The riders enjoyed another great evening for racing save for a cool and gusting south easterly wind. Conditions were warm otherwise and the rain stayed away. Unfortunately with the Christmas period riders are not always able to get to racing. For those who missed Friday night, they can set their sites for Wednesday night for the last night before the holiday break.
First up was the 1 lap time trial and all the riders were able to post better times than their previous outing. Erica Deery posted 41.73sec, just ahead of Renee Hardacre who was sporting new shoes and top and turned in a new PB of 43.35sec. Next was Grace Peterson at 46.75sec and Kate Geary at 48.30 sec. Andrew Geary had a 1 lap effort and rode 37.00 sec and then retired for the night.
The girls next race was a 4 lap scratch race and after swapping turns for 3 laps the field was all in contention at the bell. Erica Deery quickly kicked away and held the gap to the finish winning from Grace and Renee. After a short rest it was into the handicaps.
The first handicap was a 1 lap dash and Kate Geary (30m) started well and held her lead all the way to just get home for the win from Erica (Scr) and Grace (20). The next race was a 2 lap handicap – the first of the season and save for Erica the other riders had double their previous mark. Kate(60) led through at the bell but soon saw Renee(30) move around both Kate and Grace(40) and defy the others to run her down. In a tight finish for the judges, it was Renee 1st, Grace 2nd and Erice getting up for 3rd.
The riders were then split into 2 riders teams for an Olympic sprint. Kate and Erica were team A and Renee and Grace were team B. Kate blasted away from the start and set Erica up really well for the last half lap whilst Renee and Grace did not quite get the teamwork sorted so that left Erica and Kate taking the win in a time of 44.68sec to 46.29 for team B. Last week both teams were close to the 45.30 time so the team A rode better this week.
In a busy night, the riders had to front up for a sprint heat. In the first Erica had a win over Renee with the last 200m time at 21.78sec. In the second heat it was a close result and this time it was Grace winning in a time of 21.63 ahead of Kate.
To round out the night, the riders raced a 3 lap scratch race. In a great race, it was a real close result for the judges at the finish. Erica managed a narrow win from Renee and Grace.
The club will have some Christmas cheer on Wednesday night as well as a short race program, weather permitting so we invite all members for a 6.30 start.
Lindsay
updated 9am 25th Sept.
