Post date: Jan 18, 2016 12:13:48 PM
Hello Vets,
In this week's Bleat;
• Registration for 2016
• From the desk of the President
• From the Desk of the Handicapper
• Racing this Week
• Race Reports
Please send me your contributions at: TheBleat@actvets.cc
Ian Morton
PLEASE NOTE: No riders will be permitted to compete in 2016 unless they are registered. This is to ensure that members have insurance coverage while competing in events. Rider registration will be checked at the signon desk tomorrow night. If you register at the last minute before coming out to the track, please bring along a copy of the confirmation email.
To register go to the IMG site. Logon with the username and password that you used to register last year. The annual subscription for 2016 remains unchanged.
If you have forgotten your password, go to top right hand corner and click on username and password. That will enable IMG to send you another password to your email address. To ensure you transfer the numbers and letters correctly it is advised to cut and paste.
Any queries please direct them to membership@actvets.cc and not the contact on the password retrieval page.
Welcome to 2016 which should be another great year for the ACT Vets Cycling Club. Our criterium and track races have already commenced and our road program will soon be under way? The next big 'club event' on the horizon is our Annual General Meeting (AGM).
All club members are invited to attend our upcoming AGM where we will: hear reports of 2015 operations; elect new office bearers; discuss and decide on direction for the next year; canvass new ideas and improvements for the club. It will be held on Wednesday 17 February at the Western Club. (Date/venue to be confirmed)
New 'office bearers'. If you have got the ideas and are interested in helping in the running of the ACT Vets Club, nominate and get elected to the Committee (see nomination form on website). All positions from the President, Secretary, Treasurer, Membership, Race Committee members and general members are open for nominations. This year there will be a new general committee position of Race Secretary to assist with seeking ACT Government, Local Shire Authority and police approval of races. Nominations are especially encouraged for the Treasurer position as Barb Bayliss, who has been performing this role with distinction and great effectiveness for 10 years, wishes to gracefully bow-out. And if you think you can do a great job as club handicapper, or indeed any of the positions, please nominate.
For 'New Ideas' I would personally wish the meeting to discuss ways we can encourage a return to better numbers for our road race program. We regularly used to get about 100 on Saturday/Sunday races and often we are now down in the 30's and 40's - even on fine days. Time trials see even worse numbers. What could we do to boost numbers? Should we again have prize money? Should we have less frequent races? Should we run different formats?
We can only improve and grow as a club with your active support and input. The best way to do this it to give us your ideas at the AGM or even better, nominate for one of the committee positions. We rely on you!
Alex O'Shea
This week's changes;
Mark Terracini B to A
Robin Mules E to D
Graham Wilson E to D
The club is now calling for members to volunteer to act as referees (race director) or marshals at races in early 2016. Referees will soon be contacted by email. If you are not contacted but you put you name forward last year for referee training or you are keen to become a referee, please email me at race.committee@actvets.cc. Members keen to marshal can use the "Volunteer" link on the left side of the RMS or can email the race committee.
Rob Langridge
*** Note: Ensure you have registered for 2016 prior to this event ***
Where: Stromlo Forest Park
Sign on: 15 mins before scheduled start time wearing your registered number.
Race Description:
E/FG 5:50 30 min + 2 laps
Note the early start time for E/F
A/C 6:30 A 45m+2, C 40m+2
B/D 7:25 B 45m+2, D 40m+2
Race Director: Robert Langridge
Contact: Email: langridge@netspeed.com.au Ph 0450400658
The nominated marshals for this event are;
• Alex O'Shea. One more required
Please contact the Race Committee if you can fill in.
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 – 6.40pm: 200m Fly
6.40pm – 7.00pm: Mystery Race
7.00pm – 7.20pm: Italian Pursuit.
The quest for the perfect criterium
We trialled another a slightly different format last Tuesday. G grade was combined with E/F because of dwindling numbers. Of course, five turned up for G rather than the usual two, but they all managed to fit on the course and the overtaking manoeuvres were done with great precision. We'll be trying the same format tomorrow. This means that A-D grades will have longer races, resulting in more grades passing each other. Last week, A&C performed well, but B&D were like Siamese Twins for the latter half of the race. Despite putting out the yellow flag and encouraging the "faster" grade to finish first it was still bedlam by the end. The bottom line is that we aren't going to finish races at the programmed time if grades are stuck together. As race referee, my highest priority is rider safety and the greatest risk to safety is two grades finishing together. This week, we'll be trialling grade signs to indicate which grade should respond to the instruction. In the latter stages, I would highly recommend riders glance at the race referee to see what signs are being displayed. A sign with a '2' and a sign with a 'B' should be interpreted as 'B have two laps to go', and not 'D sprint now'. The 'D' sign and the yellow flag means 'D should ride at neutral pace'. Get the picture?
The five G graders rode smoothly for a while until Edwina Menzies found the going too tough. There was a bit of turn swapping but in the end Lynne Prentice was victorious over Pat Rooke and Janine Howe.
F grade fell apart completely eventually after disintegrating and reforming a number of times. Bob Miller and Ewen Thompson did most of the damage. In the end, Bob and Ewen were first and second with David Witteveen third.
E grade had a very strong visitor, Robin Mules, and Graham Wilson up from G grade. They worked well together for a while but then were strong enough by themselves to stay away until the end. The E grade bunch showed no apparent interest in chasing, but it must have been hard going as there were others going out the back also. Robin took the honours from Graham and Frank O'Sullivan who was best of the bunch.
D grade had Mark Hutchings doing a Bobridge well off the front while the rest stayed in a clump half a lap back. Mark kept asking "Is this the bell?" but no it wasn't because the rest of D wouldn't separate from the back of B grade. Mark showed great courage to battle on to win the 55-minute criterium!. There was a bit of a sprint for second place but the because of the merging grades there were also lost B graders such as Simon Milnes in the mix. Second was visitor Andrew O'Neil and then came Dan Ashcroft.
C grade had a few attacks with Ian Preston, Martin Horwood, Chris Dean and Jayson Clarke involved in the action. The sprint at the end was one of the closest with only half a wheel between first and third. Eagle eyes Ian Morton picked Peter Alexander for first, from Bryan Holloway and David Rowe. B grade racing stepped up a level and the greatest protagonist was Dougal Torrance. First he was off the front solo for nearly 20 minutes, then he joined forces with Peter Young, Mark Terracini and Paul Ledbook. The rest of B were no match for his awesome foursome and were floundering well behind. Not even chase-em-down Dale Kleeman could make an impression on their lead, and their lack of fire-power then resulted in the dregs of B unable to put a gap on D grade. Unfortunately, one rider from the winning bunch, Paul, missed out on the podium. Mark showed his A grade credentials by winning from Peter and Dougal the destroyer.
It was fireworks from the start in A grade but for every attack there was someone willing to chase it down. A few were also spat out the back. Mark Harris launched multiple attacks, while Ben Morrison, Paul Scherl, Rohan McMurran and Dominator had goes off the front. Ben won a furious sprint from Peter Kitchen, and Paul Scherl. Early season sprint winners Marc Vroomans and Sean Ifland were relegated to 4th and 6th, respectively. Ben can claim the bragging rights of having won in A grade on debut.
A grade also welcomes back Paul Conner after completing an overseas posting. Paul Frankcom unfortunately came down in the dash for the line. He flew off onto the grass and landed heavily on his shoulder. On Thursday a titanium plate was inserted and he was in high spirits despite having his season cut short when in such good form. He extends his thanks to members who came to his aid, Stu the first aider and for Richard Hedley for looking after his bike. We hope to see you back on the bike soon, Paul.
Rob Langridge
We had only nine riders for the 13-Jan track session. However, the racing was as good as ever. The weather was blistering hot, with a moderate breeze.
The 10-lap scratch race was an all-in affair with B grade given half a lap start on A grade. The B grade bunch worked well to hold off A for almost 8 laps. When the B grade bunch was caught, three A grade riders took off with Alec Millett from B grade hanging in, tenaciously. Ben Davis took the sprint from Rowan McMurray and Alec Millett. Ben was to have a good night with a perfect points haul from the session.
The 12-lap team pursuit race was a very tactical affair. Results were taken from the third rider in each team, requiring the better riders to carefully protect their B grade charges. Ross Scutts and Steve Hirsler were in the hot seat for the respective teams. Team tactics were good and both riders put in a gutsy effort. After 12 gruelling laps, Ross came in a metre ahead of Steve to give Team 1 the win.
As usual, the 4-lap handicap proved a fascinating contest. The back markers put in a hard effort from the start. They managed to coalesce as a bunch and worked together to overhaul those more favourably handicapped. Good tactics allowed Ben Davis another win for the night. Ben was closely followed by John-Paul DeSousa and Rowan McMurray.
The final event for the evening was an Italian Pursuit. Teams were the same as for the earlier team pursuit event, except that John Paul DeSousa and Graeme O’Neill added their weight to Teams 1 & 2 respectively. The pursuit was another closely contested event with less than a bike length margin at the finish. Ben Davis capped off a perfect night by taking another win for Team 1.
Major place getters were as follows:
10-Lap Scratch: Ben Davis, Rowan McMurray, Alec Millett, Ben Robey, Ross Scutts.
12-Lap Team Pursuit: Winner, Team 1 (Ben Davis, Alec Millett, Ross Scutts, Pat Rooke).
4-Lap Handicap: Ben Davis, John-Paul DeSousa, Rowan McMurray, Ross Scutts, Steve Hirsler.
Combined Italian Pursuit: Winner, Team 1 (Ben Davis, Alec Millett, Ross Scutts, Pat Rooke, John-Paul DeSousa).
Graeme O'Neill