Racing was held at the Kolodong circuit last Wednesday & it was a big welcome home to Owen Belton & Tim Norris. Owen & Tim have been based in the U.S for the last couple of years & only get to come back to the land of OZ at Christmas. 15 riders lined up for the Elite A Grade event, one off the largest fields for this grade in quite a few seasons. Josh Blick again attacked early but was matched by riders such as Phil Grenfell, Owen Belton, Dan Aldridge & Tim Norris. But it was the irrepresable Glen Mathiske, taking the opportunity during a lull to attack & put in some space from his pursuers. In one of his best rides he held the position to the finish for a classy win. Phil Grenfell was best of the rest in second place, Dan Aldridge third, Josh Blick fourth & in his first A Grade ride for the season, Brett Provost took the final points in fifth.
B Grade started out fast with Jason Parker hitting out hard from the start. The Grade was split into two distinct bunches & took the chasers quite a few laps to catch up. Justin Woolard immediately went on the attack & lasted till two laps from the end when his energy ran out. Wayne Callaghan did the bulk of the work in the chase but unfortunately had very little in the tank for the finish. In the last lap, Paul Nixon worked a good move to spoil the sprinters & pulled a break up the hill which he kept to the line. Sam Alley won the bunch sprint with the consistant Nathan Loreton in third. Jason Parker finally stopped talking & let his legs do the work for a fourth place finish & Noel Mathiske fifth.
C Grade was a steady race with Bill Harris & Graeme McGechan attempting breakaways but failed with riding into the stiff North Easterly breeze a bit tough. Phil Mitchell was enjoying his promotion to C Grade & tried one last attack before the sprint but nobody was fooled & had him back in the fold before the sprint. Russell Davis again showed he is the fast man of the grade with another win from Don Worger in second & Ian Budden in third. Alex Cudlin finished fourth & Stephen McInerney in fifth.
Club President, Gary Piper lined up for his first ride of the Crit season in D Grade & promptly fell off his bike. Good one Gaz. He recovered to rejoin the race but faded towards the finish. Ben Haywood celebrated his promotion to D Grade with a first up win. Ben thinks this Cycling gig is pretty easy at the moment but I'm sure it will get a lot harder soon. Richard Parvin again finished on the podium in second, & Wilfred Alley third. Tyler Nicholson finished fourth & Robert Alley in fifth.
With Ben Haywood going to D Grade, Jack Renneberg confirmed his favoritism by winning easily. Matthew Blick rode a good race to finish second & Harold Greenhalgh in third. Caroline Pattison took fourth & Stephen 'Doc' Nicholson fifth. Sam Kerslake was the unlucky rider suffering a deflating tyre & putting him out of the points.
The young guns of the club rode a three lap handicap & Isaac Cross broke through for a win. Ridng from the limit mark with five minutes advantage over the scratch riders, he held on to the lead with 20 seconds to spare from Baxter Pattison from the scratch mark. Baxter is making a habit of taking fastest time & is improving each week as is Daniel Sewell, taking third & also riding from the scratch mark. Fourth went to Marcus Worth with just one minute advantage over the scratchies & the final point position went to Kobe Pattison from the same mark as Marcus. Well done guys.