Korrine Race Report May 22nd 2010

Club racing was at Korrine on Saturday and riders were treated to a great autumn afternoon – light winds and sunny skies.  There were 20 senior riders and 4 juniors all keen to race.  The senior riders were split into A and B grade fields with both groups doing 2 laps of the circuit from Korrine Tennis courts back toward Korumburra and then eastward through Lance Creek prior to the climb up the McGraws Rd hill, descending to the Kongwak roundabout then westward up the climbs past the GlenAlvie turn and back down to the finish at the Korrine courts – 19km for each lap.  Both fields started with 10 riders.

In “B” grade after the first lap there was 6 riders left in the bunch and all seemed to be travelling well.  However, junior rider Elliot Gin attacked up the McGraw Rd hill and split the bunch with only Neil White matching the effort.  However the climb from the roundabout saw Elliot ride away alone and continue unchallenged to the finish to record a convincing win.  Meanwhile behind him Steve Wilson, Steve Allen and Phil Hanley managed to catch Neil and these 4 headed to the line for a sprint.  Steve Allen attacked a long way from the finish but was quickly pulled back by Neil and Steve Wilson as they took the minor places ahead of a gallant Steve Allen in 4^th with Phil Hanley taking 5^th.  The winning time was 1.01.15 for Elliot.

In the “A” grade race, it was a similar situation after the first lap with 7 riders still in the bunch.  All the action was being left for the second time over the climbs. Again it was the younger legs doing the damage over the hills – this time it was the new scratch bunch members Tom Debenham and Ronald Purtle splitting the bunch.  These 2 arrived at the Korrine finish with a handy break over the other riders and in a close battle to the line it was Ronald Purtle claiming his second scratch race win for the season.  In a clear third place was Jake Laine whilst a further 8 seconds behind were Jamie Grenville 4^th and Tony Smith 5^th.  The winning time was 56.43 min.

Whilst the seniors were racing the junior riders had a handicap which involved riding up the hill to the GlenAlvie rd corner before descending down past the finish line to ride to another turn at the West Creek Rd intersection and return to the Korrine finish.  Mathew Minogue was excited he he was able to start on a new “ borrowed” racing bike with James Scott, both riding off a 4.30min start.  On scratch were Thomas McFarlane and Mitch Gin.  To help guide the 2 limit markers David McFarlane rode along with them offering tips on how to tackle the various parts of the ride.  By the time the riders had been up and down the hill the scratch duo had chopped the time gap to the limit duo to just on 2 minutes.  At the finish it was all riders in site but James managed to outsprint Mathew for the win in a time of 23.17min whilst the scratch duo sprint to the line saw Thomas take 3^rd and fastest in a time of 19 min.