13 Jan 2010
Wednesday was avery humid day, but this did not stop a hardy band of cyclists from competing on the Oxley Bend course. Another field of quality riders made up the A Grade field with Phil Grenfell coming out on top from Owen Belton in second & Rhett Pattison in third. Tim Norris finished fourth & Daniel Clinch a well ridden fifth. Lloyd Ninham & David Stroot failed to finish, finding the fast start & hot conditions not to their liking. Glen Mathiske as always rode his heart out to close down the breaks & was unlucky to just miss out on the top five.
B Grade was unusually low on starters with only six riders signing on. Visiting rider Tanya Saad was the race favourite, having recently won a Masters Criterium title. Silas Sutherlan & Wayne Callaghan as expected tried to break the race up but could not shake the other four. In asprint where the sprinters jockeyed for position, Sean Sadler took the opportunity to take a surprise advantage which was big enough to hold to the line. Sadler wins, Tanya Saad second & Russell Davis third. This was Davis's second ride in B Grade & has been in the points in both races. ( He must be training with some good riders!!!!!). Silas Sutherland was fourth & Wayne Callaghan fifth.
C grade was also low on riders with only seven starters. Troy Unicomb was a man on a mission after last weeks relegation & rode a very coy race. Breakaway attempts by Kurt Sadler, Clint Squires & Ian Budden came to nothing with Graeme McGechan & troy Unicomb always keen to shut down any threatening moves. Bill Harris rode a quiet race for him & settled to ride with the bunch. Kurt Sadler made an attempt to sprint for the line early but ran out of legs well before the line, leaving Troy Unicomb to win from Ian Budden in second, Stephen McInerney third, Bill Harris fourth & Kurt Sadler fifth.
D Grade was without the hard riding Peter Bird as he had crashed his bike & damaged it. Peter was good enough to come along & help out on the sign on table. Thanks Peter. The race itself was taken out by Ben Hayward who seems to win these races easily without girlfriend kelle's pedal in his front wheel. Second went to Kelle Nicholson, third to Tyler Nicholson, fourth was new rider S Faulkner ( I think thats whats written on the sign on sheet. Please correct me if I'm wrong.) Fifth was Oscar Watson-Sutherland, having his first ride in D Grade after blitzing the E Grade ranks. Well done Oscar. Hot weather & a hot dog course can do funny things to riders & regular front runners Wilf Alley & Richard Parvin found themselves in sixth & seventh place.
E grade featured two new riders in Aden Callaghan & Chris Bryan but it was Matthew Blick who took out the event with a great sprint to edge out Jake Schumacher.Chris Bryan was third, Aden Callaghan was fourth & Jahl Nicholson fifth. Graeme Budden was the unlucky rider to get a flat tyre & had a long walk back from the other end of the course.It was good to see Max Eden back from the Christmas break & with that another positive report from his Doctor that all is holding steady.
Our Juniors were also a little light on with some parents feeling it was alittle to warm for their kids to ride. Bayden Macintosh-Clinch had no worries though, taking the win, riding from the limit mark. Well done Bayden. Second was Emma Sewell riding from the two minute mark & third, Jordan Blick from the three minute mark. Marcus Worth & Kobe Pattison fought out a great duel for fourth & fifth place. Riding from the three minute mark, Marcus on this occassion got the better of Kobe for fourth, leaving Kobe fifth. Daniel Sewell & Baxter Pattison were the scratch markers with Daniel getting fastest time by a whisker from Baxter.
A big thanks to Kate Macintosh (Mrs Russell Davis) for doing traffic control, allowing Russell to race. Next week we return to Kolodong for more Criterium action. 6.00 pm is the start time & Therese Steadman is on traffic control, Dan Aldridge on trailer duty & Amber Piper is Chief Commissaire.