It was a busy weekend for club members. Firstly there was track racing on Friday night, followed by a road race club combine with Warragul on Saturday whilst other members had the start of The Great Vic Bike ride and track racing at the indoor velodrome at Northcote for some as well. The racing on Friday night was conducted in mild and calm conditions so most riders managed a personal best for the first up 1 lap race against the clock. Best time for the night went to Chris Rowe in 32.82 sec. Liam McCall, riding a slightly bigger gear this week rode a 34.87 sec whilst Kevin Feely rode 35.78sec. In the Junior ranks it was Matt Minogie in 36.35sec just ahead of Autsin Timmins 36.37sec. Aaron Fraser having his first race night for the season stopped the clock at 37.49sec which was a great time. Hamish Bissett rode 38.07sec, Alex Bennett 43.03sec and Fleur Timmins a 46.36 was also a personal best. The junior riders raced a 4 lap scratch race and Austin Timmins lifted the pace after a few early quiet laps and tried to race through to the finish. Matt Minogue thought otherwise and came over the top in the run to the line to claim the win from Austin and Hamish.
“A grade race over 8 laps”
In the A grade race over 8 laps, the pace was kept pretty steady until the last lap when riders started jostling for position. Chris Rowe was not tempted and cleared out to score an easy win from Liam and Kevin. The third event for the night was handicaps. For the A grade it was over 2 laps. Chris Rowe(10) was on fire as he scorched off the mark and bridged the gap to Liam (40M) in around 120m to set up the race. Kevin (70) was caught with 200m to race an Chris scored another easy win from Liam and Kevin.
“Alex Bennett (70) caught Fleur(85) in the run to the line but not without a great effort from Fleur”
The juniors raced a 1 lap dash first up and the limit markers felt the distance was to their liking. Alex Bennett (70) caught Fleur(85) in the run to the line but not without a great effort from Fleur. It was just as well they pushed to the line as the backmarkers were flying home but Aaron Fraser (40) just got home for 3rd. The 1 lap was followed by a 2 lap handicap and even though the limit riders looked to have a great chance, the backmarker, Matt Minogue finished strongly to claim the win just ahead of Austin (20) and Hamish (50).
The A grade riders were given a sprint match race and Chris again was too slick for the others winning from Kevin and Liam.
The juniors were given an Olympic sprint – 2 teams of 3 riders racing over 1.5 laps. This was a new event and not tried at training. In a closely contested race it was the team of Austin, Hamish and Alex that claimed the win. The handicapper followed this up with a team pursuit event involving mixed teams of A grade riders and junior riders racing over 4 laps. Again this was a new event and riders will need to work on their tactics and team riding over coming weeks. The winning team was Chris Rowe, Matt Minogue, Austin Timmins and Alex Bennett. Another round of short sprints were held. For the A grade it was another win to Chris. Alex Bennett had a great battle with Fleur to get his win whilst Matt Minogue was slow winding up but flashed home to grab the in in his heat.
“The last event for the night was a junior elimination”
The last event for the night was a junior elimination. Matt Minogue controlled the race to claim the win from Austin and Hamish. In the A grade race over 9 laps, Chris Rowe thought he had enough left to take the win but a very determined Liam McCall stormed up the straight to grab the win.
On Saturday at the road combine raced at Poowong, Stuart Smith and Brett Franklin dominated the A grade race and claimed 1st (Stuart) and 3rd (Brett). Several other members raced but a puncture to Kevin Feely in the last part of the race when a placing was offing put paid to his chances. Matt Winchester was away doing the Great Vic Bike ride with a mate so he will be having a great experience and will come back super fit. Thomas McFarlane was racing the country titles at the Melbourne indoor venue. Thomas was racing as a first year rider in the Under 17 division. He qualified well in the pursuit and eventually finished 4th. In the time trial he finished 3rd but found his time racing on the larger gear was not as quick as his time last year. Thomas also qualified in the top ranks for the sprint series. A further round of good performances in the State titles will see Thomas in with a great chance of representing Victoria at the Nationals. If he can pull this off in his first year in this division and on a short preparation that will be a spectacular effort.
Track training on Wednesday night once again saw new riders trying out the track. There are some others keen to start so boys and girls, come and check out the fun of going fast at the track. Racing is on again on Friday night.
Lindsay
updated 8am 2nd June
