Friday night saw a reduced field racing in good conditions. Several riders were still away riding in the Great Victoria Bike ride. The riders first contested a 1 lap time trial and it is pleasing to see that all riders are posting better times each week. Tom Dudley posted a slick 33.52 sec lap and showed he is in good form. Next was Morgan Clark 35.80, Ben Patterson in 36.45 then the B graders Thomas McFarlane 39.19 and Matt Dudley in 40.38sec.

The riders then had a 1 lap handicap and this event saw Matt Dudley put a great ride to claim a narrow win from Thomas McFarlane and Ben Patterson in 3rd place. After a brief recovery the riders had a 2 lap handicap. The extra distance saw the back markers catch the leaders just as they entered the final straight. The dash to the line saw Tom Dudley hold out Morgan Clark for the win whilst Matt Dudley finished strongly for 3rd.

Following last weeks successful team sprint which saw Team Dudley (Tom and Matt) beat Team South Australia (Morgan and Thomas) the riders were again matched in a similar pairing. This week Thomas McFarlane put in a great first turn which set up Morgan Clark for a strong second turn and a win.

The next event was a 2 lap sprint with the 2 A grade riders trying their tactics. Morgan Clark jumped first but was quickly covered by Tom and Ben. In the final run to the line it was a decisive win to Tom over Morgan and Ben. In the second sprint it was Tom Dudley surprising Morgan by moving early and controlling the race to make it 2 heat wins.

In the B grade event, Matt was out for revenge from last week and managed to get the jump on Thomas. In a desperate run to the line it was Matt by a tyre from Thomas. Thomas was keen to change things around and was ready for the second heat. He made sure he was in control and duly won the heat.

Last event was an elimination race . The first rider elimination saw a fierce battle between Thomas and Matt with Matt just eliminating Thomas. However the effort left him in strife for the next lap so he too was out. The penultimate sprint saw Ben eliminated and claiming 3rd whilst the final sprint saw Tom Dudley make a clean sweep of the night to take the win from Morgan.

Training is again on for Wednesday night with racing next Friday at 7.30pm. Club elections were held last week and Rob Aitken is again club president whilst Phil Ewington is doing another term as Secretary/Treasurer.

Race report by Lindsay Love