ACT Veterans Weekly Bleat, Monday 3rd December, 2018

Hello Vets,

In this week’s Bleat;

• Christmas Wheel Race
• From the Desk of the Handicapper
• Summer Points Table
• Racing this Week
• Race Reports

Please send me your contributions at: TheBleat@actvets.cc

Ian Morton

Christmas Wheel Race

Roll up! Roll Up!

The Crit races due to be held on December 18th marks our Christmas Wheel Race. Catering will be provided and the top 5 riders from each grade will run off at the end of the night in a handicap. Prizes are on offer for first to third in each race on the evening. grade. To encourage conversation and families to attend, the club will provide catering for the event.

Dougal Torrence
Club President

From the Desk of the Handicapper

One change this week;

– Ben McDuff B to A

Rob Langridge
Handicapper

Summer Points Table

Race results contribute towards points for the Season. The current points table can be found under the Member Points page. The current top 10 places so far this season are;

RACING THIS WEEK:

Tuesday, 4th December: Stromlo Criterium

Where: Stromlo Forest Park
Sign on: 15 mins before scheduled start time wearing your registered number.
Race Description:
A/C @5:50 A 42m+2, C 38m+2
B/D @6:35 B 42m+2, D 38m+2
E/F/G @7:20 28 min + 2 laps

Race Director:  Patrick McNamara Contact: Email: patrickmcnamara735@gmail.com    Ph  0434993875

Wednesday, 5th December: Track Racing

The Program for Wednesday is TBA;

Sunday, 9th December: Dairy Flat Road Criterium – Graded

Where: Travel toward the airport and drop down onto the northern end of the track west of the second river crossing or, head to Fyshwick then west onto Dairy Road and follow on until you find a gate that delineates the cut off section.
When: 9:00 am.
Sign on: 15 mins before scheduled start time wearing your registered number.
Race Description:
A/B @9:00 50 mins + 1 lap
C/D @10:00 40 mins + 1 lap
E/F/G @10:50 30 mins + 1 lap

Race Director: Nick Boylan

Marshals: Des Brown

Race directors for 2019

I am looking for race directors for next year’s races. Please have a look at the race calendar in RMS and let me know if you are interested in directing any particular races. You do not need to have previously directed a race but should have experience racing and marshalling with the club. Directing is not an arduous undertaking, there are detailed instructions and club members are on hand to help.

Upcoming Marshal Roster

Thank you to those who have already volunteered to help. Nominees, in in blue have been selected based on results from the previous race season and the period since they last helped at a race. Nominees are requested to advise their availability/unavailability to the race committee (race.committee@actvets.cc) as soon as possible.

Summer series crit races are held at Stromlo Forest Park on Tuesday evenings and road races are held on Sunday mornings.

* denotes ETC required for ACT races.

Ian McVay
Race Committee

RACE REPORTS:

Stromlo Criterium – 27th November

Only the bravest of riders had arrived today to contest their crit races with the threat of rain hanging overhead all afternoon. B and D grades were away first and apart from the odd duck and roo on track they really did have the best of the conditions.20 riders contested B grade and as per usual Dougal Torrance received the most aggressive rider prize with 3 attempted breakaways but to no avail as it finished in a bunch sprint with Ben McDuff triumphant over Craig Tozer with Shane Warburton finishing 3rd. The 12 riders in D grade took it fairly easy until the last few laps when gaps started to appear.The sprint finish was won by Steven Simms with Helmut Zeller and Anthony Dick filling the minor placings.

With light rain falling it was time for E, F and G grades to race. E grade was hotly contested with a couple of visitors in the 13 strong field. By this stage a few more roos had come down for a look so it was definitely an exciting race for the newbies. 1st timer Samuel Whitsed won with Ian Morton 2nd and Adrian Priddin finishing 3rd. The 4 starters in F grade and Bernie all rolled around together with Bernie holding on for about half the race. F grades sprint finish was won by Chris Copeland with Mike Hayes 2nd and Susan Frost 3rd.

As soon as A and C grades took off the rain got a little heavier and the roos decided it would be a good time to migrate from the mountain to the cross country track. Many near misses ensued but thankfully the only ones to go down were a couple of unlucky roos who didn’t have enough tread to cope with the wet bitumen. A grade exploded out of the blocks with splits everywhere. A group of 4 riders contested the sprint finish with Gerard Tiffen proving too strong for Seymour Savell-Boss and Nathan Spilane in 3rd place. The 6 riders in C grade circulated together but with a lap and a half to go a mob of about 20 roos decided to cross over the track straight in front of them. This was far too close for comfort and the race was stopped immediately.

With a small bit of good fortune and a great deal of bike handling skills everyone remained upright and all riders made it home safe and sound. A huge thank you to John, Simon and Phil for their great help on an afternoon that turned a bit ordinary.

Mick Brice

Old Federal Highway – 2nd December

A day full of all types of weather warm and windy to stormy, cool and almost rain with plenty of dust. The wind gusts were around 50kph.

We had 30 riders venture out to the challenging conditions with only 4 DNFs and all grades but F represented. Well done to all who participated.

A grade did 3 laps of the course between the gravel pit and the Tulip farm. 5 starters but they down to a group of 3 by the first lap who turned around in 28 minutes with Nathan Spillane out with a puncture. By the end of the second lap the lead group was 2 being Christophe Barbaret and Christopher Short. The eventual finishing order was Christophe Barbaret, Christopher Short and David Dickson in just over one hour and 24 minutes.

B grade had 8 starters who stuck together for the first lap and by the second lap Michael Carr had taken a slight lead on the remaining 7 in the bunch. During the final lap Rainer Wilton took an early mark only to be drenched in a down poor near Eaglehawk on his way home. It was a tight finish for B grade with Bradley MaCallum first followed very closely by Aaron Segment and Conan Liu and the others closely behind. All those finishing completed the course in around 1 hour 28 minutes.

C grade was lead out by Ian Preston which had 6 start and complete the race. Ian I am told was outstanding on the day and lead the grade around for two and a half laps finishing well clear of Adam Potts followed by Damien Copeland.

D grade had 3 start and stay together for the first 2 laps. Eventually Shane Warburton finished well clear of Alain Arbaut and further back Darren Garnon. All finished the course around 1 hour 35 minutes.

E grade had 8 starters who mostly stayed together by the end of the first lap. The second and final lap sorted out the bunch with Jan Koehler taking line honour just ahead of Simon Milner (who had the same time) and further back Penelope Anderson.

G grade was represented today by Andre Swenson who unfortunately didn’t quite finish the first lap.

Thank you to our marshalls and drivers;
Our marshalls were James Curran, Craig Tozer, Todd Sowter, Graham Hendrie and Jim Anderson.
Our drivers were Graham Taunton and Jonathan Chowns.

And a special thanks to Ashley Carruthers who volunteered at short notice to act as First Aider so that the event could proceed.

Kim Malcolm