ACT Veterans Weekly Bleat, Sunday 25th March, 2019

Hello Vets,

In the Bleat this week;

• Lost Garmin
• From the Desk of the Handicapper
• Racing this Week
• From the Race Committee
• Race Reports

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

Ian Morton

Lost Garmin

A Garmin was found on Mtn Creek Road on Sunday;

Graham has it in the van.

From the Desk of the Handicapper

I have three promotions for this week;

Simon Junakovic B to A
Heath Chester B to A
Ian Morton E to D

Rob Langridge
Handicapper

RACING THIS WEEK:

Tuesday, 26th March: Stromlo Criterium – Scratch Race

Where: Stromlo Forest Park
Sign on: 15 mins before scheduled start time wearing your registered number.
Race Description:
E/F/G @5:50 20 m + 2
A/C @6:15 A 28m+2, C 28m+2
B/D @6:50 B 28m+2, D 25m+2

Race Director:  Mathew Corby Contact: Email: mathew.corby@bigpond.com    Ph  0431477536

Marshal for Crit Race 26 March

I have been unable to get a replacement Marshal for the Stromlo crit race on 26 March. If we don’t get a volunteer to help out, we will run the race without recording results.

Wednesday, 27th March: Track Presentation Evening

The Track Presentation evening will be on Wednesday 27 March (6.00pm).
There will be a single team race at 6.00pm. Warm up starts as usual at 5.30pm.
Free drinks and nibbles provided. A plate will be appreciated. All Welcome!

Sunday, 31st March: Mtn Creek Rd Graded Scratch

Where: Cnr Mtn Creek Rd and Fairlight Rd
When: 9:00 am.
Sign on: 15 mins before scheduled start time wearing your registered number
Race Description:
From Mtn Creek Rd and Fairlight Rd intersection to Cavan Gap for 1 lap. ABCD – 2 laps, EFG 1 lap

Race Director: Peter Marshall Contact: Email: knuckle74@internode.on.net    Ph  0422167885

Marshals: Jim McLean, Gerald Van Ewyk, Iver Lange

An additional Marshal is required for Sunday. Could anyone able to assist please contact Ian McVay (imcvay@grapevine.com.au)

From the Race Committee

Inaugural Mountain Creek Rd race on 31 March

The club will be running its first race at Mtn Creek Rd this Sunday. It will be a pleasant “rolling course” through the NSW countryside according to Steve Crispin. Please be respectful of locals and other road users. This race falls within the Yass council area and we want to maintain our good standing with the council and NSW Police.

Event Traffic Controller course for 1 June 2019

The next ETC Training course is on Saturday 1st June.

We did not get anyone interested in going on the March Course! We currently only have about 40 ETCs from a club of 300 members. Members need to share the burden of helping to run races. Having enough traffic controllers available in the club is critical to our ability to run races in the ACT and it is likely we will need to have ETCs for NSW races in the future. ETCs are eligible for reimbursement of $100 for marshalling at ACT road races.

Course details are available on Blended Learning’s web site – http://www.blendedlearning.edu.au/home/courses/programs-courses/event-traffic-controller/. I am still awaiting information on funding the training. YOU WILL NOT HAVE TO PAY.

New road signs

The club has invested in some new road signs to replenish is holdings. Signs have been damaged, lost and stolen over the last few years.

The ACT Government dictates what signs we need to use to race in the ACT. These are described in the Temporary Traffic Management Plans we have for each race location. New signs are not cheap, the one in the picture costing $150. So if you spot any signs out on the roads that may have been left or stolen and dumped, please let the race committee know.

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 – 20th March

The evening weather seemed unstable, and so was the season points score – undecided! Ten riders were ready to race. The Court Jester was commissionaire for the night due to the Chief Handicapper / Commissionaire being in a dark Kambah “lockup” crunching the season points algorithm on unknown devices.

The 8-lap, A grade Scratch race started out at a moderate pace for the first few laps – riders looked fit – one lap and half lap turns ensued until, with 4 laps to go, Dougal Torrance lit the after burner and went for it. However, the flame flickered; (due to the previous night’s B grade crit). Nonetheless, this surge was enough to send riders 4 deep up the track with Craig Kentwell circulating high on the track at risk of altitude sickness. Alec Millet attacked. Hamish Anderson knows a good wheel – he stuck to Alec like glue. Alec and Hamish pulled out a large gap on the rest of the field. An empathic win to Alec.

The B grade Scratch only had 3 riders, however it was twitchy affair – with Ross Scutts contemplating the need for every point toward the season shield and Bruce Griffin sensing eternal glory. Ross held off on his final sprint for as long as he could – he circulated at 3rd wheel high on the track with 1.5 laps to go. However, Phil Anderson held Ross on his hip right the finish line – Ross Scutts taking the win by a…GP4000 tread after a year’s riding on it.

Flying 200m. This event was well contested – with the temperature mild, the wind easing and the track fast. Hamish Anderson (on a big gear), waited to ride last – he rode a technically perfect entry and a blistering 200 time at 12.60 seconds. 2nd was Alec Millet 13.50, 3rd Dougal Torrance 13.59. In B grade Phil Anderson was fastest with 14.50 seconds.

2 Lap Handicap. (It seems that riders think the Bundadome is a democracy. It is not – and the Court Jester had to turn down inducements to alter handicaps…except for JP’s). The 2 lap handicap starts and ends fast…after all it’s only a two lapper. Wayne Benham’s mid field handicap and his good form had him keep the pace on for the win. Maintaining the rage for 2nd was Phil Anderson and 3rd was Craig Kentwell with Ross Scutts 4th.

The final race of the VETS track season was the Italian Pursuit. This race is the final race for each Wednesday nights racing and it’s an all grade / all in race. Team 1 & 2 started the race evenly, (riders were on the limit as the nights racing although short, had been intense). Team 2 had a slight lead but a rider order error was evidenced by a gap in the team on the final few laps. Team 1 rode consistently with a strong finish.

Place getters for this session were as follows:
8 Lap Scratch: (A Grade) Alec Millet, Hamish Anderson, JP De Sousa. (B Grade) Ross Scutts, Phil Anderson, Bruce Griffin.
200 Metre Fly: Hamish Anderson (12.60s), Alec Millet (13.50s), Dougal Torrance (13.59s), Craig Kentwell (13.62s), John Paul De Sousa (13.69s), Wayne Benham (14.13s), Tony Beasley (14.16s), Phil Anderson (14.50s), Bruce Griffin (14.75s), Ross Scutts (15.12s).
2 Lap Handicap: 1st Wayne Benham, 2nd Phil Anderson, 3rd Craig Kentwell
Italian Pursuit: Team 1 – Ross Scutts, Tony Beasley, Craig Kentwell, Hamish Anderson, Alec Millet.

Final Season Point Score:
Ross Scutts (296), Michael Langdon (284), Dougal Torrance (267), Phil Anderson (248), Steve Hirsler (210), Tony Beasley (187), Bruce Griffin (187), Craig Kentwell (186), Hamish Anderson (170).

Graeme O’Neill

Uriarra Roubaix – 24th March

A mild, but humid start to the day greeted riders as they arrived for the sign on, but conditions quickly went from pleasant to less than ideal shortly after the roll out. This made an already hard nuts race even harder, with stiff winds and gusts, and occasional horizontal drizzle. The headwind coming back from Uriarra Xing looked more than a little tough, going by the assortment of race face grimaces amongst the riders.

All up, we had 30 racers take on the course, with the rugged course or conditions getting the better of 7 riders, with one or two from each grade succumbing to punctures as the most common cause of DNF’s. It’s tricky to work out how to run pressures on standard road tyres, but flying in the face of conventional wisdom, running high-pressures to avoid pinch flats, and dealing with the bone rattling is the suggested survival technique. Several riders threw away the roadie rulebook, taking advantage of the surge in popularity of wider tyres on gravel and CX bikes. The increased rolling resistance seemed a fair trade in almost guaranteeing puncture free dirt legs.

E and F grade rolled away together and stayed that way until the second time back from the crossing, with the 8 strong field blown to bits for the final dirt lap. In the end, Ian Morton took the goodies, with Tony Sheehan taking second and Alex Sommariva getting third. Sadly, our only F grade starter, Dennis Puniard, had an unlucky run with punctures.

D Grade needed to brave 3 laps of the treacherous course and saw only 4 of 7 starters finish. The group broke up on the first lap, mainly due to punctures on the first dirt lap, and split into individual riders as the race progressed. A puncture in the final km saw the leader nearly caught on the line, with second place within metres of snatching the victory with a last minute sprint. In the end, Darren Garnon took the win, followed by Des Brown and Craig O’Neall in third.

C Grade were active from the end of the first bitumen lap and a tight contest took place with riders again on their own by the third lap. Punctures put paid to two riders races and a mechanical saw the end of Damian Copelands chances of victory, leaving three riders to tough it out to the finish. In the end, Andrew Remely took the win from Warwick Wilson, with James Curran taking the final podium spot.

B Grade were quick out of the blocks and were split by the start of the first dirt section. Gerard Tiffen and Ian Preston had established a decent lead and continued to build on that throughout the race. Each time through the finish, Gerard had pulled out more time, though, likely taking advantage of some wider tubeless tyres to put down the required power to put the sword to his pursuers. It was enough to see him comfortably hold on for the win, with Ian holding on to second and Bruce Goodfellow solid in third. In spite of missing the podium, Conan Liu’s finish line reaction summed up most of our experiences with riders throughout the race – much suffering was had in equal parts to fun.

Finally, A Grade was always going to be interesting, with a broad range of bikes on the start line. Brad Peppinck and Jason Chalker opted for conventional roadies, while Ashley Carruthers, Paul Scherl and Peter Marshall ran Gravel or Cyclocross setups. It was up to Jason and Brad to put the pain in on the road legs to give a buffer on the dirt legs. By the end of the first lap, they were all together minus Jason, who had punctured on the dirt. By the second lap, Peter, Paul and Ashley had broken away from Brad. On the final leg, Paul and Peter put time into Ashley by exploiting his limited 38/11 gearing on the bitumen. Brad and Ashley worked to limit losses, but in the end, Peter broke away from Paul, with Ashley in third. Brad’s thinner tyres finally let him down on the dirt within walking distance of the finish.

It was a great day out, by all accounts. Amusingly, the weather cleared a bit and the temperatures rose once the riders came in, putting paid to an hour and a half of shivering on the parts of the marshals. Thanks to all that braved the conditions and the brutality of the course. Thanks also to our marshals: Robert Brunato, Lyn Vaseduva, David Jukes, Seymour Savell-Boss and Graham Hendrie.

Thanks also to Graham and Ian McVay for providing guidance and support with race directing. It was an exciting new experience, and made me even more aware of how much work goes into running Vets races each week. With the impressively full race calendar providing nearly weekly opportunities to race, the workload on the committee and volunteers is impressively huge. We are very lucky to have such an active club.

Steve Crispin