Post date: Jul 04, 2016 8:49:47 AM
Hello Vets,
A short Bleat this week;
Racing this Week
Race Reports
Please send me your contributions at: TheBleat@actvets.cc
Ian Morton
Where: Gravel Pit, Intersection Old Federal Highway and Shingle Hill Way
When: 1:30 pm.
Sign on: 15 mins before scheduled start time wearing your registered number.
Race Description:
Gravel Pit to Lake George
Race Director: Owain Tilley
Contact: Email owaintilley@hotmail.com Ph 0420526076
Note: We are a bit short for officials for the event. We still require the following: Trail car driver, Lead car driver, 2 x turn point marshals, 1 finish chute marshal. If you can assist please contact Owain.
The ACT Vets were competing in a points criterium race out at Stromlo on Saturday afternoon. Whilst the weather looked ok from the sidelines, the prevailing NW breeze was blowing up to 25km/h during the afternoon. This is enough breeze for the stronger riders in each grade (especially the higher grades) to put the hurt on other riders by putting them in the “gutter” without any protection from the wind. There were many pained faces towards the end of the race which demonstrated that most riders had a tough workout for the afternoon.
The racing started with A and B grade completing 50mins plus two laps. Having the first two laps as sprint primes really sorted out the A grade bunch. The bunch was dominated by Onya Bike riders and after the first two laps a firm pecking order had been established with 3 Onya Bike riders at the front with the rest making up the numbers. Jarod Hughes, a visitor to the club, was clearly a step above all other riders on the day. At around the 15 minute mark he soloed away from the bunch and built a lead upwards of 300m. He took a number of primes before sitting up and allowing a number of his Onya teammates to catch up with him and contest a number of sprints. Aaron Thompson made things interesting in the overall points totals winning a number of these primes, but when it seemed like he might close the gap to Jarod right down, Jarod rode off the front again and put another 300m into his competitors. Jarod and Aaron totalled 28 and 25 points respectively with third place (Michael Brice) a long way back on 9 points. The B grade race saw a lot more foxing resulting in a more even spread of points being earned, in fact all riders got some sprint points. The racing was very competitive with the bunch staying together until Peter Merrick managed to get away late to a big lead and take the last four sprints of the race. However, it was Chris Short who must have had the calculator working overtime who came home in second place on the final sprint to win the race from Peter by 1 point.
E, F and G grades were the next to race. Phil Coulton started strongly in the E grade bunch winning a couple of sprints before that effort took its toll and he was dropped out the back about half way into the race. Rosemary Robinson put in a great attack with about four laps to go and looked like she had a big enough break to impact the top of the leader board. However, it was not to be as Adam Potts also rode a strong back half of the race and managed to bridge to Rosemary on the last lap and take the overall race by 6 points to Rosemary. Graham Hendrie had a strong race consistently taking sprint points to end up in third position. There were only 2 riders in each of F and G grade. Pauline Thorn rode very consistently and was just too strong for Tony Weir. Tony struggled to hold on to Pauline’s wheel and each lap he kept losing 10 or so metres with Pauline winning comfortably in the end. The G grade racing was very close between Bernie Crow and Bruce Jones. Ultimately Bernie demonstrated superior race craft on the day coming out of Bruce’s draft on the sprint laps to win each of the primes, but never by any more than a bike length!
C grade provided perhaps the best racing of the day. It was a race between the three big units of Stevenson, Wilson and Shippley versus the two ladies in Aubrey and Moore. The big units dominated the sprinting early on but this was to come at a bit of a cost as the ladies, especially Claire Aubrey demonstrated greater stamina over the course of the race as the big units faltered at the back end of the race. The greater stamina might have been helped by the big units having nowhere to hide when punching into the wind. Both ladies did their fair share of turns on the front and with both nice and low on their bikes the big units never really got any relief from the wind! At the finish Claire Aubrey won the race from Mark Stevenson and Warwick Wilson. The D grade bunch managed to stay together throughout the race but the sprinters of Beasley, McRae and Gunther were rarely troubled by the rest of the bunch when there were points on the line. Rob Langridge (what was he doing in D Grade!?) tried to change things up a bit with some long range sprints but was unable to really influence the results of the strongest three. Ultimately, Beasley was too strong on the day doubling the points of his nearest rival, McRae with Gunther 1 point behind in third place.
It’s never much fun standing on the sidelines for winter criterium races! However, thanks to the great help (and wit) of Marc Vroomans and Mark Harris we managed to get through the afternoon with smiles on our faces.
Rohan Verco
ps A red Rahpa gillet (size M) was left behind at the track on Saturday. The gillet was placed in the van so the owner can see Graham about collecting it.