Hello Vets,

In the Bleat this week;

  • ACT Vets goes Cashless
  • From the Desk of the Handicapper
  • Event Traffic Controller’s Course – 7 December 2019
  • Racing this Week
  • From the Race Committee
  • Race Reports

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

Ian Morton

ACT Vets goes Cashless

Commencing Tuesday 5 November 2019, members will have the option to pay their $10 race fee using their credit or debit card so there should be no excuses for not having cash or the correct change! The club will be using the Square card reader which will accept mobile wallets, contactless (‘tap and go’) and chip cards. Cash payments will still be accepted.

At this stage, the non-cash payment option will only be used at the Stromlo crit races as we have a reliable internet connection. If you are planning to pay by card, please allow extra time to register, as we only have one card reader available to take payments and registration will take longer than paying by cash.

Kirsti McVay
Treasurer

From the Desk of the Handicapper

Promotions

Lance Purdon D to C

Rob Langridge
Handicapper

Event Traffic Controller’s Course – 7 December 2019

An Event Traffic Controllers’ (ETC) Course will be held on Saturday 7 December 2019 from 09:30-16:30. The venue for the course will be: Office of Regulatory Services (TCCS Depot), 255 Canberra Ave, Fyshwick. ACT 2609 (Enter the Training Room via Lithgow and Wiluna Streets).

An ETC qualification is required in order to be able to marshal at Club events in the ACT in any role requiring the stopping of traffic. We rely on a healthy stock of ETCs in order to be able to run road races in the ACT, and members’ ability to race is conditional on helping out on an occasional basis. The Club also provides payments to its marshals for their service at races, which is a nice way to subsidise your future race fees. The Club has negotiated with the ACT Government to provide the ETC course at no charge to the Club or members! It is completely free! There is also a live mentoring component which you can book to do at your convenience, enabling you to discharge your Club marshalling duty at the same time as you are finishing off the qualification. So, please, if you are not already an ETC, sign up for the course.

Members who already have completed the ETC qualification do not need to undertake the course again. The ACT Government has recently ruled that the qualification does not expire, and shortly all existing ETC card holders will be issued with new cards reflecting this.

If you can attend, please contact Blended Learning International (our training partner), CEO Lisa Materano on Mobile: +61 438 134 558; or e-mail: lmaterano@blendedlearning.edu.au. Copy the Race Committee (race.committee@actvets.cc) on the e-mail so we can keep track of which of our members have enrolled.

Thank you!!

RACING THIS WEEK:

Tuesday, 12th November: Stromlo Criterium – Graded Scratch

Where: Stromlo Forest Park
Sign on: 15 mins before scheduled start time wearing your registered number.
Race Description:
A/C 5:50 A 38m+2, C 33m+2
B/D 6:35 B 38m+2, D 33m+2
E/F/G 7:15 25 min + 2 laps

Race Director: Kevin Newhouse Contact: Email: knewhouse@bigpond.com    Ph  0417132213

Marshals: Liam O’Dea

Wednesday, 13th November: Track Racing

The Program for Wednesday is;
8-lap graded scratch race;
4-Lap handicap;
Mystery Race;
Italian Pursuit.

Sunday, 17th November: Old Federal Highway

Where: Turn left off new Federal Hwy (dual carriageway) after Bywong Rd. The intersection is signposted to Gundaroo and approx 9 km after Sutton Rd overpass. Park in gravel pit on corner of next intersection about 100 m in from highway.
When: 9:00 am.
Sign on: 15 mins before scheduled start time wearing your registered number
Race Description:
Old Federal Highway Gravel Pit to Lake George and back. ABCD 4 laps for 48km. EFG 3 laps for 36km.

Race Director: Ian Preston Contact: Email: dandi@grapevine.com.au    Ph 0407230741

Marshals: Gai Monahan, Brandie O’Connor, Lewis Cressy, Tim Brown

From the Race Committee

New RMS

The update of RMS, which works better on mobile devices, has been implemented. Bookmarks to the old RMS no longer work. You need to follow the updated links to the Race Calendar and Results from our home page at actvets.cc.

Upcoming Race Officials Roster

With the implementation of the new Race Calendar, the publication of the upcoming Race Officials Roster in the weekly Bleat will be discontinued.

Rostered race directors AND MARSHALS are shown against each race.

Please check the calendar (http://rms.actvets.cc/calendar). If your name is followed by TBC (To Be Confirmed) you need to contact the race committee (race.committee@actvets.cc) as soon as possible to either confirm your attendance or to request a swap.

Empty race directors and marshal positions are denoted as Vacant. Some marshals for races in the ACT need to be Events Traffic Controllers (ETC) and appear as Vacant ETC.

Please review the vacancies for upcoming races and email the race committee with events you would like to help out at, rather than wait and be asked to help at a race you wanted to do. Races cannot happen without members contributing to make them happen.

Ian McVay
Race Committee

RACE REPORTS:

Stromlo Criterium – 5th November

Feeling rather apprehensive about being a first-time race director for the Criteriums last Tuesday I decided to bring along Bill “The Enforcer” Frost to be my assistant along with Felipe my marshal for the night, also a first timer at running a crit. This seemed to be a wise move as the snakes and kangaroos stayed away and the riders were on their best behaviour and all stayed upright! Being a lowly F Grader it was a bit daunting telling the big boys in A Grade what to do but it wasn’t so bad and I am sure I might even be able to manage on my own if there is a next time.

I must admit it is quite challenging trying to keep track of all the riders and which grade is which when they all start to break up- certainly tests the grey matter- perhaps a good dementia prevention activity for us in the seniors category. Even trickier is working out how to make a 4 or a 2 on the track clock!

101 riders turned up to race on a cool and windy night. B and D Grade were the first group to set off, with a large field of riders in both groups. They really kept us on our toes with both groups splitting in two and then mixing up so we had groups of B and D grades all over the track- fortunately I could hear Terry Merrigan having a “quiet chat” in his group as he rode past so we knew that was D Grade and we were able to work things out from there, Felip knew the B Graders so he kept his eye on those groups. Both grades had close finishes with the honours in D Grade going to Lance Purdon (1st) Alex Sommariva (2nd) and Gavin Stephens – a visitor (3rd) . In B Grade it was Peter Young (1st) Brendan Lakey (2nd) and Paul Hollings (3rd).

E, F and G were the next group to head off- with 10 riders in E Grade, 3 in F Grade and 1 in G Grade it was much easier to keep track of everyone. We won’t mention any names, but a couple of F graders decided to put themselves up to E Grade to see how they went, and they managed pretty well! E Grade was a very close Finish with David Gunther ( 1st) just ahead of Penelope Anderson (2nd) closely followed by Leeanne Tennant (3rd) – go girls! F Grade was a solo effort by Bob Miller finishing 1st well ahead of Nigel Wines (2nd) and Ron Parker (3rd). Gai Monahan was the only rider in G Grade so full marks for persevering on her own.

A and C Grade where the final groups to head off. A Grade soon had a break away group form with ‘Team Tiffen’ featuring in that group- they put on the pace and one by one dropped the others in the group off till there were only 4 “Tiffens” remaining. Rumour has it that someone beat the boss- was that a wise move!!! Jeremy Gillman-Wells came in first, closely followed by Gerard Tiffen (2nd) and Jason Chalker (3rd) . C Grade seemed to mainly stick together which made things easier for the marshals with Michael Hanbury (1st), Dale Riley (2nd) and Bryan Holloway (3rd).

Thanks to Bill Frost and Felipe Lopes Reis for helping me out as marshals, Simon on first aid and Jan Kohler on the desk and Ian McVay keeping a close eye on a first time director to help out if needed.

Sue Frost

Track Racing – 30th October

The Ngunnawal lands of the Bundadome always provide an autonomous weather system on Wednesdays – @ 43kmph winds (70kmph gusts… [Bunima Burrai])… and so … the smart Trackie adjusted their gearing for this Track meet…

A Grade Scratch – 8 riders for 8 laps. What could go wrong?…well you could have a turn on the front in the back straight into the wind…turns on the front were taken and as it was; with 2 laps to go when the punch for position came – Alec Millet took the initiative and had to go high on turn 3 around John Paul (Diesel De Sousa), with this advantage of the the Bunda velodrome banking, Alec attacked the field – Martin Graham and JP chased, finishing fast but to no avail. Millet 1st.

B Grade Scratch – 6 riders – 8 laps. Ross Scutts continues his form this season – with many road kilometres in training transferring well to track races, and indeed a scratch race coverts well to season points. As the race punished riders for doing a 1 lap turn; Warwick Wilson led the race into the final lap, however, Ross timed it well to squeeze by on the back straight to get around Warwick et al for the win.

20 Lap Points race – is an exhausting effort in still conditions, let alone windy – with Sprints on laps 16 – 11 – 6 – and 1 lap to go for double points. (Steve Jones was on hand to calculate the outcomes).

A Grade – worked well together until lap 16 when the sprinters went for the jugular, @ lap 16 sprint – JP De Sousa and Hamish Anderson followed by Alec and Kentwell – alas too early it proved for many riders who blew a valve in the first sprint; excepting the masters Alec Millet (1st in sprint laps 11 & 6 and Martin Graham 3rd in lap 11 sprint and 2nd in lap 6 sprint and then taking the final sprint for 1st and on that basis equal points with Alec – but Martin won the final sprint and so the race.

B Grade – this grade was offered a shorter race by the Jester – however they wanted 20! Ross Scutts took an emphatic win overall with a 1st on lap 16 sprint, then 3rd on laps 11 and 6 (perhaps recovering), and then coming from behind in the final sprint to just edge out Warwick Wilson who was 1st on lap 11 sprint and 2nd on laps 6 and the final sprint. Tony Beasley was 3rd overall with his impressive consistency. Well done all.

Italian Pursuit – this race is fully inclusive of those who were not wrecked from the points race (and Tuesday’s Crit), to go in it…All in? Yes. Team 1’s lead riders such as Ken Birch have form in this race, and indeed they started fast again! Team 2 started into that head wind…so Team 1 were well ahead – but – the Team 2 mid field riders of – Tony Beasley, Martin Graham and JP (Diesel) De Sousa lifted on their respective laps, each gaining on Team 1, Alec Millet cracked out a blistering final lap, for a comfortable 10 metre Team 2 win.

Results:
A Grade scratch. Alec Millet, Michael Langdon, Martin Graham.
B Grade scratch: Ross Scutts, Warwick Wilson, James Newhause.
20 Lap Points race A: Martin Graham, Alec Millet, David McCook.
20 Lap Points race B: Ross Scutts, Warwick Wilson, Tony Bealsey.
Italian Pursuit – Team 2: Phil Anderson, Phil Coulton, Warwick Wilson, Tony Beasley, John Paul De Sousa, Martin Graham, Alec Millet.

Season Point Score Update:
Michael Langdon (44), Phil Coulton (43), Ross Scutts (40) Hamish Anderson (39), Phil Anderson (36), Ken Birch (35), Tony Beasley (34).

Thank you to Simon (1st Aid) and Jarrah Anderson for officiating.

Michael Langdon

Sutton Driver Training Course – Criterium – 10th November

Cold and windy conditions greeted 38 riders who took on the lumpy course at the Sutton.

A&B grade got things moving at 9:00am with a 50mins plus 1 lap race. A grade had 9 riders. Jeremy Gillman Wells attacked about half way through the race and ended up winning by a good margin. The sprint for 2nd and 3rd was won by Marc Vroomans over Jason Chalker. The 4 B grade riders pretty much stayed together for the whole race, apart from an attack from Peter Young that was brought bacl fairly quickly. The sprint finish for 1st, 2nd and 3rd was Lewis Cressy 1st, with Peter Young and Bruce Goodfellow filling the monor placings.

The C&D grade race was 40mins plus 1 lap. Unfortunately, there was confusion among some of the 10 C grade riders regarding the bell lap. Bell lap was called for D grade, but some of C, who were in the finish straight at the same time, thought it was for them as well. After the confusion, the winner of C grade was Tom Green with a dominant display. 2nd and 3rd places were awarded to Rodney Welsh (visitor) and Wayne Donchi. D grade was won in a sprint by Ben Davis over Lance Purdon and John Stokman.

E grade had 6 riders and F grade 1 rider – they rode for 30mins plu 1 lap in very windy conditions. E grade was won by Penelope Anderson who attacked after one lap and never looked back. Jan Koehler took the sprint for the minor placings over Linda Stals. Nigel Wines finished in F grade.

Many thanks to all that participated. Hope you all enjoyed your outing despite the conditions.

Special thanks to my marshal of the day, Stuart Roesler and to our First Aider, Simon Whitehead. Also thanks to Ian McVay for bringing the van and arranging sign-ons etc, and for support and advice.

Bryan Holloway