Masters,
In this week’s Bleat;
• From the Committee
• Racing this Week
• Race Report
Ian Morton
thebleat@actvets.cc
From the Committee
Committee meetings
The committee has received feedback from members asking about happenings at our monthly meetings. Members are always welcome to join the committee, one of our sub-working groups, or simply attend meetings which are held at 7pm on mostly the first Monday of each month at Raiders Western who generously support the club with meeting space. For our 5 December meeting and onwards we will be including a reminder and Zoom invite in the preceding week’s Bleat (28 Nov. 2022) so for those interested please keep an eye out and as always, feel free to lodge questions via the secretary@actvets.cc email address. Minutes, including the 2022 back catalogue, will also be published on the website for those who can’t make it to meetings. Hope to see you there and getting involved.
NSW racing update
As we approach the end of 2022 with the winter season behind us and the summer road season commenced, the committee felt it important that members are aware of the work being done to resume racing on NSW courses.
2022 has been a difficult and costly year for racing in NSW, primarily because the traffic controller qualification many of our wonderful ETC volunteers hold is recognised in the ACT only. The reason for this is that the ACT qualification is a truncated version for events, not the full ‘worksite’ qualification required by Traffic for NSW (TfNW).
As we’ve worked to resolve this we’ve engaged professional ETC services at a total cost around $10,500 for the 2022 calendar year, which has significantly impacted our resources as NSW race revenue consistently falls short of the cost of professional ETC services. It has also been identified that while our ETC qualifications need upgrading we also need to meet TfNW requirements for race directors.
These require that race directors must hold the Implement Traffic Management Plan qualification. While the professional services we’ve been using have this, it comes at an additional cost and they are not experienced to act as race directors as per AVCC racing rules.
The committee are cognisant of the disappointment the suspension of NSW racing has caused, after all we are racers too, but cannot in good conscience continue to run races that don’t comply with the myriad of requirements and where failure to do this could potentially impact member protections. The reality of our times is that we must be more professional in how we run our amateur organisation to manage the risks to our club and you our members, mates, and competition out on the road.
As a committee we are confident and committed to getting back on NSW courses once all these requirements are met, and until then are working on arrangements for our marque Gunning Tour we hope many of you will come out and support. Over the coming months we will be working on race director options and models to present to members, and calling for members to get qualified as NSW ETCs.
Until then, thank you for your patience and understanding while we work through this. Stay safe, have a great Christmas, and get training for an exciting 2023 road season.
RACING THIS WEEK:
Tuesday, 22nd November: Stromlo Criterium
Note: Registration required by 22 Nov 2022 3:50 pm.
Any requests for Grade changes should be sorted out with the Handicapper prior to registration.
Late entries may be considered in exceptional circumstances. Please email race.committee@actvets.cc
Where: Stromlo Forest Park
Race Description:
B/D 5:50 B 40m 2, D 35m 2
E/F/G 6:35 28 min 2 laps
A/C 7:10 A 40m 2, C 35m 2
Sunset @ 7:54
Race Director: James Meadley Contact: Email: james@maritex.com.au Ph 0400 664 326
Marshals: Anthony Dick
ps For those members riding home after the race, don’t forget your lights. It will be getting dark soon after the racing.
Thursday, 24th November: 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: 200 metre fly.
6.50pm – 7.10pm: 8-lap Snowball.
7.10pm– 7.30pm: Italian Pursuit.
Sunday, 27th November – No scheduled race
RACE REPORTS:
Track Racing – 17th November
Thursday 17 November saw the fifth track racing session for the 2022-23 season. The weather was fine, but cool. There was a strong southerly wind, providing a rare head wind in the front straight. Attendance was satisfactory with 13 riders, 7 in A grade and 6 in B grade.
8-Lap Scratch Race
The 8-lap A grade scratch race was led out by John Paul De Sousa who soon had the pack moving at a good clip. The majority of the race was quite orderly, with Conan Liu, Tim Jolly, Ben Davis and Wayne Benham taking turns at the front and holding a fast, even pace. Craig Kentwell rolled to the front on lap 5 and kicked the pace up a notch before handing off the Kerry Knowler. The real action was left to the bell lap when John Paul De Sousa attacked from the high banking closely pursued by Conan Liu. As the bell lap progressed, Tim Jolly surged around the leaders and cranked on the power, quickly gaining several metres for a comfortable win. Conan Liu followed Tim in for second place with John Paul De Sousa a close third.
For the 8-lap scratch race, B Grade conducted professional 1 lap turns as the riders were cautious of the unusual front straight head wind. The pace was consistently increasing as riders stayed in a tight bunch.
Ian Drayton (in All Blacks skin suit) attacked on lap 6 with Alison Hale (Stolen Goat striped kit) in close pursuit. With 1.5 laps to go Alison feigned in and out of the sprinter’s lane (note – one must stay in the sprinters lane from the final turn of the bell lap, if leading). Alison dispersed the other B grade riders up the track and commenced her sprint sequence count down. She timed the sprint lap to perfection with a close finish – result, 1st Alison Hale, 2nd Frank O’Sullivan, 3rd James Newhouse.
Standing Start Time Trial
The second event was a 2-lap standing start time trial. This is a flat-out sprint for around one minute and a real gut buster. Tim Jolly set the stand-out time of 51.86 seconds, around 3 seconds quicker than the next best time. Wayne Benham (55.06s) and John Paul De Sousa (55.25s) put in the next best A grade times.
In B grade James Newhouse confirmed his expertise in this event with a creditable winning time of 57.48 seconds. This time was closely followed by Frank O’Sullivan (57.64s) with Alison Hale putting in the third best time of 60.19 seconds.
Italian Pursuit – A tale of tailwinds
Team 1 started very well with Graeme O’Neill; (keeper of the Omnium algorithm) – placing Team 1 in front from the start. That lead was built on by rider no. 2, Alison Hale.
Team 1 didn’t start into the 25km/h southerly head wind – Team 1 started under the southern banking lip of the Bundadome (37% gradient on the bank) – once clear of the lower banking (half a lap), Team 1 hitched the tailwind down the back straight and picked up substantial pace.
Team 2 on the other hand with a good start all the same; hit the headwind after half a lap – this disrupted the Team 2 coalition of the willing.
Both teams worked well together with no gaps. Team 1 came through for the win (20 metres) with Team 2 anchor Tim Jolly making up ground again this week, but the Team 2 chase was once again into the headwind.
For the flavour of the Italian Pursuit race, listen to the attached audio file of Michael Langdon’s race commentary. Thanks also to Michael for co-authoring this event write up.
For the flavour of the Italian Pursuit race, listen to the audio file of Michael Langdon’s Race Commentary. Thanks also to Michael for the better parts of this event write up.
Results Summary
8-Lap Scratch: (A1 Grade) Tim Jolly, Conan Liu, John Paul De Sousa. (A2 Grade) Craig Kentwell, Kerry Knowler. (B Grade) Alison Hale, Frank O’Sullivan, James Newhouse.
2-Lap Standing Start Time trial: (A1 Grade) Tim Jolly (51.86s), Wayne Benham (55.06s), John Paul De Sousa (55.25s). (A2 Grade) Craig Kentwell (55.59), Kerry Knowler (58.58). (B Grade) James Newhouse (57.48s), Frank O’Sullivan (57.64s), Alison Hale (60.19s).
Combined Italian Pursuit: Winner Team 1 (Conan Liu, Craig Kentwell, James Newhouse, Wayne Benham, Alison Hale, Graeme O’Neill).
Season Point Score Update:
Alison Hale (90), Tim Jolly (85), Conan Liu (80), James Newhouse (77), Craig Kentwell (74), John Paul De Sousa (61), Ed Garnett (43), Mark Canaider (43), Bruce Griffin (37), Graeme O’Neill (35), Ian Drayton (35), Wayne Benham (35), Phil Coulton (32).
Graeme O’Neill
