20 Jan 2010
It was back to Kolodong for the next round of the Bourkes Bicycles Criterium Pointscore last Wednesday afternoon. Conditions were warm with a mild north-easterly blowing. Dan Aldridge got off to a bad start, puncturing his tubular tyre & sidelining him to race secretary duties for the afternoon. A Grade started very fast with Glen Mathiske & nicholas Chevally immediately attacking & breaking away & were never caught by the chasers. Mathiske won the sprint over Chevally. Daniel Clinch was best of the rest in third place, Lloyd Ninham was fourth & Jack Steedman home for fifth. Sam Alley had his first ride in A Grade for some time & managed sixth place. Thanks to Sam for Traffic Marshall duties at short notice while the Juniors raced. Michael Cross & Troy Croker failed to finish.
Sean Sadler is really starting to make his mark on B grade with his second win in a row. Backing up his Oxley Bend effort, he sprinted to the line to take maximum points with Paul Nixon in second, wayne Callaghan in third, Noel Mathiske in fourth & John Corbett taking the final points position in fifth. tanya Cross found the early attacks to much to handle & failed to finish. Justin Woolard also found himself dropped early but continued to the finish. Russell Davis had bad luck, suffering a flat tyre in the latter stages of the race & unable to have a wheel change. Silas Sutherland again gets the award for most aggressive rider but lacks the backup from riders like Jason "mountainbike" Parker who has been absent in recent weeks.
C Grade had a large field of thirteen riders including new rider Lee Cavanagh. Welcome along Lee. Racing for 25 minutes & two laps kept the C Graders honest, Troy Unicomb was his usual aggressive self, attacking on several occassions but failing to get away. Ian Budden also attacked & broke clear for two laps, only to be brought backinto the fold. In the sprint finish, Budden took the win from Stephen McInerny in second & Lee Cavanagh showing he is a rider of the future with a first up third place.
Michael Godwin took fourth & Graham McGechan in fifth.
Ben Hayward continued on his winning ways in D Grade & has caught the eye of the handicapper. Winning by several bike lengths has surely earned him a promotion to the higher grade. Oscar Watson-Sutherland is another rider doing well. In only his second ride in D Grade, has managed a second place against more experienced riders. Tyler Nicholson took third place & is another of the young up & comers in this grade. Judy Corbett took fourth place & Kelle Nicholson stayed out of trouble for fifth place. Amber "enhanced" Piper was the only rider to fail to finish. Darren "Duck" Harvey continues to improve & finished in the bunch.
E Grade was the Jake Schumacher show. In a dominant display, he attacked & went solo to finish well clear of the chasers to take maximum points. Graeme Budden, bouyed by the aquisition of a new bike, lifted his game & took second place with the less experienced Aden Callaghan home in third. Jack Renneberg is still to recapture his pre Christmas form but managed a fourth place & Toni Mcinerny being in the points with fifth place.
The juniors were a little low on numbers this week. Only five starters in the three lap handicap with Keisha Dowsett being the limit rider with 4 1/2 minutes start on the scratch rider in Ben Cross. Michael Dowsett & Bayden Macintosh-Clinch had 2 minutes start & Adrian Green with 1 minute start. Michael Dowsett was having an "on" day & rounded up sister Keisha & Bayden Macintosh-Clinch to win by 35 seconds from scratch man Ben Cross. Ben also had fastest time. Third went to Adrian Green, the hardest tryer in the junior ranks. Fourth to Keisha Dowsett & fifth Bayden Macintosh-Clinch. Well done little Guys & Gals.
A big thank you to Phil Mitchell who graciously stepped in to do Traffic Control & all should thank Phil for without volunteers, there would be no racing. Thanks also to Dan Aldridge for stepping in to run the races when mechanical mishap put him out of the racing. This is club spirit.