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Tempe Track Open
Tempe velodrome, Sydney, NSW - Saturday, March 3, 2007
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A successfully organised track carnival brought the Tempe Velodrome to life on a warm still Saturday afternoon. Over $7000 in prize money was on offer, which included over 90 riders. There was some serious horse power in the A grade field and lots of experience in the other grades. There was also a good range of talent in the women's grade including NSW Rep Regular Liz Georgouras, world champion tandem pilot Toireasa Gallagher and the ACT pocket rocket Chloe Hosking.
One of the main features of the night was the Sydney Tandem Challenge, with 4 tandem teams. These tandems provided the crowd with some very aggressive close racing. A special thanks needs to go out to Steve Dixon who provided two bikes and to Toireasa Gallagher and Lindy Hou for their solid participation being the only female team.
Kersten sets his priorities straight!
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Commonwealth Games gold medallist Ben Kersten was a late inclusion after a last minute decision not to go to the World Cup. Liz Georgouras also made the effort of coming down from Brisbane, leaving the birth of her sister's first child to attend the track meet.
Some solid scratch racing got the night started and led up to the speedsters in the A grade keirin heats and the tandem 4-up sprint derby, where the power-house combination of Shaun Hopkins and Jason Roberts totally dominated.
Ultimate Dash qualifying
Qualifying then began for the Ultimate Dash. The motor paced flying 200 metres saw some blistering times set by Kersten and Danny Ellis off 10.05 seconds and 10.15 seconds respectively, and from that 6 riders were selected for the Ultimate Dash final. Hopkins and Roberts decided to do their qualifying on the tandem and clocked off with a frame bending time of 10.06 seconds.
Women's keirin
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The women's one off FRESH Café Manly keirin final provided some good bike handling and an exciting finish with Liz Georgouras just holding off a fast finishing Chloe Hoskings to take the $110 first prize.
Sydney Tandem Challenge
The feature tandem event was the team sprint between the two BiciSport teams and the world champion teams, this race resulted in a fast lead out from Gallagher/Hou to get Hopkins/Roberts to the line first by a length.
Wheels V foot race
The crowd favorite event was the Ben Gemmel Sails - Wheels V foot race where a possible unfair handicap saw the extremely fast current women's Aussie Wallaroo fullback Jamie Blazejewski beat the fast finishing AIS rider Liz Georgouras home, running 115 metres to Liz's 333 metres.
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However the men's race between Danny Ellis of the ACT and the fast twitched Ramsgate sprinter Travis Clarke was a triumph of handicapping with Clarke finishing centimetres ahead of a storming Ellis, with Ellis lifting his front wheel five inches off the ground on the throw to the line.
With a 20 minute break, everyone was enjoying the excellent skills of the girls from the FRESH Coffee shop coupled with the skills of the lads from the Michael Bartley Shipwrights behind the BBQ, producing a constant supply of excellent steak and sausage sandwiches. And no track night would survive without good coffee - Katie of Forsyth Coffee & Tea kept up a rapid supply of first rate brews.
First ever Irish keirin
The Ultimate Dash final saw the fastest 6 qualifiers ride the first ever Irish keirin final. This was a race where all six riders were seeded on the track behind the motorbike at the same time, in order of slowest qualifier on the bike and fastest qualifier on the back of the six being Kersten, in a lead-out order.
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The motorbike took all of the riders to the top of the track for four laps at around 40 km/h pace, and slowly increased the speed to 70 km/h into the bell. The motorbike dived down the track along a flying lap race line and then started to pull away from all of the riders at 80 km/h leaving them to fight out the ultimate six-man flying lead-out sprint for 1 lap.
Kersten never looked like he was ever going to get around the bunch until he hit the final straight, and on the line there was a photo finish with all six riders all over the line and Kersten winning at the top of the track.
Canberra takes NSW's biggest wheelrace
The Supreme Cycles 2000 metre Wheelrace final saw the Canberra connection of John 'Potholes' Forrest, Brendan Savage and Matthew Meisel-Dennis stick together and take out the majority of the $2000 prize pool.
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Kersten was always going to have a difficult ride, riding off the mark of -15 metres, chasing Danny Ellis off scratch and then Luke Davison off 50 metres. To add to Kersten's problems was the fact that he missed the start which cost him an extra 20 metres in the race. After a solid lap of chasing, Kersten finally got on the back of Ellis and the chase was on.
Meantime the pace was on from the start at the front of the race, with Simon Llewellyn, Michael Stokes and Alex Simmons all putting in big efforts to try and keep the back markers away.
Kersten finally got on the back of the main bunch on the bell, but after the epic chase he was totally stuffed by the time he reached the bunch and was always going to struggle to get around.
The Canberra connection of Savage, Potholes and Meisel-Dennis took over the front of the race with two laps to go and gave Meisel-Dennis the best opportunity to take the winner's money and trophy, with an almighty explosive kick in the back straight on the bell lap. Meisel-Dennis was able to take out the finish with the second placed rider over four bike lengths behind. Second to Meisel-Dennis was Benny Elliot followed by Joe McDonnell.
Madison riders smash themselves for beer!
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The Joe Walsh Rigging Madison topped off what was a fantastic night of track racing. The team of Tom Palmer and Ellis dominated the early surprise sprint primes for cash that was endlessly coming from the crowd. However then there was 'Macca' who donated a 'six pack of beer' as a sprint prime, and to the delight of the crowd this resulted in the Madison riders smashing themselves senseless for the honor and the glory. The Team of Anthony Bennett and Andrew Herrmann won the beer and could be found drinking that beer and more at a Kings Cross pub, still celebrating at 6am the next morning.
The highly fancied team of Kersten and Hopkins looked stronger as the race developed and won the final sprint to the line, to finish up on top. Kersten was followed by the team of Austral Winner Joel Stewart and Potholes finishing closely in second place.
This was a very successful night produced by BiciSport CC, and the general consensus from the riders and spectators was: "We can't wait until next year!"
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by David Lane/www.actionsnaps.com.au
- Toireasa Gallagher and Lindy Hou on their tandem.
- Millar/Schneider leading the tandems out.
- Action in the D Grade scratch race.
- Chloe Hoskings leads the women's field out.
- Katrina Lane leads out Liz Georgouras.
- Liz Georgouras tries to cover a move from Michelle Crawford.
- Liz Georgouras just holds out the ACT Pocket Rocket Chloe Hosking.
- Kial Stewart leads the A Grade scratch race.
- Alex Sommer leads the B Grade scratch race.
- Dave Willmott takes out the B Grade scratch race.
- Anthony O'Connor leads out the C Grade elimination.
- David Browne leads out Alex Bird in their keirin heat
- The pace is on! Coming into the bell of the keirin heats.
- Hopkins and Roberts just pip Browne and McLachlan on the line.
- Danny Ellis gets some support, getting ready to do a 10.15 second 200 metres.
- Kersten prepares to do a 10.05 second 200 metres.
- This is crazy! Hopkins/Roberts prepare to do a frame bending 10.69 second 200 metres.
- Ellis in the start gate.
- Danny Ellis explodes at the start of the Wheels V foot race.
- Danny Ellis throws his bike into the air on the line, but comes up short against the Ramsgate sprinter Travis Clarke.
- Austral winner Joel Stewart is off in the men's keirin final.
- Ellis beats Kersten on the throw to the line in the Men's Kierin Final
- Peter Barnard leads out the field in the first ever 'Irish keirin'.
- And it's on! In the Irish keirin final.
- Kersten takes victory in the Irish keirin final.
- Stu Lane just beats Neil Skipper in the B Grade Win 'n' Out.
- Michelle Crawford winner of the women's wheelrace with Jeff Schneider.
- Ellis ready for the wheelrace final.
- The chase is on! Danny Ellis leads out Benny K in the final of the wheelrace.
- The Canberra connection takes over the final stages of the wheelrace.
- Meisel-Dennis smashes the wheelrace.
- The race for second - Elliot edges out McDonnell.
- Steve Brown from Supreme Cycles presents Matty MD.
- Matty MD talking to the crowd.
- Hey Hoppy, settle down - I'm sprinter.
- Millar rips in Schneider.
- Kersten tries to rip the field apart to win some beer!
- Savage throws in Matty MD.
- Madison action - Stuey Millar slings Slip Schneider into the race.
- The team of Hopkins and Kersten win the Madison.
- Hopkins and Kersten are presented by Joe Walsh.
Images by Ernie Smith/www.erniesmithphoto.com.au
- Mike O'Reilly opens the Tempe Track Carnival.
- David Browne and Tyler McLachlan share a joke.
- Gallagher and Hou in flight.
- Liz Georgouras edges out Chloe Hoskings.
- Tom Palmer putting in the hard yards.
- Anthony Bennett on the chase.
- Kersten takes out the scratch race.
- This man is about to ride 10.05 seconds for 200 metres.
- Kersten at 70 km/h.
- The FRESH Café.
- Michael Bartley Shipwrights BBQ.
- Hungry boys.
- Gallagher/Hou lead out Hopkins/Roberts in the team sprint challenge.
- Jamie Blazejewski about to take off.
- Travis Clarke in flight in the Wheels V foot race.
- Jamie thanking her supportors.
- Eliis with carnival organizer Stu Millar.
- Kersten having a cuddle with Cory from Michael Bartley Shipwrights.
- Tank about to give Liz one hell of a shove.
- Andrea Beer giving it everything.
- Ellis focused on the job.
- The epic chase - Ellis and Kersten.
- Matty MD takes out the wheelrace.
- So Matt... where's your chest?
- Paul Craft did a great job with the mic.
Results
Tandem Challenge - 8 Lap Scratch Race 1 Hopkins / Roberts 2 Browne / McLachlan 3 Millar / Schneider Open D Grade - 10 Lap Scratch Race 1 Grahame Heap 2 Paul Meehan 3 Allan Bontjer Open C Grade - 12 Lap Scratch Race 1 Tim Rice 2 Anthony O'Conner 3 Mark Skribins Open Women - 10 Lap Scratch Race 1 Elizabeth Georgouras 2 Chloe Hosking 3 Andrea Beer Open A Grade - 20 Lap Scratch Race 1 Benny Kersten 2 Luke Davison 3 Joe McDonnell 4 Danny Ellis Open B Grade - 16 Lap Scratch Race 1 David Willmott 2 Anthony Bishop 3 Stuart Lane Open D Grade - Elimination Race - "The Devil" 1 David Russell 2 Christopher Green 3 Paul Meehan Open C Grade - Elimination Race - "The Devil" 1 Richard Mulberry 2 Gary Mandy 3 Tim Rice Open B Grade - Elimination Race - "The Devil" 1 Gavin White 2 Alex Simmons 3 Simon Llewellyn Tandem Challenge - 3 Lap Sprint Derby 1 Hopkins / Roberts 2 Browne / McLachlan 3 Millar / Schneider Ultimate Dash - Motor Paced 200m Qualifying 1 Benny Kersten 2 Danny Ellis 3 Alex Bird 4 Anthony Bennett 5 Hopkins / Roberts (Tandem) 6 Kial Stewart 7 Peter Barnard 8 Luke Davison 9 Joel Stewart 10 Tom Palmer 11 Ben Simonelli Open Women - Women's 2000m Keirin Challenge Final 1 Elizabeth Georgouras 2 Chloe Hosking 3 Toiresa Gallagher 4 Andrea Beer. Open Men - 2000m Wheelrace - Heats Heat 1 1 Matthew Meisel-Dennis 2 Alex Bird 3 Daniel Ellis 4 Alex Simmons 5 Luke Davison Heat 2 1 Joe McDonnell 2 John Forest 3 Grant Fraser 4 Brendan Savage 5 Jason Roberts Heat 3 1 Neil Skipper 2 Simon Llewellyn 3 Michael Stokes 4 Ben Elliot 5 David Browne Heat 4 1 Gavin White 2 Gerard Walsh 3 Anthony O'Connor 4 Michael Probert 5 Jeff Smith Tandem Team Sprint - BiciSport V The World 1 The World - Gallagher/Hou & Hopkins/Roberts Wheels V Foot Challenge Women 1 Jamie Blazejewski Men 1 Travis Clarke Interstate Challenge NSW v ACT - Italian Teams Pursuit 1 A.C.T Jess Ellis Chloe Hosking John Forrest Tom Palmer Matty Meisel-Dennis Open A Grade - Men's 2000m Kierin Challenge - Final 1 Daniel Ellis 2 Benny Kersten 3 Alex Bird 4 Joel Stewart Open D Grade - Win 'n' Out 1 Daryl Mylan 2 Alan Bontjer 3 Christopher Green Open C Grade - Win 'n' Out 1 Anthony O'Connor 2 Garry Mandy 3 Jeff Smith Ultimate Dash - Irish Kierin Final 1 Benny Kersten 2 Danny Ellis 3 Peter Barnarad 4 Anthony Bennett Open B Grade - Win 'n' Out 1 David Willmont 2 Paul Connor 3 Stuart Lane Open Women - 1000m Women's Wheelrace Final 1 Michelle Crawford 2 Donna Meehan 3 Chloe Hosking 4 Katrina Lane Open Men - 2000m Wheelrace - Final 1 Matty Meisel-Dennis 2 Benny Elliot 3 Joe McDonnell 4 Luke Davison Open Women - 15 Lap Scratch Race Final 1 Toiresa Gallagher 2 Andrea Beer 3 Chloe Hoskins 4 Michelle Crawford Open C & D Grade - Combined Grade Handi'Capped - Scratch Race Final 1 Daryl Mylan 3 Allan Bontjer 2 David Russell Madison Scratch Race - 80 Laps - With Surprise Sprint Primes 1 Hopkins / Kersten 2 Forrest / Stewart 3 Herrmann / Bennett 4 Millar / Schneider
