It was a great summer Friday night for racing and the riders had a fun night of competition. Zoe Reiter had her first night of racing and Tom Fitzgerald had a night where his casual job enabled him to have a race. In the first event of the night – the 1 lap time trial, Tom Fitzgerald clocked one of his best times ever – 32.80 sec. Zoe at her first try rode a 40.65 sec. Renee Hardacre clocked a new PB at 45.00sec, just ahead of Tom Geary at 46.30sc. Kate Geary had a time of 50.50 sec just quicker then Emiley Hadicke 51.00sec.
The juniors raced a 3 lap scratch race as the next event. In a spirited sprint finish Tom Geary was first over the line followed by Renee and a determined Emily in 3rd place. The senior race over 6 laps saw Tom edge out Zoe for the win.
The riders had to front for a 1 lap handicap. In the junior race Emiley (45m) made full use of the mark and did not allow any riders to get around even though they bridged the handicap. Renee (10m) was second whilst Kate (20) had to settle for 3rd. In the re-handicap, the riders gave the handicapper a hard time as Tom Geary, lifted from Scratch to 15m, bolted around the field to score an easy win with Emiley (35) holding on for 2nd and Kate (20) again taking 3rd.
The seniors had Tom Fitzgerald on scratch chasing 50m to Zoe. He rode hard early and bridged the gap to cruise through for the win. However, the handicapper lifted Zoe to 100m in the re-handicap and that saw her take the win.
The juniors were split into 2 teams for an Olympic sprint over 1 lap. The team of Tom Geary and Emiley Hadicke won (45.26sec) by the narrowest margin over Renee and Kate. (45.33sec). By this time of the night, club coach Tony Smith had arrived with the motor bike. This allowed Tom Fitzgerald and Zoe Reiter to do a 10 lap motor paced scratch race and Tom secured the win in a close finish. The juniors all had the chance to grab a ride behind the motor bike and improve their pedaling efforts.
To finish the night riders were given a slow race on the grass. This helps develop their balance abilities on the bike. Tom Geary needs plenty of practice as he fell to the grass almost at the start. After trying hard all night, Kate Geary was the slowest and hence had a win.
Th Club need to see all the seniors who have come to training get organized for a Friday race night and boost the numbers. The Wednesday night training sessions all seem to have more riders than the Friday race night. Next Friday is the last race night before the Xmas break however there will be 2 more nights of Wednesday training.
Lindsay
updated 7am 18th Sept.
