ACT Veterans Weekly Bleat, Monday 28th January, 2019

Hello Vets,

Hope you all had a good Australia Day long weekend. This week marks the return of Road Racing. In this week’s Bleat;

• Annual General Meeting
• Racing this Week
• Race Reports

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

Ian Morton

Members wishing to nominate for a Committee position can download a nomination form here

RACING THIS WEEK:

Tuesday, 29th January: Stromlo Criterium

Where: Stromlo Forest Park
Sign on: 15 mins before scheduled start time wearing your registered number.
Race Description:
B/D @5:50 B 45m+2, D 40m+2
E/F/G @6:40 30 min + 2 laps
A/C @7:15 A 45m+2, C 40m+2

Race Director:  Ed Pellegrino Contact: Email: edpellegrino@gmail.com    Ph  0419265192

Marshals: Penelope Anderson

Wednesday, 30th January: Track Racing

The Program for Wednesday is;
5.30pm – 6.00pm: Warm-up and free practice;
6.00pm – 6.20pm: 10-Lap Graded Scratch;
6.20pm – 6.50pm: 2-Lap Match Race;
6.50pm – 7.10pm: Italian Pursuit.

Sunday, 3rd February: Tidbinbilla Handicap

Where: Assemble in the car park of Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve off Tidbinbilla Rd approx 14 km from Point Hut Crossing. Parking: Off the road on either side of Paddy’s River Road. For road safety reasons, please DO NOT park on the corners of the intersection. Road traffic can be busy and dangerous, especially around the times we are finishing.
When: 9:00 am.
Sign on: 15 mins before scheduled start time wearing your registered number.
Race Description:
Tidbinbilla Nature reserve to turn at power lines on hill before Point Hut Crossing T junction for 18km. 2 Laps for 36km.

Race Director: Sean Ifland Contact: Email: seanifland@yahoo.com.au    Ph  0412525733

Marshals: Arna Walker, Elizabeth Lowe, Ian McVay

1st Road race of 2019

The 2019 road race program kicks off at 9am on Sunday at Tidbinbilla. It’s time for roadies to dust off their race bikes and for critters to escape from riding around in little circles. Conditions should be ideal with the relatively flat course suiting all riders. Remember to renew your Vets membership prior to the race as you will not be able to renew it at the race venue.

Gunning 2 Day marshals

Gunning 2 Day race is on 18-19 May. We will need 6 marshals each day to safely and effectively run the race. If you are planning to race and have a partner, child, friend etc who would be interested in coming to help marshal, please let me know. Early volunteering to do marshalling would be appreciated.

Upcoming Marshal Roster

Thank you to those who have already volunteered to help. Nominees, 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:

Track Racing – 23rd January

Wednesday 23 January was a hot day, overall. Despite an afternoon rain storm, the racing commenced in reasonable conditions. There was a fresh breeze and some approaching clouds. However, the track was dry and conditions remained warm. We had 11 riders with near equal representation in A and B grades.

The initial events were graded scratch races over eight laps. A Grade had five riders and began with lead outs by Martin Graham, Craig Kentwell and Dougal Torrance. Shortly after Dougal hit the front, Michael Langdon put in a mild attack and upped the pace. On lap 6, Martin Graham put in a serious attack and soon had a gap that only Michael Langdon could cross. Martin and Michael soon barrelled into the bell lap with a comfortable lead over the field. Michael rounded Martin comfortably in the final lap to take first place. Martin took second. Dougal Torrance attacked the remaining bunch as the sprint approached and was good for third place.

The B grade scratch race started at a comfortable pace and circulated to lap 6 with the bunch intact. At this point the whole bunch accelerated around a tiring lead rider and the race began in earnest. The bunch of five riders spread slightly as the pace quickened. By the bell lap, Steve Hirsler looked to have things under control. However, Ross Scutts just kept on the pressure, nipping ahead of Steve in the final sprint. Ian Drayton streamed in for a creditable third place.

The second event was a 1-Lap standing start time trial, essentially a timed sprint. Initially weather conditions were quite good for this event and excellent times were posted. Michael Langdon was the best in A grade with a scorching time of 26.90 seconds. In B grade, the stand out was Steve Hirsler with a great time of 29.81 seconds. Any time under 30 seconds is good for this event. As the event progressed, weather conditions at the track slowly deteriorated, initially with few drops of rain. Bruce Griffin was the last rider to have (marginally) viable conditions for a fast lap. After that, the track was fully wetted so the last rider, Graeme O’Neill could only tip toe around in slippery conditions.

It looked like the rain shower would clear and, as the track was hot, it would dry quickly. However, within 10 minutes, a deluge dashed all hope of continuing with racing for the evening. At this stage, most riders felt that the evenings racing was not a total loss, as we had completed a good warm up and half the scheduled race program.

Place getters for this session were as follows:
8-Lap Scratch: (A Grade) Michael Langdon, Martin Graham, Dougal Torrance. (B Grade) Ross Scutts, Steve Hirsler, Ian Drayton.
1-Lap SS TT: (A Grade): Michael Langdon (26.90s), Tim Minehan (28.84s), Martin Graham (28.99s). (B Grade) Steve Hirsler (29.81s), Bruce Griffin (31.03s), Ian Drayton (31.73s).

Season Point Score Update:
Ross Scutts (151), Michael Langdon (149), Dougal Torrance (148), Steve Hirsler (125), Phil Anderson (104), Wayne Benham (97), Craig Kentwell (91), Bruce Griffin (89), Tony Beasley (88).

Graeme O’Neill