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Carnegie Caulfield Cycling Club
Lenny Hammond Memorial Handicap, September 10, 2005
By Mal Sawford
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Carnegie Caulfield's final road race for the 2005 season was the annual Lenny Hammond Memorial, held in honour of the legendary patriarch of the Hammond Clan. After a promising start to spring, with a week of fine warm weather, a very wet day was forecast which kept the field a little on the small size, but gave the optimists a better chance of claiming some of the $1000 prize money on offer.
For a while, it looked as though the rain would hold off, with riders warming up under sunny skies, but after the first few bunches had rolled out, the rain clouds blew over and the afternoon was punctuated by a series of brief but heavy showers. The field was split into seven bunches with thirty-three minutes from Limit to Scratch, and the outmarkers made the most of their advantage before the rains came. Melissa Nichols, Christine Ervin and Kym Peterson (Croydon Cycleworks) held off the chase for the entire first lap. The twenty-three minute bunch had closed in, but lost a few riders in the process and were closely followed by a well drilled eighteen minute group led by Roger Lancaster (Cadbury) and Darren Sayers.
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The nine minute group started with ten riders, and made good use of their depth to reel in the smaller thirteen minute bunch after 30km. By the end the turn at Longwarry, with just under 40km to race, only six minutes separated the field: Scratch had made up their five minute deficit on the 'Block' bunch, and the middle markers had the leaders in sight on the long straights. The slight head wind on the leg to Tynong proved too much for the three Limit riders, as the combined nine and thirteen took over the race lead. The two short climbs at Garfield didn't slow the new leaders much, as they hit the Tynong corner with a three minute lead on the back markers.
With over 25km to race, it looked like the Scratchies were going to make it three from three for the season, but a series of attacks from Murray Spink (Giant) and Justin Davis (O'Mara Cycles) in an attempt to shake off a few passengers was unsuccessful and managed only to disrupt their rhythm while the leaders kept working smoothly. Australian Paralympic team member Michael Gallagher (Hillman Cycles) had set the pace for the leaders through the Garfield hills, and sensed weakness in his companions. He launched a strong attack over the pick-a plank bridge at Bayles and broke clear 15km from home. James Mooney (SBR) and Trevor Key (Quick Cycle Coaching) tried to get on terms, but ended up in a three way pursuit match.
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Davis led the Scratch bunch over the bridge just under two minutes later as the day's heaviest rain fell, and threw in another attack for good measure. His time trial effort saw him hold off the rest of the Scratch bunch to take fourth place and Fastest Time honours only six seconds behind Key, but ended any chance of the back markers co-operating to challenge for the overall win. Gallagher crossed the line 43 seconds clear of Mooney, with Key a further 42 seconds in arrears, just ahead of Davis. Dylan Boone won the bunch sprint for fifth ahead of Brendan Rowbotham (Fitzroy Cycles) and Alex Smyth (Team UNO). Mary Rogers (Kathy Watt's Personal Training) finished a few seconds behind the Scratch bunch and was a worthy winner of the Women's prize.
As usual, racing would not have been possible without the support of volunteers: including Traffic Control Manager Daniel Strangio and entry steward Helen Hastings; Corner Marshals Danny Ives, Tony Mason, Daniel Young, Andy Cameron , and Cameron Winton; and support drivers Chris Garrard, Rob Tidey, Martin Rowbotham, Archie Vissariou, Damon Cramp and Trish Judd. Special thanks must go to regulars Doug Moody, Frank Cipriano, Lorraine 'the Claw' Collings and Ann Johnstone - without their assistance there would be no road racing! Next week's racing is at Somers hosted by Mornington CC, with Blackburn's infamous 1 in 20 Hill Climb time trial the following weekend. Full details of the CCCC and South East Regional winter fixture can be seen at www.carnegiecycling.com.au.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Mal Sawford
- The limit bunch underway on dry roads
- Harry Gupi leads the second group on the road
- The 18 minute bunch working smoothly
- James Mooney leads the combined 9 and 13 minute bunches
- Michael Gallagher pulls through
- Boon Chia working with the back markers
- Murray Spink powers up the Garfield hill
- Gallager pushes the pace at the turn onto the Bayles bridge
- Bruce Will dodges some very big rain drops at Bayles
- Gallagher rides to a solo win in the 2005 Lenny Hammond Memorial
Results
1 Michael Gallagher (Carnegie Caulfield) 2.46.00 2 James Mooney (Carnegie Caulfield) 0.43 3 Trevor Key (Blackburn) 1.25 4 Justin Davis (Carnegie Caulfield) 1.31 5 Dylan Boone (Carnegie Caulfield) 1.38 6 Brendan Rowbotham (Carnegie Caulfield) 7 Alex Smyth (Carnegie Caulfield) 8 Andrew Ward (Coburg) 9 Luke Pledger (Carnegie Caulfield) 10 Murray Spink (Dirt Riders) 11 Scott Brown (St Kilda) 1.44 12 Matt Chessum (Carnegie Caulfield) 1.49 13 Bruce Will (Carnegie Caulfield) 14 Tom Walker (St Kilda) 15 Marcus Schnell (Carnegie Caulfield) 1.53 16 Mary Rogers (Carnegie Caulfield) 2.08 17 Luke Hanley (Warragul) 2.16 18 Joe Siklic (St Kilda) 2.22 19 Darren Sayers (Carnegie Caulfield) 2.41 20 Wayne Flint (Carnegie Caulfield) 2.49 21 Tim Nuttall (Blackburn) 3.39 22 Daniel Strangio (Carnegie Caulfield) 23 Boon Chia (Carnegie Caulfield) 4.22 24 Trevor Cameron (Blackburn) 5.30 25 John Kohlar (Carnegie Caulfield) 13.11 26 Christine Ervin (Coburg) 14.57 27 Gary Simondson (Carnegie Caulfield) 28 Hari Gupi (Carnegie Caulfield) 17.00 29 Andrew Rose (Carnegie Caulfield) 17.23 30 Phillip McNeill (St Kilda) 31 Michael Milewski (Carnegie Caulfield) 32 Kym Peterson (Carnegie Caulfield) 19.28 33 Melissa Nicholls (Carnegie Caulfield) 27.48
