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Hawthorn Cycling Club
Studley Park, Kew, Victoria, March 2, 2005
By Craig van der Valk
This week kicked off in mild weather, warm and with light crosswind on back straight, and most importantly, a dry road for racing. As last week, community-TV's cameraman Bob was filming and photographing all of the action, with added element of 'bike-cam' rolling around with one of the non-competitors. PS - where are the photos Bob?
Testing their mettle, 104 lycra-clad athletes and their high-tech machines rolled up to the Lower Loop of the Yarra Boulevard, also known as 'The Teardrop' or 'The Boulie!' Measured by many to be the toughest criterium circuit in town, the course is about 1km long with a difficult off-camber hairpin before a short climb resulting in about 12 metres of rise every lap. Following the club tradition, D and C grade were set off at 6:00pm, with B and A grade from 6:45pm. Due to the poor light of early autumn, each grade's total race-time was reduced by 5 minutes. Special thanks to club commissaire Simon Perry, on loan from Coburg since all the other Hawthorn commissaires were either racing or overseas.
In D grade, Hawthorn CCs social stalwarts Angelo and Nick were hoping to build on their return to the criterium scene the previous week. The reduced racing time of 25 minutes had promised an exciting contest but which ultimately delivered precious few breakaways, due in part to the winds blowing across the exposed back corner of the Studley Park loop. Following a cautious start, it was a messy passing by the C-grade field which set the tone for the rest of the race. Poor communication to the front markers resulted in half of the field keeping to the right and blocking C-grade's path (note for the commissaires), which left the door open for the remainder of D-grade to move through unimpeded. Shaken by this, the bunch regrouped and significantly lifted the pace until the three laps to go signal, effectively hanging all breakaways out to die in the wind.
Through frustration at the lack of successful attacks up to that point, criterium newcomer Andrew McGrath (Hawthorn) made a spirited jump from the pack at the bell, and opened up a significant lead for the majority of the final lap. His break nearly saw him through to victory, but ultimately his lead could not be sustained beyond the final hairpin and it was down to a strong sprint finish from Emmert O'Flaherty (Hawthorn) and Richard King (St.Kilda) to take first and second respectively. Another criterium first-timer Nick Economos (Hawthorn) edged out Craig Jackson-Dyke (Hawthorn) by a wheel for third place.
The C-grade field was strengthened by the presence of Andrew Wilmott (Brunswick) coming off two wins at the Coburg kermesses and Michael Veal (Ballarat) who had been putting in some secret miles over the summer months. The strong Hawthorn contingent of Stewart Denmead, David Tennant, Geoff Pyman and Shannon Hall, supported by other stalwarts such as Calvin Tulloch, Andrew Masters, and Wayne Dite, were out in force to keep the prize money at home.
Feisty junior Tim White (Hawthorn) took the field by surprise with a early but short lived solo breakaway for the first two laps. The following laps saw the bunch staying close together, despite the continuous hill-sprints the bunch stayed close. On the intermediate sprint lap the field held back waiting for the first move. With none forthcoming, four riders charged into the corner. Gavin Grant (St.Kilda) got up and going in the final metres, whilst marked riders Andrew Wilmott, Colin Morris, Michael Veal and David Tennant appeared to be biding their time, waiting for the right opportunity. Soon after, Wilmott showed strength with a short attack, but looking around, saw the peleton closing him down and immediately dropped back into the safety of the bunch. Hall, Tennant and Calvin Tulloch (Hawthorn) all surged to the front, but all to no avail as the persistent bunch sat in behind them.
Wilmott and Tennant jostled for first around the hairpin on the final lap, and with no one able to pass him, he led to the corner, but with 100 metres to go was enveloped by a fast finishing field. Best positioned out of the corner, Lucky Legs Shannon (nomination jewels) worked hard but in the final metres Colin Morris (Footscray) was able to swoop past by half a wheel for a deserved win, with Michael Veal (Ballarat) rounding out the podium placings. Andrew Wilmott (Brunswick) edged out the spent Tennant for fourth, cleaning up the last of the prize money on offer.
B Grade saw a field of 31 riders take to the teardrop, all eager to steal the show, under the limelight of the cameraman from channel 31. With the camera rolling, the usual first lap sprint saw the bunch strung out, due to Jeff Shaw's trademark of attacking straight from the gun. After about three attacks were shutdown, a move from Cameron Winton (Caulfield/Le Tour Cycles) saw him out alone going for the intermediate sprint at the 20 minute mark. A controlled effort on front allowed Jeff Shaw (Blackburn) and Tim McColl (Team Mt.Beauty) to bridge the gap before the sprint and form a three man break with the rest of the field chasing, which they continued to do, with a number of riders attempting to come across - all were unsuccessful as the three man break kept the foot down. At the end we saw Cameron Winton take the win and sprint points (Caulfield/Le Tour Cycles), with Tim McColl (Team Mt.Beauty) second and Jeff Shaw third (Blackburn), with a hard fought fourth place to Andrew Smith (Blackburn) in the bunch sprint. Overall for the night a high average speed of 39.3 km/hr was recorded in the B Grade field.
Russell Collins, back in B-grade after injury and marriage, commended the great effort by young Peter Braunstein to finish at the bottom end of the top ten. Watch for Peter in A-grade next season! A grade had three riders go clear from the gun, with perpetual placegetter Darren Lapthorne (Coburg) uncharacteristically not responding. The pack briefly sat in, until one rider gave chase, setting the greyhounds in motion! The heat was on, with an average speed of 40km/h and riders chewing the handlebars for the next 20 minutes. When the sprint lap kicked in the last of the dogged hopefuls were spat out the back. It was then a case of riders working together for another 20 minutes until the final three laps when two riders attempted to bridge the gap. Their effort set up an exciting finish with Lapthorne (having bridged earlier) the eventual winner in a three man sprint over the duo of Daniel Nelms and Tom Crebbin - a disinterested Ross Mueller rolled over the line for fourth place.
Results
A Grade - 40 minutes + 3 laps, 16 Starters 1 Darren Lapthorne (Coburg) 2 Daniel Nelms (Italo) 3 Tom Crebbin (Italo) 4 Ross Mueller (Brunswick) Intermediate-Sprint Tom Crebbin (Italo) B Grade - 35 minutes + 3 laps, 31 Starters 1 Cameron Winton (Caulfield) 2 Tim McColl (Team Mt.Beauty) 3 Jeff Shaw (Blackburn) 4 Andrew Smith (Blackburn) Intermediate sprint Cameron Winton 1st Woman Maryam Rogers C Grade - 30 minutes + 3 laps, 26 Starters 1 Colin Morris (Footscray) 2 Shannon Hall (Hawthorn) 3 Michael Veal (Ballarat) 4 Andrew Wilmott (Brunswick) Intermediate-Sprint Gavin Grant D Grade - 25 minutes + 3 laps, 31 Starters 1 Emmert O'Flaherty (Hawthorn) 2 Richard King (St.Kilda) 3 Nick Economos (Hawthorn) 4 Craig Jackson-Dyke (Hawthorn)
