lap Handicap: (A Grade) Steve Jones, Ben Robey, Michael langdon; (B Grade) Peta Brill, Phil Anderson, Domenic Rideaux.
Combined Italian Pursuit: Winner Team 1 (Paul Robey, Peta Brill, John-Paul DeSousa, Bruce Griffin, Steve Hirsler, Domenic Rideaux, Kerry Knowler & Lindy Hou, Steve Jones).
Graeme O'Neill
No day could ever be described as perfect for a TT, but Sunday morning was pretty close. A small group gathered at the recreation area at Cotter for the dash up Mt McDonald. The course was slightly shorter to avoid having extra traffic controllers at the Uriarra Village intersections. Peter Young and Ashley Sked arrived on time but only just completed the ordeal of setting up the signs before the first rider was to set out at 0900. Trish the sports trainer and Denis Jessop the other traffic controller were in place on time so we were ready to go. Peter Marshall was the fastest up the hill and you can check the RMS for the rest of the results. I stopped one car, but did it with panache!
While we were waiting for time keepers to return from the mountain, I made note of the departure of legendary club stalwart James Meredith who is moving to Queensland and leaving us for good! Although James is not in the committee this year, he's done so much with race day registration, marshaling, defoliating the Dairy Flat course and generally being one of those great guys who makes the Vets such a friendly and welcoming club. All the best James, we'll all miss you.
Afterwards there was discussion about the disappointing turn out for such a perfect day--surely the other 90% of club riders were not all at the Tour of Bright or the Tour de Femme. Hope to see you at the final RR of the year at Uriarra Homestead this Sunday.
Thanks once again to Peter, Ashley and Denis.
Rob Langridge