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Wangaratta Wheelrace
Wangaratta, Victoria - Saturday January 27, 2007
Cool windy conditions made handicap racing tough at the 79th carnival of this traditional track classic. Boasting previous winners Baden Cooke, Glen and Danny Clarke, Barry Waddell, Gordon Johnson, Keith Oliver and Sid Patterson (twice), racing is now one afternoon and an evening. The program features varied events for juniors under 11 years, right through to seniors headed by Commonwealth Games points gold medallist Sean Finning (Castlemaine).
Three previous winners lined up in the 2,000m Wheelrace heats - Jarrod Moroni (Bendigo) 25m, Ash Harding (Bendigo) 75m and Andy Stewart (Coburg) 90m, but only the latter could qualify.
With Moroni and the other backmarkers missing out, it made the final a super challenge for scratchmarker Finning and Gary Mueller 10m. They were chasing former double junior World Champ Andrew Mason (Bendigo) 45m, with riders evenly spaced then out to Joel Fahy (Bendigo) 160m.
The three riders on 190m tried valiantly, but Troy Sait (Bendigo) and Brendan Washington (Lavington-Panthers) left their man Ben Knight (Bendigo) a task a long way from home, but once caught, he still battled on to collect some dollars.
Three girls filled the front marks. Nicole Holt (Carnegie - Caulfield) 340m, Veronica Dudderidge (Albury - Wodonga) 340m and Thomy Michaltsis (Preston) 390m. They were caught by half distance.
700m from the finish Finning and Mueller were out of the race and Ben Knight held a slender lead. A massive group of riders were queued up ready to pounce, with Bendigo riders Tim Bennett 120m, Tim Hucker 100m and Sean Pontelandolfo 75m all prominent.
250m to race and Kyle Marwood (Bendigo), the 6/4 race favourite with the Bookmaker, took over and blasted away for one of the most convincing wins ever of this wheelrace.
Results
Wangaratta Wheelrace 1 Kyle Marwood (Bendigo) 2.15.03 2 Sean Pontelandolfo 3 Damien Semmler (Wangaratta) 4 Ben Knight 5 Tim Hucker 6 Andrew Mason Aces Keirin 1 Gary Mueller Sid Patterson Memorial Aces 10k scratch race 1 Sean Finning
