Whilst the weather was great for racing on Friday night we were once again impacted with riders not available following school camps so whilst the turn out for Wednesday night training has been good there at least 6 riders missing for race night. However, the 10 riders in action produced some very close finishes and some riders also put in new PB’s in the time trial.
First race for the night was a 5lap scratch race and it was great to see Grace Peterson back in action supporting Erica Deery in the battle against Fletcher Hill and Ryder Evans. In a steady pace race it was Fletcher who was able to up the ante in the last lap to go on for the win ahead of Ryder and Erica. In the 4 lap B grade Zac Evans was keen on controlling the action at the end and he cruised through for the win ahead of Hugh Livingstone and Kate Geary.
The riders then had the 1 lap dash against the clock and Fletcher was again quickest at 35.53sec but perhaps his concentration on technique after some advice on Wednesday night saw him just slower than his previous best time. Ryder was next at 38.76sec and a new PB. Grace Peterson was next with a time of 40.87sec. For the B grade riders Hugh Livingstone with a new PB at 43.16sec was just ahead of Zac Evans on 43.68sec and also a new PB. It looks like these 2 are building up a good rivalry. Kate Geary on 45.54sec was third quickest.
The handicapper used these times to come up with some marks for the 1 lap handicap. In the A grade race, Fletcher was chasing a gap of 40m out to Ryder, with Grace on 50 and Erica on 60m and as expected the trio out front came together in the final metres to the line with Ryder winning narrowly from Grace and Erica. In the second handicap, Ryder was pulled 10mas were Grace and Erica. Much to the handicapper’s dismay, Fletcher benefiting from his good fitness, chased the others down to win by 5m up the straight with Ryder taking second ahead of Grace in third.
In the B Grade handicap, Hugh Livingstone (20m) was slow of the mark but managed to get up enough speed to keep Zac (Scr) riding wide. This was enough to see him catch the limit riders in the dash to the line to take out a good win with Zac in second and Bastian Jefferies (45) finishing well to grab third. In the re-handicap, Hugh (15m) showed some improved form off the mark and the extra speed again allowed him to race past the limit markers and make it a double for the night. Kate Geary (20) finished well for second and once again Bastian (45) claimed third.
With the riders gaining some skill sets from Wed night training, they were given 2 laps for the sprint heats and hence more chance to try different things. In the first heat Fletcher went to the front and controlled the race to take the win over Ryder. In the second heat it was Grace versus Erica and this ended up a short effort to the line with Grace just edging ahead for the win. Zac was pitted against Hugh and decided to go early and this allowed him to open up a gap that Hugh could not bridge. The fourth heat saw Renee versus Kate and with a jump down the back straight Kate managed to secure the win. The last heat saw Bastian versus Stephen Spencer and in a close affair Bastian scored the win.
The last event was a 10 rider elimination scratch race. The extra numbers meant it was a 10 lap race so that some who worked hard early ran out of legs toward the business end of the race. In the end it was Fletcher winning from Ryder and Grace.
Members are reminded there is an AGM and General meeting for the Club at the Junior Football rooms on Tuesday night at 7.30pm. Members – its your club so have a say by attending.
Lindsay
updated 8am 2nd June
