Friday night the club was lucky to miss the rain that hit the Cranbourne area earlier in the evening. There was a good contingent of junior riders and some great racing and close finishes. It was a warm and reasonably calm evening so the first event – a 1 lap time trial saw most riders post their best ride of the season. For the seniors there is a very close rivalry between Elliot Gin and Ron Purtle. Elliot flew round the track and recorded 31.01 sec time and officials think this is perhaps one of the quickest times for club members. This was just ahead of a 31.62 from Ron whilst Kevin Feely was at 35.09sec. In the Junior division Josh Chiavaroli clocked in at 36.40sec, Will Lumby at 37.17, Matt Minogue 39.70, Oscar Perri 40.44sec, Josh Robinson 43.58, Gus Perri 40.44 and Nick Robinson on the small bike at 49.27 sec.
The next race was a 1 lap handicap. The senior event went to Elliot just ahead of Ron and Kevin. In the Junior event the handicapper kept the judges busy as all riders were within about 10m at the finish. Nick Robinson (90m) was going really well and leading up the straight when he decided he needed a look to see how close the others were. This was just the small help the Oscar Perri (40) needed as he snatched the win right on the line. Matt Minogue (30) back from the Great Vic ride finished well to claim 3rd just keeping the backmarkers – Josh Chiavaroli and Will – at bay.
The junior riders fronted up for a 2 lap handicap and this time the limit riders were caught early as Josh Chiavaroli (scr) drove the pace. However, his efforts played into the hands of Will (5) who used the lead out to come from behind and claim the win. Oscar(60) showed some tenacity to fight back and claim 2nd just ahead of Matt (50).
A little recovery time allowed the seniors to front up for a 2 lap sprint. Ron Purtle made the break off the bank with about 250m to the finish but Elliot timed his run well to come round and claim the win. In the Junior sprints, Josh lead out from 250m to go and it looked like Will would get the run from behind but Josh fought hard up the finish straight and held on for the win. The 3 rider event between Oscar, Josh Robinson and Matt also proved a close affair. In another finish to test the judges Oscar claimed a narrow win from Matt and Josh Robinson. The last sprint event between Gus and Nick was another highlite of the night. Nick is a little terrier and rides a 24inch bike was Gus was on the normal size machine. Nick didn’t let this bother him as he kept a close eye on Gus and dominated the tactics. Even when Gus challenged coming into the straight he found another gear and raced home a happy winner.
An Olympic sprint was organised with Will and Matt competing against Josh Chiavaroli and Oscar. This was run over just 1 lap with the first rider from each team dropping out after a half lap leaving the remaining team member to finish of the lap. In a close race the win went to Josh and Oscar. The team event is always popular and there were calls for a repeat. However, Josh Robinson, Nick and Gus were given a 1 lap sprint which was a win for Josh.
A repeat of the senior sprint again saw Ron lead out the race and again Elliot proved the speedier rider so Ron will have to try some new tactics to try and reverse the placings. For the juniors Oscar was pitted against Oscar in a sprint and in a race that looked like it would go to Will, Oscar again found plenty of grunt in the run to the line to hold on for a win. Josh Chiavaroli proved too strong in his sprint with Mat.
The final events for the night were scratch races. The seniors was a 12 lap affair and run at a steady pace and perhaps needed the hard turns from Peter Hollins to crack the field. However, with Peter at work the race did not produce any great action and the finish saw Elliot claim another win over Ron and Kevin.
The junior 6 lap race saw a super competitive Josh put in the big effort at the last lap to set up his win ahead of Will, Matt and Oscar.
updated 10am 8th Dec.
