Masters,
In this week’s Bleat;
• From the Committee
• Racing this Week
• Race Report
Ian Morton
thebleat@actvets.cc
From the Committee
Registration for 2023
Fees for next year have not been set (waiting on Insurance costs) so Members should not try to register for next year yet.
Reminders will be sent out once Registration is open.
First Aid Qualifications
Could members who are First Aid qualified to email the Race Committee (race.committee@actvets.cc) so we can build a Master list for future reference?
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, 8th November: Stromlo Criterium
Note: Registration required by 8 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:
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
Sunset @ 7:40
Race Director: Antony Bishop Contact: Email: antony.bishop@hotmail.com Ph 0414 205 090
Marshals: Russell Marston
ps For those members riding home after the race, don’t forget your lights. It will be getting dark soon after the racing.
Thursday, 10th 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: 2-lap Handicap.
6.50pm– 7.10pm: Mystery Race.
7.10pm– 7.30pm: Italian Pursuit.
Sunday, 13th November – No Scheduled Race
RACE REPORTS:
SFP Criterium – 1st November
On a bleak Tuesday evening the registered riders for B, E and F decided they were better off indoors at home. Nine of the 51 registered riders were not letting a wee bit of moisture to deny them the chance of duck poo on their drivetrain.
D grade with four riders were the first to roll away. Ian Morton held on grimly for 13 minutes before the rubber band broke to leave Steven Harrison, Rob Langridge and Paul Morgan to take turns for the next 17 minutes before the final two laps. Ian Morton then withdrew after 30 minutes with a flat tyre when told there were two laps left. “Why couldn’t this have happened after the first lap?” was Ian’s reply.
With Langridge leading the others during the second last lap, I asked who would take it out with Morton replying “It won’t be Langridge as he won’t want to up grade himself!”. As they approached for the nuts for the final time, the three riders were doing their best to not be on the front. In one of the slowest sprints you could observe from three riders, Morgan crossed first with Harrison second and the club handicapper ensuring he stays in D for another week.
Next was an intermission with no E and F grade riders.
Final event was A and C. An agreement was made to shorten the race to 26 minutes plus 2 laps for A while C would be five minutes fewer.
Both grades rode off together with A riding away from C very early in the race. A kept racing together until around 3 minutes left with visitor Rhys Armstrong putting in an effort up the finish straight that James Thorp followed and dropped VP Dave Parker.
Armstrong dug in again with two laps left to create a small gap yet Thorp reeled him on the back straight. On the final lap Thorp surged to drop Armstrong which the pursuer reduced in the approach to Collarbone before James put in another effort approaching the final corner to emerge on the final straight with a buffer to ride for the chocolates, with Rhys second and Dave third.
C grade was a race of two – Ian Preston and Craig O’Neall. Preston and O’Neall swapped turns during their race where Ian had an aero advantage as Craig wore a cycling jacket where the hoodie resembled a windsock, particularly up the straight. Preston forced the pace on the final lap to win with a comfortable gap to O’Neall.
Thank you to Tom Stewart Moore for the marshalling, Simon as our first aider and committee members who helped in setting up and closing.
Ed Logue
Track Racing – 3rd November
Thursday 3 October saw the third track racing session for the 2022-23 season. The weather was again unpredictable, with scattered showers as the evening approached. However, conditions for racing were, ultimately, quite good. The evening was largely fine and sunny, with light rain appearing only after the racing was completed. There was a fresh headwind in the back straight, the usual wind direction for the Bundadome. Attendance (12 riders) was fair for the uncertain conditions. A and B grades each had six riders.
The 8-lap A grade scratch race kicked off with John Paul De Sousa leading out at a good tempo. Conan Liu and Tim Jolly rolled through turns on the front and each notched up the pace so that the bunch was holding a very quick tempo by mid race. John Paul took another turn mid race, followed by Steve Jones in his first outing this season. On laps 6 and 7, Ben Davis and Wayne Benham notched up the pace further. However, this did not discourage an attack by Tim Jolly on lap 7. Tim’s attack seemed to surprise the bunch, as the reaction was delayed until Tim had a lead of around 30 metres. At this point Conan Liu, John Paul De Sousa and Steve Jones reacted and set off in pursuit of Tim. However, by then Tim had too big a lead, allowing him an emphatic win. Conan, John Paul and Steve jinked it out for the placings and finished in that order.
The B Grade scratch was quite orderly with riders taking one lap turns until just before the bell lap. To that point, the pace was solid, but not sufficient to dislodge any riders. As the bell lap approached, the bunch was compact and splayed up the banking at the turn into the front straight. Graeme O’Neill kicked first, on the outside. However, this triggered furious accelerations from the bunch, so that Graeme was soon barely hanging on out the back. Up front, Alison Hale and Ian Drayton were dicing ahead of James Newhouse and Frank O’Sullivan. As usual, Alison proved strongest, taking a good win ahead of Frank O’Sullivan and the rapidly improving Ian Drayton.
The second events were points races, 20-lap (5 sprints) for A grade and 16 laps (4 sprints) for B grade. Conan Liu dominated the A grade race taking all the sprints for a maximal 30 points. The placings were an interesting tussle with the outcome not immediately obvious. Ultimately it was John Paul De Sousa (17 points) who took second place ahead of Tim Jolly on 15 points.
The B grade points race was dominated by Alison Hale who won 3 of the 4 sprints and accumulated 23 points for the overall win. Ian Drayton put in a good initial effort, winning sprint one. This win was sufficient for an overall third placing (13 points) despite the cost to him for the remaining sprints. James Newhouse performed very consistently, taking second or third placing in every sprint, to accumulate the second highest point score of 19 points.
The final event for the evening was the usual Italian Pursuit. On paper, the teams looked quite even. However, Team 1 had a bad start when Graeme O’Neill pulled out of a cleat. Graeme soldiered on, but Phil Coulton made the most of this setback by providing Team 2 with a significant early advantage. From this point, the teams performed similarly with a few minor flaws in teamwork. However, Team 1 could not peg back the initial setback, handing Team 2 an emphatic win.
Major place getters were as follows:
8-Lap Scratch: (A1 Grade) Tim Jolly, Conan Liu, John Paul De Sousa. (B Grade) Alison Hale, Frank O’Sullivan, Ian Drayton.
Points Race: (A1 Grade) Conan Liu (30 pts), John Paul De Sousa (17pts), Tim Jolly (15 pts) (B Grade) Alison Hale (23pts), James Newhouse (19pts), Ian Drayton (13pts).
Combined Italian Pursuit: Winner Team 2 (John Paul De Sousa, Tim Jolly, Alison Hale, Ben Davis, Phil Coulton, Ian Drayton).
Season Point Score Update:
Tim Jolly (55), Alison Hale (53), Conan Liu (45), James Newhouse (43), Craig Kentwell (34), John Paul De Sousa (33), Hamish Anderson (31), Ed Garnett (30), Mark Canaider (28), Bruce Griffin (25), Colin Calderwood (23), Phil Coulton (22).
Graeme O’Neill
Sutton Driver Training Centre – 6th November
After the average weather experienced lately, there were plenty of smiles on the start line as Sunday turned on near perfect conditions for racing on the Sutton Driver Training Course. The sun was shining, there was very little wind and even the water across the concrete causeway around the back of the circuit wasn’t as deep as you might have expected given the amount of rain recently.
E Grade was first away and were all together until Karen Klutson was unfortunate enough to drop a chain on the first corner rise on lap 2. Karen was able to quickly get underway again and seemed to be slowly closing the gap to the bunch. However, she decided that she didn’t want to ride alone anymore and pulled over to watch the rest of the field battle it out.
Rob Langridge was conspicuous in his presence on the front of the remaining bunch by leading, at least as they went past the start/finish line, during the early laps. It was hard to pick who was doing the bulk of the work on the front once the bunch disappeared around the back of the course.
At the conclusion, Alison Hale put on a well-timed sprint down the long finishing straight to take first place with a clear gap to Russell Marston in second, with Rosemary Robinson coming in third.
F Grade set off behind E Grade at a steady rate but it wasn’t long before the pace started to increase. Paul Robey elected to sit off the back of the small bunch, perhaps to get a better view of the unfolding action. The final sprint saw Elizabeth Lowe take line honours from Chris Copeland in second and Lindsay Graham in third.
A Grade was next away with 11 starters. The bunch was all together at the end of the first lap, but this was to be no easy Sunday morning cruise as multiple attacks soon started to launch. By lap 3, there were three off the front with a handy gap of about 30 m as they crossed the start/finish line. Three soon became seven as others bridged the gap, only to see the group split again. Daniel Lekhac was in the leading bunch but had disappeared from view when they next came down the finishing straight, only to reappear soon after on foot having suffered a puncture.
The pace being set by the leaders meant that the A Grade field was spread around the course, with small chasing groups and individuals fighting to stay in touch. A very entertaining race ended with a powerful sprint by Steve Crispin to take first, closely followed by Sebastian Mueller, with Bradley Peppinck in third. A few of us watching on were left wondering what it would be like to be as fit as an A Grader!
Like A Grade, B Grade were still together at the end of the first lap but soon after, an increase in pace saw the bunch split up with a group of 5 riders out front. After a punishing burst of speed down the finish straight, Mark Harris took first place from Michael Rowland in second and Conan Liu in third.
C Grade, with the largest number of starters. was next away. Darren Blackhurst wasn’t hanging around and at the end of the first lap had a handy little break on the rest of the field. He was reeled back in by the bunch that then mostly stayed together until the last lap. Gareth Downey prevailed over Andrew Yates in second and Matt Hinchcliffe in third.
D Grade were last away and the small bunch seemed happy to stay together and rotate the lead. Eventually the red mist descended and any camaraderie that had been on display earlier was forgotten as the final sprint started. John Stokman seemed to be heading for a clear victory but a fast finishing Terry Moore came ever so close to snatching it away on the line. In what was the closest finish of the day, John just held on by half a wheel from Terry, with Eoin Rothery completing the top three.
Thanks go to Simon Whitehead for standing by to render first aid, which thankfully wasn’t required, Steve Sims for driving the van and assisting with comms, and Greg Mitchell and a hobbling Matt for their marshalling expertise.
Kevin Newhouse
