Masters,
In this week’s Bleat;
• Annual General Meeting
• From the Race Committee
• From the Desk of the Handicapper
• Racing this Week
• Race Reports
Ian Morton
thebleat@actvets.cc
Annual General Meeting
The Club held the Annual General Meeting tonight.
The following positions were voted on;
– President – no nominations
– Vice President – no nominations
– Secretary – Craig Tozer
– Treasurer – no nominations
General Committee
– Dougal Torrence, Christopher Short, Kevin Woods, Andy Matz, Kim Malcolm, Ian Morton, Rob Langridge (Handicapper)
From the Race Committee
The RMS has been updated with the ACT races that we have currently secured approval. The Committee is still working on NSW events.
We are looking for volunteers to fill the Race Director and Marshal positions so that we can ensure the running of these races.
RACING THIS WEEK:
Tuesday, 15th February: Stromlo Criterium – Club Championship
Note: Tomorrow’s Crit is only for age groups M6 (55-59) thru M10 (75+) and Women.
Riders in M1 (30-34) thru M5 (50-54) will race next week
Note: Pre-registration required by 15 Feb 2022 3:50 pm.
No late entries accepted.
Where: Stromlo Forest Park
Race Description:
M8 (65-69)/M9 (70-74)/M10 (75-80)/M11 (80-) @5:50 30 min
Women (All ages)** @6:30 30 min
M6 (55-59)/M7 (60-64) @7:10 35 min
*Age Classification is the Age that you turn on your birthday in 2022, e.g. a rider who turns 40 in December 2022 is classed as M3 (40-44) or W2 (40-49) for all events during 2022.
**While all Women will start together, results will be recorded for 10 year ages groups (30-39, 40-49, etc).
Race Director: Matt Hinchcliffe Contact: Email: hinchymatt1@gmail.com Ph 0423 476 341
Marshals: Marc Harris
Thursday, 17th February: Track Racing
The Program for Thursday is;
5.30pm – 6.00pm: Warm-up and free practice,
6.00pm – 6.20pm: 8-lap graded scratch race,
6.20pm – 6.50pm: 1 lap standing start TT (Omnium Event),
6.50pm – 7.10pm: 4-lap handicap race,
7.10pm – 7.30pm: Italian pursuit.
Sunday, 20th February: No Scheduled Road Race
RACE REPORTS:
SFP Criterium – 8st February
E, F & G Grades – E, F, and G grades started the nights racing with a group of 9 riders staying together most of the race. There were a few attempted breaks, but it came down to an exciting bunch sprinter with Shirley-Anne Taylor the first across the line in E grade followed by Linda Stals, and Simon Milnes. Ross Heazlewood finished first in F grade and Gai Monahan was the sole rider in G Grade.
E 1st Shirley-Anne Taylor, 2nd Linda Stals, 3rd Simon Milnes
F 1st Ross Heazlewood, 2nd Dennis Puniard 3rd Michael Spoljaric
G 1st Gai Monahan
A Grade – A grade went out hard and a group of 5 soon made a break with Gerard Tiffen, Ben Morrison, Matt Rizzuto, James Meadley, Daniel Lekhac working together to keep the bunch at bay with Gerard Tiffen winning the race followed by Ben Morrison and Matt Rizzuto. Marc Vroomans was the first over the line in the chasing bunch taking 6th place.
1st Gerard Tiffen, 2nd Ben Morrison 3rd Matt Rizzuto
C Grade – C grade was the biggest group of the night with 26 riders. The group stayed together for most of the ride with several attempted breaks mid race including one by Dominic Romano. In the sprint at the end Adam Strickland finishing first followed by Andrew Buick and Nicholas Jeffries. 1st Adam Strickland, 2nd Andrew Buick, 3rd Nicholas Jeffries
B Grade – B grade went out first but soon faced heavy rain with the threat of lighting circling the suburbs around Stromlo. Darren Blackhurst did a lot of work early as the bunch negotiated the poor conditions and the threat of Kangaroos late in the race. Sixteen riders finished the race with Michael Langdon coming first in a sprint followed by David McCook and Peter Young coming third.
1st Michael Langdon, 2nd David McCook 3rd Peter Young
D Grade – D grade went out next with the rain and threat of nearby lighting leading to several riders dropping out early. The remain 7 riders worked together to finish safely with David Rowe finishing first followed by Terry Danaher and Peter Frew
1st David Rowe, 2nd Terry Danaher, 3rd Peter Frew
Paul McKay
Track Racing – 10th February
The evening weather for the season’s 9th track racing session was warm with rain threatening. The wind was light. Fortunately, the predicted evening rain amounted to only a few drops that barely impeded the race program. Attendance was slightly down, with 14 riders, 9 in A grade and 5 in B grade. Tim Jolly lined up in B grade for his first track outing with the club.
The 8-lap A grade scratch race was eventful. It started at an easy pace with Michael Langdon doing the first lap before handing on to Craig Kentwell. Craig must have felt good, as he did two laps leading out at a good tempo. Next lap, Steve Jones and Tony Beasley surged off the front. They were soon pegged back by James Newhouse and Wayne Benham. On lap 7 Kerry Knowler and Lindy Hou attacked on their tandem. Michael Langdon pursued and quickly streamed past the tandem, gaining a 20 metre lead by the penultimate lap. This lap saw Wayne Benham was pursuing hard and in second spot by the bell lap. As the bell lap progressed, Steve Jones surged out of the pack in pursuit of Wayne. Michael Langdon was cruising to a comfortable victory with Wayne Benham and Steve Jones locked in a battle for second place. Steve drew ahead about 5 metres from the line to take second spot with Wayne in third. Craig Kentwell hauled in next, to be best of the A2 group.
The B Grade scratch race started in an orderly fashion and progressed through five rider changes at one lap intervals. Bruce Griffin led over lap 6 and decided to hold position as the penultimate lap commenced. When the pack reached the back straight on lap 7, Bruce surged off the front in a good tactical move. The second rider could not pursue and this gave Bruce vital seconds to build a lead before the pack responded. Alison Hale and Karen Clutson were soon pursuing Bruce with Tim Jolly also showing pace from the rear of the pack. Eventually, Alison reeled in Bruce to take the win. However, Bruce held on for second spot before a fast closing Karen Clutson, who came in third.
The evening’s second event was a 200 Fly, a timed sprint over 200m from a flying start. Power and flying start technique are the keys to this event. A-grade times were very competitive with the first three being Michael Langdon (13.14s), Steve Jones (13.33s) and Wayne Benham (13.72s). Best of the A2 Group was the Kerry Knowler / Lindy Hou tandem (13.68s). B-grade times were also quite competitive with the first three being Tim Jolly (14.00s), Karen Clutson (14.41s) and Alison Hale (14.88s). The fastest rider (Michael Langdon) averaged 54.8 km/hr over the timed section. The 200 Fly was the first event of a 4 event Omnium Championship for 2021-22.
The evenings third event was a 2-lap handicap with A & B grades combined. This was a closely contested race. Initially Bruce Griffin powered out, passing the limit rider in less than half a lap. Bruce managed to hold a good pace, but it was not enough to hold out James Newhouse who is hard to hold back in handicap events. The first two places were James Newhouse and Bruce Griffin. The limit rider Graeme O’Neill just managed to hold out Tony Beasley for third placing.
The track session closed with the usual, all-in, Italian pursuit. This event ended up with 2 teams of 5 riders. On paper, it looked like Team 2 would be stronger. However, the wild card was Tim Jolly on Team 2 who was having his first Italian Pursuit race. Team 2 decided to place Tim as first rider. You could not argue with this, as a safety measure. However, this decision likely meant that the team 2 rider sequence was sub-optimal. In the event, Team 1 rode flawlessly, while Team 2 were slightly off form, sufficient to give Team 1 a comfortable win and highlight the importance of team strategy for this event.
Major place getters for Wednesday were as follows:
8-Lap Scratch: (A1 Grade) Michael Langdon, Steve Jones, Wayne Benham. (A2 Grade) Craig Kentwell, Kerry Knowler / Lindy Hou tandem, Ben Davis. (B Grade) Alison Hale, Bruce Griffin, Karen Clutson.
200m Fly: (A1 Grade) Michael Langdon (13.14s), Steve Jones (13.33s), Wayne Benham (13.72s). (A2 Grade) Kerry Knowler / Lindy Hou tandem (13.68s), Craig Kentwell (14.05s), Tony Beasley (14.30s) (B Grade) Tim Jolly (14.00s), Karen Clutson (14.41s) Alison Hale (14.88s).
Combined 2-lap Handicap: James New house, Bruce Griffin, Graeme O’Neill.
Combined Italian Pursuit: Winner Team 1 (Michael Langdon, Craig Kentwell, Tony Beasley, Karen Clutson, Graeme O’Neill).
Omnium Championship Points after Round 1:
Graeme O’Neill (5), Tony Beasley (4), Michael Langdon (3), James Newhouse (2), Wayne Benham, (1).
Season Point Score Update:
Alison Hale (188), Tony Beasley (181), James Newhouse (148), Craig Kentwell (148), Michael Langdon (144), Ken Birch (119), John Paul De Sousa (99), Graeme O’Neill (98), Bruce Griffin (97), Kerry Knowler (88), Karen Clutson (75), Wayne Benham (68), Phil Coulton (64), Warwick Wilson (62), Rowan McMurray (53).
Graeme O’Neill
