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By Malcolm Sawford
Today saw the first really hot race day for the season. The temperature peaked at around 38 degrees during the A and B Grade races, making things extra tough for the large number of competitors, but great for the club's drinks sales!. At least they could carry drinks with them, unlike their track counterparts competing in the Victorian Metropolitan Track Championships at the Carnegie Caulfield velodrome today!
Most riders didn't seem too worried about the heat, in all grades attacks went from the start, and it was only in the latter part of the races that many riders would start to feel the effect of their exertions and call it a day a little early. The A Grade race was no exception, with a strong group getting a gap early, and working hard to consolidate their lead, while riders were being shelled from the back of the bunch at an alarming rate.
With Hilton Clarke (SBR) and younger brother Jonny (ProMotion Cycles) swapping turns, and with riders like Jamie Drew (iteamNOVA) working well, it was obviously the move to be in, and the riders who had missed out knew it. A mammoth effort from Thaddeus Roos (Bicycle Superstore) saw him cross the gap with local star Warren Knevitt (O'Mara Cycles) in tow. The effort cost both riders, and when Hilton Clarke attacked the break a few laps later, neither had an answer and found shelter under a shady tree at the finish line. Roos probably had other things on his mind as his wife is expecting, and is now a little overdue. She is obviously very understanding to allow the father out racing this late in proceedings!
Three riders were strong enough to go with the inform Clarke's attack; Drew, Paul Redenback and Dominic Gatto. Clarke has been winning races nearly at will this season, and looked like continuing his good form, but had a little hiccup in the back straight on bell lap, leaving the door open for Jamie Drew to take his first win since the 2000 Sun Tour, and his first in the iteamNOVA colours. Redenback out sprinted Gatto for second, with the Brunswick rider finally in the money after a frustrating run of recent near misses on the circuit. Clarke took home the 4th place money.
B Grade saw an early attack by visiting West Australian Nathan Jones and Luke French, with the pair holding off the huge bunch for over 10 minutes before French decided it was too hot and too early and returned to the shelter of the bunch. Other riders took their chance off the front, but in the hot and windy conditions none gained much distance in the first half of the race.
As the race wore on, and the heat started to take its toll, riders towards the front of the peleton started to miss a few turns, causing gaps to open. A little hesitation and looking for help from further back in the bunch, and without most riders realizing, a group of nearly a dozen riders had gone clear. The bunch couldn't get organized, and it was left to too few riders to try and bring things back together. A couple of times it looked like there might be a regrouping, as the break wasn't going flat out, but in the end the horsepower wasn't there, and the race was over for the majority of the field. A few riders did succeed in bridging the gap in small groups, which saw the front group swell to around 20.
Jones had made the selection, and obviously had no problems with the heat and took the chance of hitting the group again, taking hairy legged Englishmen Andy Naylor and Danny Carr with him. The trio put their heads down and went all out for the win, leaving the remnants of the group to battle it out for 4th place.
Naylor convincingly won the 3 up sprint from Carr and Jones, while Michael Bayley lead the rest home a few seconds later. Naomi Williams (TIS) had ridden an exceptional race to make the initial break, and although looking pleadingly at the time keeper for the last few laps, stayed with them to take the days Women's Prize from a classy field of ladies in the B Grade event. Emma Rickards (SBR) had gone with all the early moves, and been at the front of the race all day, but ran out of legs along with most of the men when the vital break went clear.
The C Grade field kept the pace high for the duration of their race, strung out in single file for most of the day. Andy Cameron reaped the benefits of a race with B Grade last week (he had arrived too late for his usual race) and showed the bunch a clean pair of wheels in the sprint to the line, ahead of Stuart McNeill (Terry Hammond Cycles), Jason Wakeland and David Pearce.
First time rider Andrew Bryant outdid his mate Ben Willey to take a first up win in D Grade. Both have been introduced to racing this season by coach and club member Bob Kelly, who has a seemingly never ending supply of talent from Triathlon to feed into our sport! Russell Collins took home his first prize money by finishing third, with young Lachlan Hay close behind in 4th place.
A Grade - 1 hour + 3 laps - 33 starters 1 Jamie Drew (iteamNOVA) 2 Paul Redenback (Melton CC) 3 Dominic Gatto (Brunswick CC) 4 Hilton Clarke (Balance Carnegie Caulfield CC) B Grade - 1 hour + 3 laps - 58 Starters 1 Andy Naylor (Team Omega, GB) 2 Danny Carr (Balance Carnegie Caulfield CC) 3 Nathan Jones (Southern Districts, WA) 4 Michael Bayley (Dirt Riders CC) Women: Naomi Williams (Tasmanian Institute of Sport) C Grade - 45 mins + 3 laps - 22 starters 1 Andy Cameron (Balance Carnegie Caulfield CC) 2 Stuart McNeill (Balance Carnegie Caulfield CC) 3 Jason Wakeland (Dirt Riders CC) 4 David Pearce (Balance Carnegie Caulfield CC) D Grade - 40 mins + 3 laps - 24 starters 1 Andrew Bryant (Balance Carnegie Caulfield CC) 2 Ben Willey (Balance Carnegie Caulfield CC) 3 Russell Collins (Balance Carnegie Caulfield CC) 4 Lachlan Hay (Balance Carnegie Caulfield CC)