Hello Vets,

In the Bleat this week;

•  Van Volunteers

•  Racing this Week

•  Race Report

Ian Morton
thebleat@actvets.cc

Van Volunteers

As we transition into the new arrangements for the race van, we are looking to establish a pool of members who would be interested in taking on responsibility to prepare the van, drive it out to races and return it to Stromlo.

Members who drive the van to an event would still be able to participate in the race.

Members who are willing to be included in the roster should contact secretary@actvets.cc

Note that the van is a manual gear change.

ps Thanks to also those people who have already volunteered.

RACING THIS WEEK:

There are no scheduled events this week due to the Reconciliation Day long weekend.

RACE REPORT:

Lookout Hill – 22nd May

It was a perfect day for racing on Saturday – it was warm, there was barely any wind and most of the grades had enough riders to ensure there was some competitive racing. The day would not have been possible without the assistance of our ETCs Brendan Byatt and Tony Weir and from the help provided by Brian Peak, Tim Minehan and Chris Copeland. ETCs reported that motorists were well behaved also. A number of riders were alarmed by some of the overtaking manoeuvres of the passing bunches. Please be aware that not all riders are super confident when passed at speed by large bunches so please give them extra space when passing.

Kirsti McVay was also at the finish line testing the club’s racing app, while Ed Logue came along with a toddler to introduce her early to the finer points of road racing. She was observed nodding knowingly as Ed explained “That’s Steve Crispin, I guess you could say he’s the Egan Bernal of the club.” Ian McVay and Kirsti prepared the van on Friday, and thanks to Des Brown who helped with getting the shipping container open and assisting with driving the van out.

Although this course has a tough hill where gaps can be formed maintaining them requires riding at 50km/h on the other side to avoid getting swallowed up by the chasers. Hence, the majority of the riders finish in a strung out bunch.

Brad Peppinck shot off in A grade and had decent lead for the first lap. This was then countered by a breakaway by Nick Stewart, Steve Crispin and Jimmy Carrol. I’m not sure if a puncture by Nick Stewart ended the chances of the breakaway succeeding but it certainly killed off any hope of Nick finishing. It all came down to a mad sprint in the end, and it was Gerrard Tiffen who had enough of a gap to coast over the line ahead of Jimmy and Steve.

The other grades may have had many internal battles going on but they weren’t happening near the start or finish lines. Ben McDuff came around the outside of the B grade bunch to take line honours over Bruce Goodspeed and Conan Liu. The margin between second and third was the only close finish of the day, much to the relief of the judge and timekeeper.

The C grade finish was more of a grind to the finish and who better to win than one of the club’s great diesel men Kev Wells! Bryan Holloway came in next followed by a rejuvenated Ian Preston.

The stick insect men had been dominating the previous hilly races in D grade but their attacks on this fast course didn’t tire the legs of David Rowe who easily won in his first road race in four years. He was followed by Bruce McMillan with his best ever D grade finish and regular podium dweller Alain Arbaut.

Allan Bontjer was far stronger than Ian Morton and Rosemary Robinson in E grade.

Thanks to those who have volunteered to be van drivers for future races. It’s very time consuming and coupled with being race director makes for a very long day, but certainly worth the sacrifice so that we can keep doing what we love.

Rob Langridge

	Photos from the event courtesy of Tim Minehan: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmVJJGK1   And Michael Fawke has posted some photos on the ACT Vets Facebook page.