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The first track night for 2002 was well attended with two grades plus a junior handicap series.
The night started off with the usual 20 lap scratch race. After the neutral period the race increased speed and with no successful attacks, rolled round for a sprint finish. Grant Law lead out but was rolled by Peter Jones on the line with Josh Wall and Adam Rourke finishing 3rd and 4th respectively.
The B Grade Elimination could have easily had a different outcome. Going into the first sprint Matthew Jones found himself on the inside of the track with nowhere to go and looked like being the first rider eliminated, however he found a gap to just scrape in by the barest of margins, from then on he found his place third in line and held it until the final two sprints. Bruce Williams finished third after leading most of the race, leaving Mick Shannon and Matt Jones to fight out for first, which went to Jones.
A Grade had a similar result, with the winning riders staying at the front of the race, away from the start stop sprinting at the back of the field. Since a rider is eliminated every lap (270m) it is an easier ride towards the front where the pace is more constant whilst the rear of the field concertinas. As with the B Grade race, Danny Hennessy took the lead from the start and was able to maintain a constant speed for the race in order to keep most of the race out, it was not until the second last sprint when Peter Jones and Josh Wall rolled him into third before Jones took the win.
The scratch races marked the first real attacks of the night. Half way through the B grade Race Lou Palermo jumped away and was looking strong, however the bunch brought him back. In the end Matt Jones held off a fast finishing Bruce Williams and Rebecca Borgo.
The first attack to succeed came in the A grade 10 lap scratch race. Dane Earsman jumped away whilst his Nowra team mates were on the front. Earsman made the junction to take his lap with 4 laps to go in the race since none of the Illawarra riders attempted to chase and the Nowra riders would not chase a team mate. Grant Law won the sprint for second with Adam Rourke finishing 3rd.
In the first 100 lap pointscore of 2002, Danny Hennessy found a willing companion in Dane Earsman, attacking just after the second sprint. Again the bunch refused to work and the pair reached the rear of the field in 9 laps. Just as they made the junction, the acceleration at the front for the next sprint was too much for many riders, splitting the bunch in two. Hennessy was able to chase the front group down, however Earsman had extended too much energy in his two lappings of the field for the night and was forced to sit up and concede his lap gained. In a pointscore the winner is decided on the number of laps completed first, then on the number of points accumulated. Since Hennessy was the only rider to hold onto his lap’s advantage, he only needed to complete the race to win even though at the time he made the break he had no points. But this was not enough. Hennessy launched a number of attacks throughout the rest of the race, however none were successful. To top off the race Danny won the final sprint taking his tally from 3 to 13 in one effort. Second place went to Peter Jones on 33pts, suffering only his second loss of the season, with Hennessy being a lap up both times. The ever present under 17 Josh Wall held took third with 17pts from Nowra’s Robbie Williams who scored his first placing, finishing 4th on 14.
Jones still leads the pointscore series, now with an 11 point lead over his nearest rival in Adam Rourke, though the battle for second and third is hotting up with Josh Wall only 4 points behind Rourke and Hennessy’s 5 points for the win this week rocketing him up to 16 points in 4th.
20 lap scratch race (all in) 1 Peter Jones 2 Grant Law 3 Josh Wall 4 Adam Rourke B Grade Elimination 1 Matt Jones 2 Mick Shannon 3 Bruce Williams A Grade Elimination 1 Peter Jones 2 Josh Wall 3 Danny Hennessy B grade 10 lap scratch race 1 Matt Jones 2 Bruce Williams 3 Rebecca Borgo A Grade 10 lap scratch race 1 Dane Earsman 2 Grant Law 3 Adam Rourke Points Race 1 Danny Hennessy 13 pts One lap behind 2 Peter Jones 33 3 Josh Wall 17 4 Robbie Williams 14 Pointscore Series Totals 1 Peter Jones 33 2 Adam Rourke 22 3 Josh Wall 17 4 Danny Hennessy 16 5 Luke Dale 12 6 Tim Morris 6 7 Robbie Williams 1