27 Jan 2010
With the visiting contingent returning to various destinations after the school holidays, A grade took on a more balanced look. Returning after injury, Graham "Chuck" Norris jumped straight back into the A grade ranks & aquitted himself well after a lengthy lay off. Glen Handford must have thought it was safe to return after several weeks lay off, & indeed managed a fifth place. Daniel Clinch has been the big improver over the last few weeks with a third last week & second place this week. If he can put all the pieces together he will be a chance to take out next week's A Grade Championship. Dan Aldridge is red hot favorite after winning on Wednesday with his sprinting prowess & Glen Mathiske is a rider who can break away or win a sprint & will be watched closely. Lloyd Ninham finished fourth & is returning to form, also a chance for the podium. Josh Blick, Stephen Lewis & Peter Lewis will also be in contention after another State Gold Medal win over the Lidcombe-Auburn team in the Under 17 Team Pursuit. This was a momentous win, with our Manning team having only three riders against the other teams with four. Well done young men.
B Grade raced for 25 minutes & two laps. Previous winner from the last two weeks, Sean Sadler would be given no chance to spring a third consecutive win. Being watched closely & being constantly attacked, he was a little short of go when it counted in the final lap. Tanya Cross, after being dropped early the previous week, attacked & went solo as did Justin Woolard. Both were caught within a couple of laps. With only two laps remaining, Paul Nixon & Wayne Callaghan attacked & forced a break of 50 metres. They held the break to the finish, although by a much smaller distance with Paul Nixon taking first, Wayne Callaghan second, & Tony Kiehne winning the bunch sprint for third place. Tony has been pretty anonymous in previous weeks but came to the fore with a strong attack & a podium finish. Fourth went to Noel Mathiske & fifth to Sean Sadler.
C Grade also raced for 25 minutes & two laps & with Troy Unicomb absent, it looked to be a more even paced race. However this was not the case with Bill Harris, Graeme McGechan & Motorcycle Ace, Alex Cudlin,all in attacking moods. The ranks were boosted by a return to racing by Roger "the dodger" Dixon who was happy to watch proceedings from the back of the bunch. Phil Mitchell also hopped on his bike for the first time since before the Christmas break but found the pace to be a little hot & failed to finish. Michael Godwin also failed to finish & surely must have had a mechanical mishap as he had a strong race. Despite the breakaway attempts, all was back together for the sprint & it was Graeme McGechan who made an opportunistic move & sprinted early catching out the other competitors. He held on for the win with Alex Cudlin coming home strong for second place with Don Worger in third, Ian Budden fourth & Stephen McInerney fifth. Ben Hayward had his first start in C Grade after being promoted by the handicapper & rode well to finish sixth.
As the dust settled & D Grade got down to some racing, it was anybody's race with the promotion of Ben Hayward to C Grade. With the return of Robert Alley from annual leave & up & coming young rider Jake Schumacher promoted from E Grade, the race started with a fast pace but strangely slowed as the race went on. Alister Currie & Amber Piper were the only two riders dropped from the bunch in the early laps & never regained the field. Darren "Duck" Harvey was on a good ride & was a chance in the sprint. Richard Parvin was the man to take advantage on the final lap & produced to much speed for Oscar Watson-Sutherland, just pulling clear in the last twenty metres. Oscar himself was under threat from the fast finishing Robert Alley in third. Fourth went to Tyler Nicholson & fifth to Kelle Nicholson. Jake Schumacher, Darren Harvey & Alicia Norris all finished with the bunch.
It was a big welcome to new rider Darrel Franklin as he lined up for his first bike race in E Grade. Darrel has had a few rides with the Thursday arvo bunchie & thought nhe would give racing a go. He found the pace a liitle tough first up but will improve. It seems Darrel Callaghan is following in his father Wayne's footsteps with plenty of power to spare as he immediately set up a breakaway group which included Graeme Budden, Matthew Blick & Jack Renneberg. Callaghan had too much speed, easily winning the sprint from Graeme Budden with Matthew Blick third on restricted gears. Jack Reneberg was fourth & Max Eden fifth.
Our little riders rode a three lap handicap & it was the Baxter Pattison show. Riding alone from the scratch mark,conceding 2 3/4 minutes to the limit rider, he blitzed the field to win & record fastest time. Adrian Green was second, starting one minute behind the limit rider in Bayden Macintosh-Clinch. Jordan Blick was third starting two minutes behind Bayden & fourth was Bayden. Fifth was Marcus Worth who started with Jordan Blick. Sixth was Kobe pattison & seventh was Emma Sewell.