A cold and windy Friday night saw 5 starters for racing as 3 club members were still away on the Great Vic Bike ride. Those that were in attendance were a little lethargic and suffering from other sports activity earlier in the day so riding was a little lack lustre. Club coach Tony Smith had the motor bike in operation for some of the races so that at least kept the racing close and honest.

First event of the evening was a 1 lap Time Trial. Best effort went to Elliot Gin in 32.55 sec. This was around 0.5 sec behind his best. However, Matt Dudley recorded a 35.65 sec time which was a personal best for Matt and scored him second place. Just behind was Ben Patterson with 36.04 sec whilst Thomas McFarlane on 38.12 sec was right on his previous times and Harley Elms with 37.42sec.

The scratch race was a motor paced effort over 6 laps with the bike coming off at 1.5 laps to go. All riders were keen to keep the action going but it is still 600 metres to the finish. Whilst Matt, Thomas and Ben looked winners at the bell, Elliot was biding his time and when the others tired with 300m to go he quickly took control to head home for an easy win. Ben Patterson and Matt Dudley filled the minor places.

The riders were back on their bikes for a 2 lap handicap. The field was all bunched up at 200m to go with Elliot just making contact after a long chase from scratch. Into the straight it was Elliot claiming another win from Ben Patterson (40m) and a fine ride by Thomas McFarlane (100m) in third place.

With riders struggling to back up from one race to the next the last race was a 5 lap kerin. Once again the riders struggled to work out their tactics after the motor bike came off. It was another win to Elliot ahead of Ben and Matt.

Hopefully with riders back from the touring we can run some trophy races on Friday night. There are only 2 nights racing prior to the Xmas break. Wednesday night saw another junior join Club Coach Tony Smith to learn some track craft so perhaps we will see another new rider racing shortly.

The previous weekend Will Lumby was racing at the Vic Country track Titles at Maryborough. Will scored a win in the pursuit, second in the sprint and time trial. So it was an excellent weekend for Will.

Race report by Lindsay Love