It was a big night of action for the last night of track season. The club had a large number of riders, bikes on display care of Bianchi Cycles and Wheelheat and pizza to eat at the end of the night. Despite being a cool and windy night there was plenty of stiff competition on the track and some great finishes to the races. The conditions were not conducive to personal bests but some riders still managed to clock in new best times.
In the 1 lap time trial openers for the nights racing both Alex Bennett and Aaron Fraser recorded new personal bests. However in the junior division Josh Chiavaroli was quickest at 36.19 sec followed by Will Lumby 37.36 sec and then a great lap from Aaron at 38.23 sec. Having his first night at racing was 10 year old Cody Cox. After doing a 61 sec lap at training, Cody chalked up a new personal best of 55.93 sec. Although keen later in the night to do better the first effort was the one to record for next season as a target.
In the senior division the times were all pretty close. Ronald Purtle at 31.68 sec was just .02 sec quicker than Thomas McFarlane. Lachie Matthews rode a solid 33.68 sec to just edge out Andrew Nicholls 34.02.
The junior division were then given a 6 lap scratch race where the bunch stayed together and swapped turns of pace. Josh lead out at the bell but was chased down by Will Lumby in the dash up the finish straight. Hamish Bissett followed through behind these two but could not lift the pace quickly enough at 200m to go to stay with them however his good ride saw him claim 3rd.
In the senior 8 lap scratch race the field was all bunched up at the bell. Lachie Matthews was first to attack but Andrew Nicholls quickly moved around and defied the best efforts from the other riders to score a fine win ahead of Ronald Purtle and Thomas McFarlane.
Next events were the handicaps. For the juniors it was a 1 lap dash. Oscar Perri (50m) managed to chase down limit through the last bend and finish strongly to claim the win. Aaron Fraser (40m) finished with a great turn of speed to grab 2nd place just ahead of another fast finish from Hamish Bissett (30m) in third place.
The seniors raced over 2 laps. Once again Ronald Purtle (scr) chased well from the scratch mark to score a top win ahead of a strong effort from Kevin Feely (70) whilst Andrew Nicholls lead home the others for 3rd.
The juniors wanted to try another team’s pursuit after last weeks aborted effort. With two teams of 3 riders the teams had to race over 3 laps against the clock. The team of Will Lumby, Matt Minogue and Oscar Perri worked together well with all riders contributing to get them home for the win ahead of Josh, Hamish and Aaron.
With some time to fill awaiting the Pizza delivery the seniors fronted up for a point score race over 12 laps and including 3 sprints. Ronald Purtle managed to dominate the race to win with 15 points. The minor places were much closer. Second on 7 points was Thomas McFarlane whilst Andrew Nichol on 4 points claimed 3rd place on a count back.
The juniors then started a 9 lap points score with 3 sprints. Will Lumby managed to dominate this with some smart riding and 15 points saw him with the win. Matt Minogue made a big effort in the first sprint but just lowered his colours there to Will. He was back trying hard again at the second sprint and this was enough to help him claim second overall with 7 points . Again third place was taken on a count back with Josh ahead of Hamish.
Last event for the season was a 10 lap motor paced scratch race. Once again Ronald Purtle was too quick for the field at the pointy end of the race. Thomas McFarlane took out 2nd and Lachie Matthews claimed 3rd.
updated 7am 18th Sept.
