Saturday saw a great sunny afternoon for the mid-winter racing with little wind and only the hills around Leongatha North to trouble the riders. Racing started by the tennis courts at Leongatha North, racing back into Leongatha via Wild Dog Rd before heading back round via Yarragon Rd. With 2 laps (around 33km) the riders all found the heavy climbing a good workout.

The handicapper is having great trouble differentiating between riders as it appear there is perhaps at least 12 riders performing similarly. However, the 21 starters saw Rick Whitehouse start on a handicap of 15 minutes before a 4 rider bunch on 8 min, 6 riders on 5 minutes, 4 riders on 3 minutes, 5 riders on 2 minutes and the solitary scratch rider being Nick Aitken. After the first lap Rick still had a handy break and looked a real chance of grabbing the win. The 5 minute bunch of Neil White, Paul Taranto, Jamie Grenfell, Eamon Feely, Elliott Gin and Phil Hanley had stayed together and almost picked up the 5 minute bunch. Behind, the 2 and 3 minute bunches were coming together and Nick was having difficulty with the short distance to bridge the gap.

As the riders went past the Factory it was still Rick looking a winner but the 5 minute bunch had some young legs and these usually go up the hills pretty well. By the time the riders came through the cutting at the Spencer Rd junction the hills were doing their selection process as Rick was caught with only about 1km to the finish. Over the top it was new rider Jamie Grenville who charged to the lead by around 60 metres and he held this gap for the final 400m to the finish line to claim a well earned victory. The sprint for the minor places saw Neil White edge out Eamon Feely for second place. Next home were Elliott Gin, Phil Hanley and Paul Taranto. A small gap saw Kerry Pritchard claim 7th ahead of Rick Whitehouse, Malcolm Gin and Rod Cheyne rounding out the top 10. Tom Debenham led home the backmarkers bunch but it was Clem Fries taking 12 and fastest time (54.45min)

n the junior race the school holidays saw a few riders missing for the easy run from the tennis courts down the hill toward Leongatha and a sprint finish at the bottom end of Spencers Road. Liam McCall gave 1 minute start to Thomas McFarlane and 30 sec to Will Lumby. With senior riders keeping them company and offering advice on their race it wasn’t long before Liam picked up Will and then on the climb at Harvey Road he completed the chase by picking up Thomas. The dash to the line saw another win to Liam, followed by Thomas and Will.

Next week racing is again in the hills but this time the start is at Korrine. Senior riders will race for the Sprag Trophy.

Race report by Lindsay Love