A fine Friday night allowed the club to race and the juniors in attendance put up some great riding. After training for several Wednesday nights Will Lumby finally had a chance to race and he made the most of the night. First event for the night was a 1 lap time trial and fresh from the Great Vic bike ride, Elliott Gin clocked 35.11 sec. He was followed by Thomas McFarlane, 40.21, Mitch Gin 42.21, Will Lumby 43.60 and Riley Smith 44.48 sec.

The time trial efforts were used to handicap the riders for a 1 lap handicap. Riley Smith, following watching the elite rides in Melbourne of Wednesday night, was keen to make the most of his handicap and hit the line a narrow winner over Thomas McFarlane and Mitch Gin in 3rd and a blanket finish for the handicapper. After a short rest it was back on the track for a 2 lap handicap. Several sets of legs were a little tired after the first 2 efforts but the Gin brothers with over 500km in the legs from their week of riding were just stepping into the own. Mitch Gin moved strongly to hit the front with 200m to go and was never headed. Big brother Elliott also finished strongly from the scratch mark to claim second whilst Will Lumby managed to slipstream in behind Elliott to grab third.

The riders had a little Christmas cheer before the next race, an elimination event. Will Lumby and Riley Smith battled hard to avoid being eliminated but at the bell it was the Gin brothers who edged out Thomas McFarlane (3rd) and race the last lap for the major places. As expected Elliott took the win but it was a great ride from Mitch for 2nd.

The elimination was followed by a match race between Riley and Will. A very combative Will was determined to chalk up his first win and worked hard to hold Riley on his hip all the way to the line.

Thomas McFarlane and Mitch Gin also had a match race and this proved to be a close and even contest. Whilst Thomas looked to have a good chance of a win from behind, a strong ride by Mitch saw him hang on for a win by half a wheel.

The final race for 2008 was a scratch race and after 6 laps of swapping turns the dash to the line saw Elliott claim the win with Mitch once again holding on to second ahead of a fast finishing Thomas who just could not time his runs to the line. Mitch Gin was awarded Kelvin Johns best rider of the night award.

Track racing will resume on Friday Jan 9, 2009. Any youngsters who find Santa has favoured them with a bike are welcome to come to training on Wed 7 at 6.30pm.

Race report by Lindsay Love