Masters,
In this week’s Bleat;
• From the Committee
• Racing this Week
• Race Report
Ian Morton
thebleat@actvets.cc
From the Committee
Reduced Membership Fee for Remainder of 2022
A reduced membership fee of $80 is now available for new members and non-financial members wishing to rejoin the club between now and 31 December 2022. Register via the AVCC online membership portal at https://memberdesq.sportstg.com//index.cfm?fuseaction=main&OrgID=10244
RACING THIS WEEK:
Tuesday, 18th October: Stromlo Criterium
Note: Registration required by 18 Oct 2022 3:50 pm.
Any requests for Grade changes should be sorted out with the Handicapper prior to registration.
No late entries accepted.
Where: Stromlo Forest Park
Race Description:
A/C 5:50 A 28m 2, C 25m 2
B/D 6:25 B 28m 2, D 25m 2
E/F/G 6:55 20 min 2 laps
Sunset @ 7:20
Race Director: Michael Hanbury Contact: Email: mickhanbury@hotmail.com Ph 0430 515 896
Marshals: Ross Heazlewood
ps For those members riding home after the race, don’t forget your lights. It will be getting dark soon after the racing.
Thursday, 20th October: Track Racing
Last week’s track racing session was washed out by rain. Therefore, the season’s first track racing session is rescheduled for this Thursday.
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 – 7.00pm: 1-SS Time Trial.
7.00pm – 7.20pm: Italian Pursuit.
Sunday, 23rd October: Tidbinbilla
Reminder: All riders must register on the CRMCC Web site (https://rms.actvets.cc/calendar) by 22/10/2022 6:00 PM prior to the race. There is no registration at the event.
Any requests for Grade changes should be sorted out with the Handicapper prior to registration.
Where: Intersection of Tidbinbilla Reserve Rd and Paddy’s River Road 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.
Race Description:
TNR to top of Pierces Creek then return to TNR for one lap – 30km.
Race Director: tba Contact: Email: tba Ph tba
Marshals: Ben Healy ETC, Mick Donaldson ETC, Vacant Van Driver.
RACE REPORT:
SFP Criterium – 11th October
On a perfect evening to race bikes B and D grades were first away. Action in B Grade started early with Peter Merrick, Ed Hall and the Dominator opening up a good gap early on. It was only a few laps until the break caught D grade, and a few more laps after that the main bunch of B caught D. It was always going to make for an exciting time around collarbone corner, but it became a lot more exciting when Ed yelled out that there was a snake on the track. There were quite a few raised voices but happily no-one did anything stupid and the entire bunch got past the snake, unscathed. From our position on the start/finish line we could just see the snake wriggling away… except it wasn’t.
The snake wasn’t moving a lot, but it wasn’t going anywhere. Brian Peak, who had stepped in as first-aider for the night, and Rob Langridge rapidly mobilised to work out what was going on, and on arrival they realised that the bunches were just about to come around again. With a bit more shouting but still no silly moves everyone got past again, and it became clear that the snake just couldn’t get enough traction on the road surface to climb up the banking on the corner. Happily it found the traction before the bunch arrived again, and they were met by a clear track.
It was still Ed Hall out front looking very strong, with Dom and Peter starting to see a gap opening. Meanwhile Matt Hinchcliff decided he wanted some of the action, so he bridged over but even with his added power the trio couldn’t get back to Ed, and eventually got swallowed by the bunch with 10 minutes left on the clock. Ed held them off until the 6 minute mark, with Aaron Thompson spotting his chance as everyone else sat up and breathed a sigh of relief. He fired off the front of the bunch, but it wasn’t long until they were together again and lined up for the sprint. Heath Wade crossed the line first, closely followed by Andrew Yates and a resurgent Ed Meeuwissen. Dom Romano proved it wasn’t all bluff by finishing fourth, while Ed Hall did his best to escape the handicapper’s notice by slipping well back in the bunch despite leading on his own for a lot of the race.
In D-grade things were a lot more settled, with a split in lap 5 but things generally staying together. In the last lap things started to splinter, and Terry Danaher ended up just edging out Duncan Macdonald, Steven Harrison and Paul Morgan sprinting it out slightly behind for the third step, and then the bunch coming in a little further back again.
E, F and G were next off, and with a total of 11 riders across the three grades they went off together. There was a bit of separation early on, with Gai Monahan taking the lead in G from the start and powering home in a solo TT to take the win. In F grade Paul Robey was distanced about half way through the race but in the closing laps an otherwise strong looking Rob Langridge suddenly started losing ground, causing some speculation on whether he was trying to avoid catching the eye of the handicapper. In the end Paul showed his stamina to get past Rob but couldn’t catch Ross Heazlewood, meaning the podium was Ross, Paul and Rob.
The gentlemen of E-grade seemed to forget that we run our races with principles of equality, and spent most of the race insisting that the three women of E go first. Of course they did so, with Ally Roche and Theresa McLachlan both doing huge amounts of work. Linda Stals wasn’t being shy about it either, but held just enough back to make sure that when the gentlemen did put in an appearance she had the legs to leave them all behind. Ally followed close on her heels, with Mick Donaldson coming home for third.
The last race was A and C. It was a very strong A-grade field showing a great deal of the pink and blue colours of Cartel. They started off fast, and then C started fast behind them. It wasn’t long until Stephen Terracini and Ian Preston were off the front of C, with Terry Moore chasing. Meanwhile in A the attacks were constant, With Jimmy Carroll making some early moves and Steve Crispin testing everyone repeatedly.
In C grade Ian was eventually caught and that bunch settled down a bit, just as Steve Crispin went flying by in his latest attack. He got a good gap as the rest of A got held up passing C, and in a show of sportsmanship he sat up and waited for all of A to get past and onto his wheel, before attacking them again. He was caught and the attacks kept coming from all directions, with Joel Rahman and James Thorp both putting in solid digs. Meanwhile at the finish line we were frantically calculating relative speeds and working out whether to give c-grade the 2-lap board this time or the next – eventually I made the call that there was plenty of space, and we would give it to them on the next round.
The next round arrived, and C-grade got the board. At this point they visibly sat up as everyone started to prepare for a sprint victory, and behind them A kicked off again with some powerful attacks. The gap to C disappeared rapidly, and I anticipated disaster with A grade overtaking C just as C started to sprint. I should have known better – as A grade drew up to C they spotted that it was the sprint lap and rapidly agreed to remain neutral and behind for that last third of a lap. C grade got an unimpeded sprint that was taken out by Craig O’Neall ahead of Mark Taylor and Luke Philps, and as soon as A-grade hit the line there was a shout of “right, let’s go”. Their final laps were full speed, with Mathew Corby eventually showing the benefits of his recent hill training sessions with Remco Evenepoel by taking out the win ahead of Steve Crispin and James Thorp, with Mark Vroomans close on the wheel and Rainer Wilton just missing out on a birthday podium.
Overall it was a great night of racing. I’m very grateful to A-Grade for the considerate riding in letting C have a clear sprint, and I apologise for getting those calculations so wrong! Other than that though, the weather was perfect, the racing was intense, JP bought Portuguese tarts for the marshals, and all our first-aider had to do was chase a snake off the track, so you can’t really ask for better than that.
Big thanks to John Paul for marshalling, Brian for doing first aid, Craig for getting everything opened and closed and set up, and Antonia for marshalling even though she doesn’t even race!
Rowan McMurray
