Series wrap upBy Kristy Scrymgeour Kristy is a member of the Australian women's team and contested the Bay Series as part of the NSW state team. She was one of those unfortunate enough to be involved in the accident, where a car ploughed into 16 cyclists returning home from the last race. She kindly filed this report on the series for cyclingnews: Fortune smiled on the Victorians in the finale of the Bay Series, as local rider Karen Barrow took out the last race at St. Kilda, Melbourne, and the overall title. The Bay Series consisted of five criteriums (45 minute circuit races), at different locations around Port Phillip Bay in Victoria. This year's event had the biggest field ever, and for me it was the most exciting. A lot of strong teams were there, including the VIS, NSWIS, and even the new women's trade team from WA, the Velobelles. This year they started in Williamtown on a 1km circuit. It was a windy and slightly wet day, which made the road slippery, especially around one particularly hairy corner. The race started quickly, reaching speeds of up to 60km/h. This was quite a shock to the system for many, being the first race of the season, so the attrition rate was quite high. After many attempted attacks and a few crashes on a tight roundabout, a break of three riders Kate Bates (NSWIS); Karen Barrow (VIS) and Anna Wilson (VIS) and had a 30 sec lead on the rest of the bunch. The two Victorians worked together against Kate and Karen won the race solo. Day two was at Barwon Heads, where the road was very fast and the home straight windy. It seemed people had found their legs and the race was quick and aggressive from the beginning till the end. At this stage our NSW team was trying to keep Kate Bates in the sprint jersey and the Victorians were trying to keep Karen in the leaders jersey. The final break containing Liz Tadich (Vic), Annabelle Vowelles (Velobelles) and Emma James (NSW) was caught with only 300m to go, bringing the race down to a bunch sprint. Rochelle Gilmore from NSW took the win from Sandra Smith (WAIS - Velobelles) and Alison Wright (ACT), also taking over the overall series lead. Day three was another windy day at Torquay. Our job for the first half of the race was to keep the pace high so that no breaks could go and Kate could pick up the sprint points. The Victorians obviously wanted to get Karen up for a win and take the lead back from Rochelle. Karen powered away not long after the first sprint to ride solo for the rest of the race and take her 2nd win of the series. We (NSW) chased for the remainder of the race but were unable to catch and had to settle for trying to get Rochelle up for the bunch sprint. The bunch sprint was taken out by Rochelle which kept her in the lead overall. That took us into day 4 which was held at Geelong. Geelong is a short lap, only 800m around. This was also a fast aggressive race, with attack after attack right from the beginning. A mid race crash took out Kate Bates and Rochelle Gilmore, but they were back in the race next lap and Kate was still able to take out the 2nd sprint prime and win the sprint jersey overall. A late break by Dellys Franke and Margaret Hemsley stayed away with Margaret taking the win from Dellys. The bunch sprint was another close one between Rochelle and Karen. Karen took 3rd place and Rochelle 4th, leaving Rochelle in the series lead by only 2 points going into the final stage at St. Kilda. St. Kilda is always a fast race and a very difficult one for a break to stay away on as the straights are long and fast and the roads are wide. So despite the many attempts at breaking away from our team (NSW), the bunch stayed together and came down to a big sprint at the end. Unfortunately for us, Rochelle punctured in the last few laps. As the rules say that you cannot take a lap out for a mechanical in the last 5 laps of a criterium, she had to hop on a spare bike and chase. The NSW team dropped back to help chase back to the bunch, but didn't quite make it. In the bunch Karen was too strong for everyone and took out her third race and the series overall. Bridget Evans took 2nd place in the race and Alison Wright (ACTAS) 3rd. Great teamwork by the VIS team to come from behind and take the win for the day and overall. It was disappointing for Rochelle and the rest of our team, but we were extremely happy with our week and are looking forward to turning the tables around next year.
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