Riders and spectators had to rug up against a cool and gusty south east wind on Friday night. The conditions made it difficult for riders to post new PB’s, however, it did not stop the riders from putting in some close finishes to keep the judges honest.
First race for the night was an A grade 6 lap scratch race. The dash to the line saw Fletcher Hill grab the win from Ethan Davis just ahead of Oscar Davis and Ryder Evens. In the B Grade 5 lap scratch race Hugh Livingstone powered home to score a clear win from Zac Evans and Renee Hardacre. In the C grade 3 lap scratch race, Ryan Beggs went early and scored a clear win ahead of Trent Beggs and Stephen Spencer.
For the 1 lap time trial only Oscar Davis was able to clock a new PB with the quickest time for the night of 36.22 sec just ahead of Fletcher Hill at 36.95sec. Ryder Evans was next in with a time of 38.82 sec just ahead of Ethan Davis at 39.14sec. Hugh Livingstone was next at 43.76sec, Renee Hardacre 45.80, Zac Evans 48.52sec, Trent Beggs 50.23sec just ahead of Ryan Beggs 51.42sec with Stephen Spencer 54.69sec.
Onto the handicaps and the handicapper did a great job of producing some very close finishes. In the A grade 1 lap dash Ryder Evans (40m) worked his handicap to the max to just sneak home against a flying scratchman in Fletcher Hill with Ethan Davis (25) a half wheel back in 3rd place. In the re-handicap, Ethan Davis (25) chased down Ryder (35) to hit the front with 180m to go. However, Ryder worked hard and came back around to snatch a second win on the line just edging out Fletcher and Ethan again.
In the B grade handicap, Trent Beggs (55) worked hard and went to the line to claim the race from Ryan Beggs(45) and Renee Hardacre (20) who looked like a possible winner with 180m to go but could not quite get the job done to the finish. In the re-handicap, Ryan Beggs (35) chased down the outmarkers to sail home the winner ahead of Trent(45) with Renee (10) again at 3rd.
The riders then had a round of sprint races. In the first heat it was Ethan Davis against Fletcher Hill and his strong attack down the back straight almost scored him an upset win but Fletcher just managed to hold onto the inside line and go in for the win. In the second heat it was Ryder versus Oscar and the riders stalled the charge to home until around 240m to go and in the drag to the line it was Oscar narrowly from Ryder.
The next heat saw Hugh up against Zac and Hugh kept the pace on so he would not be jumped and rode through to claim the win. Renee was matched against Ryan and this race saw Ryan use his usual tactic of get to the front and go early. Once again it paid dividends as he claimed the win. In the final heat, Trent took the honours ahead of Stephen.
In a new event for the season the riders were given a progressive point score scratch race. In this event, the rider first over the line each lap gets a point score matching the lap ridden – ie. After 3 laps, the score is 3 points and after 5 laps it is 5 points. In the A grade 6 lap race, Fletcher went early to completely dominate the race winning from Oscar and Ryder. In the B grade 4 lap progressive points, Hugh saw that going early was effective to replicated the tactic to take the win from Renee and Ryan.
Down to the last event of the night, an elimination race, some riders were suffering from the effort earlier so did not start. However, at the finish it was Fletcher just edging out Ryder with Oscar in 3rd place.
Next Friday the club will have a short race program followed by a barbeque and social time to celebrate the end of a difficult year. The club will provide the drink and food for the night so we look forward to all riders and family coming along for the night.
Lindsay
updated 8am 2nd June
