A fantastic day was on hand for the first day of the road season. There were 13 riders available to enjoy the day and a new course. The recent sealing of Hudsons Rd at Korumburra South has opened up a few alternatives for the Club racing. In the first run, the riders raced from Outtrim toward Leongatha South before turning left on to Hudsons Rd. This enabled them to race 7km north and up 2 km of the hill to Whitworths Rd where they undertook a turn-around. They raced down the hill and turned left into Anderson Rd and raced the 8km back to the Highway just at Leongatha. They then undertook another turnaround and raced back to Hudson Rd and returned to Outtrim for a 42km race. The new circuit also meant the handicapper was working in the dark for this course.
The field of 13 riders saw 4 riders start off scratch – Oliver and Harry McLean, Will Lumby and Shane Stiles. They were chasing Leigh Stott, Josh Davis and Jack Marshall at 6 minutes. On 10 minutes there was a quartet of Mark Bensley, Peter McLean, Rod Cheyne and Kerry Pritchard whilst on limit at 20 minutes there was the duo of Kerry Fitzgerald and Kaleb Jans. By the time the riders reached the turn at 13km at Whitworths Rd, Kaleb Jans was alone in front, the 10 minute bunch had split with just Peter McLean and Mark Bensley together. The 6minute trio had sliced through the time gaps and was looking good and the scratch bunch had dropped Shane to a 100m gap behind. However, the trio waited for Shane and by the bottom of the hill and the turn into Anderson Rd, Shane was back leading them into the turn.
Up and back on the gentle undulations and 16km of Anderson Rd, the race really started to come together. The 6 minute trio had gathered up and dropped all but Peter McLean and Kerry Pritchard but the most ominous news was the scratch quartet were just over 1minute behind. Just after the turn and 6km left the scratch quartet made contact with the leading group. They were feeling decidedly unfriendly and soon produced a series of attacks which quickly shed riders. With just 3kms to race, it was the scratch quartet leading the race and able to contest for the win. Will Lumby showed his form was as good as he looked and he cruised to the line a winner by 3 lengths from Oliver, Harry and Shane with a first and fastest time win in 64min and 11 sec for the 42km.
Next home was Josh Davis, followed by Jack Marshall, Leigh Stott, Peter McLean, Kerry Pritchard, and Kaleb Jans rounding out the top 10. The riders gave the new course the thumbs up even though the wind made the return run a heavy ride. Next weekend is a club combine at Warragul on Sat 15 whilst Sat April 22 racing will be at Kernot. Club members need to be ready t help over the April 28-29 weekend for the Junior Tour.
Lindsay
results
updated 8am 2nd June
