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Warragul Cycling Club
January 21, 2005
Cycling Crits Fast and Furious
The Recreational Ride-It group met at Shady Creek and enjoyed a leisurely cruise in delightful weather into Yarragon for coffee last weekend. Things weren't so leisurely, however, for those who had turned up to indulge in the excitement of criterium racing at Bourke St.
D Grade was keen to get underway with new club cyclist, junior Liam Donnelly, cutting his teeth on the circuit. A couple of controlled laps of around six minutes gave way to a faster pace, with a 60-second drop in lap time. Young Liam was stirring the pot while Geoff Gatt and Helmut were giving plenty. The bunch split, with Dani, Brenton and Michael losing touch. What better way to start your sport than with a victory and young Liam found his way to the front for a sprint win. Geoff, Helmut, Brenton and Danni finished off an enjoyable but tough ride.
C Grade was lapping around five minutes per lap and everyone was having a dip. No attack, however, was sustained enough to create a break, despite the efforts of Michael, Dave Bailey or Trev. Content to slug it out in the sprint the bunch were led out from the corner by Chris Jones. The Doc, having arrived late, not only nearly missed the start but he nearly missed the jump and had to make up some ground. As Chris pulled off the front runners tired. A determined Steve Hall pushed all the way to the line, however, and he rolled Michael, Daniel de Blauw and Trevor in the finish. Dave Bailey, Chris and Dave Axford rounded out the ride.
Numbers swelled in B Grade, with visiting cyclists Cam Woolcock from Hawthorn and Jason Gelsi from Carnegie Caulfield joining in the action. The increase in numbers meant there would be little opportunity to lie low for a sprint finish. Attack and counter attack drove the lap times southwards to around four and a half minutes. Steve Twining was mixing it up and enjoying the front of the bunch with Peter Bailey being his usual aggressive self up hill. Brett Rollinson showed great strength in chasing down a few potentially dangerous breakaways, and while Chris Beales was happier not to be doing everything, he still occasionally tested. Despite the soaring heart rates no-one escaped. Things wound up early and with the long finish and slight head-wind conditions were challenging. Big Brett Millar had learnt from last week and was aware when Justen again sat on his wheel. This time he wound up his machine, passed all others, and was careful not to slow prior to the line. Justen couldn't get around him while Peter Bailey closed in for third.
A Grade got off to a flyer, with the second lap taking only 4 minutes 20 seconds. The pace settled to around the four minute 30 second mark, and forced the retirement of Jason Hilder, who is still building his fitness. Jason Kruger was upping the ante with a couple of nice breaks, but nobody was able to make the decisive gap. Thomas Sander was working for his son Steve, and on the final straight put in a strong lead out to test the legs of Scott Keeble. Scotty went earlier than he would have liked and young Steve had to dig deep to peg him back to take the victory. Charles Howlett left his run a little late and flew home over Scott to steal second.
No club racing but plenty of action at this weekend's track carnival. Be sure you attend the WCC velodrome to cheer on the locals with some quality racing. Saturday action kicks off at 3:00pm and concludes with the madison around 8:00pm. Sunday junior racing starts around 8:00am. Volunteers to contact Karin Jones on 56268386 or Phil at BikeLand Warragul.
