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FNWTR
Dunc Gray velodrome, Sydney, August 18, 2006
By Paul Craft
FNWTR had its first successful Velocraft teams night which saw riders allocated in one of six teams that they would earn points for throughout the night. The team's pointscore after round 3 determined which position they would ride off for in the final round. The final round was the infamous Italian Pursuit where the top two teams rode off to determine the Velocraft teams night champions.
The Blue team was superior throughout the night and led the pointscore from round 1. However it was the team's dedication in the final round that secured the victory. Congratulations to all Blue team members for a fantastic unified effort. As part of the Velocraft Prize the top three individual scorers from the inning team scored some awesome prizes.
Well done to Daryl Moylan who was the Blue team's top pointscorer and won himself a beautiful FSA Carbon Pro Stem courtesy of Velocraft. Incidentally, on Friday Daryl road his first night in Division 3. Tony and Michael will ride off in the 200m fly next week to determine 2nd place
Stand out riders for the night
Div 5's Katrina Lane - She was aptly nicknamed "Stuart Lane's Little sister" and had her first taste of FNWTR. Her best ride of the night was in the 6 lap handicap where she started with a 30m lead over the first chase group. Katrina extended herself and by the final lap had opened a 100m+ lead over second placed Alf Picello. Alf's speed on the last was amazing and in stark contrast to Katrina who had spent all her energy in the first 5 laps. The crowd began to cheer encouragingly as they realised that this race was going to be close. The tired but not defeated Katrina was now out of the saddle desperately trying to finish whilst Alf's shadow was looming over her. On the line the exhausted Katrina crossed first to the applause of the audience. Later Stuart Lane, "Katrina's big brother", complained bitterly that he had been coming to FNWTR track racing for four years and he had never heard his name mentioned so much during the racing as he had when his little sister was riding.
Div 2's big man Andrew Burne: Andrew has been a FNWTR regular this year. Andrew does not possess an explosive kick nor does he does not have the top end speed of some others. And not meaning to be disrespectful, he is no super tactician either. What Andrew does possess though is the ability to hit a very high speed and maintain it for 3 laps. I could not count the amount of times I have seen the big man hit the front with 2 or 3 laps to go and maintain the lead to win the race. I have seen so many riders come up to his hip only to go backwards. If you could imagine a chipmunk trying to take down a Polar Bear, you would have a good discription of what we have witnessed at FNWTR this year.
Div 1's Shaun Hopkins: Shaun started FNWTR 2006 barely able to stay in touch with the lead groups. His eyes have been firmly set on this year's "Disabled World Championships". Shaun will be representing Australia, piloting the tandem of blind rider Ben. At FNWTR 2006 we have had an undisputed fastest rider being series leader Patrick Bolan. However, last week Shaun beat Patrick in the Kierin, raising questions over Patrick's domination of sprint events. This week the duo lined up in a seven man heat of the 4 lap sprint. With 1 ½ laps to go Patrick lit it up at the front with Shaun stuck on the bottom of the track in forth wheel. Whilst Shaun seemed stuck he was given a way out from his good mate Jason Roberts who was in a position to block Shaun out of the race. Once given some clean space Shaun passed the riders between him and Patrick with ease, hitting the front of the group two lengths down on Patty. Shaun used the draft superbly and cruised past Patty turning to look at him as he passed and waving a finger as if to say "Not yet little boy". To put this in perspective Patrick will not be peaking until January whilst Hopkins' Goal is the pending World Championships. Never-the-less, you have to marvel at Shaun Hopkins' speed and tactics.
For the record Shaun was warned about finishing with one hand off the bars but I don't think it bothered him to much.
The night ending race on Friday was the Italian pursuits to determine the final places of the team's night. Italian Pursuiting is an art form from the very first moment when the team captain selects the starting order, to the final rider (anchor) finishing the race off. Italian Pursuits are won and lost on team work. On Friday most of the races were very close at the start, with the lead consistently changing hands. However on each occasion the race was not won, rather lost by lack of team cohesion. If you are one of the riders who cracked it is advisable to stop reading now.
Race for fifth place Team Red V's Purple.
In this race team red took the lead on the first lap and they continued to build on their advantage over the ensuing laps. The red team had built a massive lead and looked like they would ride this race out to victory however Brett Hanson snapped quicker than Kyle from Australian Idol at a bad singer. In Brett Hanson's (from Bankstown Rebel Sports) defense this is where team tactics had to change. The team had a big enough lead to slow down and allow Brett to do his compulsory lap at the front and then continue on to win the race against team purple. Result: Team purple passes Brett to win the race.
For third Place Orange V's Green:
In this event there was no dominant team as the lead volleyed between each team. After about 7 laps the Orange team where only slightly behind. Brad Craft hit the front and built the pace smoothly for the green however, the current Masters World champion Peter Barnard (who had had 3 outstanding races during the night) folded quicker than a Peter Costello leadership challenge. Again the Green team had an opportunity to resolve the problem but failed to think quick enough to do the correct thing. Result Team Orange passes the disintegrated team green to win.
For Victory Blue V's Yellow
Yellow started well and almost caught the blue team after three laps however, the Blue team fought back hard and clawed their way back into contention. After 10 laps the teams where level pegging. Blue finally hit the front for the first time after 11 laps. At this point Alan Townsend began to crack, which was the beginning of the end for the Yellow team.
Try as he might Alan could not hold on to the draft of his team mates and was spat from the race. Once the Blue team caught him it was all over, or so I thought. I had not noticed that Michael Mellish had been spat from the Blue team so it became a pursuit between the two exhausted riders. Luckily for both of them Michael managed to catch Alan not long after his team mates had put an end to the race.
Next week, being the last week of the month, is our always exciting Madison night program. This week will also include the impressive 200m fly event for div 1 + women above Div3 only. I will try my best to get through this time consuming event as quickly as possible. There are big bonus points to the top 3 riders who can make the biggest improvements on their week 3 times.
Next week is the last week before result points go double so till then remember - "if you can't fix your gears ride a fixed gear".
Results
Junior Development Demonstration 1 Yellow 2 Purple 3 Blue 4 Green Round 1 Warm up scratch race Div 5 1 Alf Picello 2 Jacyn Mellish 3 Tim Murphy 4 Ben Grant Div 4 1 Simon Walsh 2 Greg O'Brien 3 Graeme Heap 4 Ben Creber Div 3 A 1 Jackson Law 2 Michael Stokes 3 Adriano Maradini 4 David McLeod Div 3B 1 Daryl Moylan 2 Neil Land 3 Brenton Anthony 4 Cass Kell Div 2 1 Andrew Burne 2 Gary Mandy 3 Mathew M dennis 4 Alex Carver Div 1 1 Shaun Hopkins 2 Jason Roberts 3 Michael Hickman 4 Ben Simonelli Sprint Div 5 1 Alf Picello 2 Ben Grant 3 Jacyn Mellish 4 Katrina Lane Sprint Div 4 Heat 1 1 Stephan Joyce 2 Ben Creber 3 Marika Kahle 4 Grace M Dennis Sprint Div 4 heat 2 1 Simon Walsh 2 Stephan Sanders 3 Nosh Mistry 4 Greg O Brien Sprint Div 4 heat 3 1 Graeme Heape 2 Pete McCrystal 3 RobertBourke 4 Scott Harding Sprint Div3 heat1 1 Tom Harvey 2 Jackson Law 3 Tirian McManus 4 Cass Kell Sprint Div 3 Heat 2 1 Simon Ball 2 Ross Harding 3 Brett Hanson 4 Brenton Anthony Sprint Div 3 heat 3 1 Darren Kelly 2 Daryl Moylan 3 Peter Holly 4 Terry Freshwater Sprint Div 3 heat 4 1 Tony Unicomb 2 Andrew Herlehen 3 Adriano Mradini 4 Tim Maranik Sprint Div 3 heat 5 1 Michael Stokes 2 David McLoed 3 Kris Collins 4 Michelle Crawford Sprint Div 2 Heat 1 1 Damien Mc Garry 2 Neil Leiffels 3 Ben Hooker 4 Joel Chant Sprint Div 2 heat 2 1 Andrew Burne 2 Paul Connor 3 Neville Scott 4 Liam Melville Sprint Div 2 heat 3 1 Mathew M Dennis 2 Jim Gray 3 Keith Oliver 4 Anthony Cole Sprint Div 2 heat 4 1 Gary Mandy 2 Jock Murray 3 Alex Carver 4 Sky Armstrong Sprint Div 1 Heat 1 1 Gavin White 2 Alan Townsend 3 Michael Hickman 4 Graeme Allbon Sprint Div 1 heat 2 1 Peter Barnard 2 Geoff Hopkins 3 David Nelson 4 Ben Simonelli Sprint Div 1 heat 3 1 Shaun Hopkins 2 Patrick Bolan 3 Grant Law 4 Jason Roberts Handicap Div 5 1 Katrina Lane 2 Alf Picello 3 Jacyn Mellish 4 Ben Grant Round 4 Winners Race Div 4 1 Simon Walsh 2 Stephan Sanders 3 Pete mcCrystal 4 Ben Creber Div3 1 Jackson Law 2 Tony Unicomb 3 Andrew Herlihen 4 Daryl Moylan Div 2 1 Mathew M dennis 2 Paul Connor 3 Jock Murray 4 Andrew Burne Div 1 1 Graeme Allbon 2 Alex Simmons 3 Gavin White 4 David Willmott Div 5 1 Tim Murphy 2 Ben Grant 3 Katrina Lane Round 5 Italian 1 Blue 2 Yellow 3 Orange 4 Green 5 Purple 6 Red
