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Results and Reports for Australia

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Friday Night Winter Track Racing week 8

Dunc Grey Velodrome, Sydney, August 6, 2004

Hopkins collapses after roller win

By Paul Craft

FNWTR welcomed 9 new riders to our unique event this week. Two riders came from Queensland's Gold Coast and one from Victoria 's Carnegie club proving that word of FNWTR continues to spread.

The feature race for night was "The Div 3 Cannibal 1km Wheelrace". First prize was a pair of quality Cannibal bib shorts. Starting from a mark of 115m, Lindsey Munks set off and built a commanding lead. Behind Lindsey the entire field had come together forming a wall of riders, chasing the sole lead rider. Scratch man Joel Chant went high to look for a way to the front but was shut out by the barrier and a number of other riders with similar ideas. Mark Rowling (10m) chose to weave his body through the jungle of riders to the front. Mark quickly discovered that two riders (Jason Frazer 70m and Jason Roberts 55m) had flown away. The two Jason's battled to the line, with Jason Roberts securing the prestigious win.

Jason Roberts rode the track for the first time this year starting in the novice program and moving through the divisions to winning the biggest race in div 3.

Australia 's #1 cycling and triathlon clothing company, Cannibal, supplied a pair of quality Cannibal bib shorts for first prize. You can view this amazing prize and other quality items on www.cannibal.com.au ( including one ultra-cool model.)

The other major event for the night was the first ever FNWTR roller derby. A series of heats eliminated a number of riders from the competition until we got to the final 4 riders. At this point the rollers were taken over to the Handle Bar Tavern where the scene was set for two great battles. In the ride off for 3rd place it was a true David and Goliath with the age and power of Ross Harding pitted against the youth and speed of Patrick Bolan. The crowd was quick to get behind their favorite riders when the race started with a explosion of power as both riders quickly accelerated to a leg speed of around 200rpm. The two riders were level pegging early but as they neared the 400m Ross Harding had inched his way clear until he veered slightly to the left and came off the rollers handing the Victory to the 16 year old speedster.

With the smell of Harding's burnt rubber still filling the room, the final ride off for the title was between current dual Australian title holder Shaun Hopkins and Queenslander Peter Spencer (aka Rootman). The riders agreed to raise the distance to 750m. In this event, Hoppy opened a sizable lead and managed to maintain it till 100m to go when he also veered to the left. However the experienced Hopkins reefed his bike back on to the rollers and continued pedaling in an awkward position. Spencer took advantage of Hopkins ' error and began to close the gap but it was all too late as Hopkins took an impressive victory. Immediately after the event Hopkins collapsed on the floor in obvious pain. First aid was on the scene and after several minutes of no movement from the victor, he was placed on oxygen. It was later discovered that the violent pull on his bike with 100m to go had caused damage to a previous injury in Hopkins ' lower back and riding the last 100m compounded the injury. After about 15 minutes Shaun finally rose from the floor and gingerly accepted his prize money.

Next week will feature The Australian SportsBook 1km Wheelrace for Div 4 the place getters will be receiving a share of $170 worth of Betting vouchers. Just in time for the Olympics. Additionally we will see the NSWCF+NSWIS Time Blaster worth $50 cash to the winner so long as they break 9min 26sec (47.8km/h)

Quote of the night: Shortly after the Roller derby in the HBT. I visited the toilets were I was confronted by a patron, who in a slightly slurred voice explained how much he enjoyed the Roller Derby and boasted that he was backing the young fellow (Patrick Bolan) stating; "The way I saw it, was that he (Bolan) is on the way up in the sport, whilst the old fellow (Harding) is on the way out".

Look forward to seeing everyone again

Results

Mortgagemaker Junior Development demonstration
 
Demo 1 David (Donuts) Moiler
 
Round 1
 
Warm up scratch race winners
 
Novice Peter Feraud
Div 4 Paul Worby
Div 3 Kevin Rab
Div 2 Graham McClymont
Div 1 Peter Spencer
 
Round 2
 
Group Handicap Div 4
 
1 Chris Murray (120m)
2 Luke Taylor (Scratch)
3 Paul worby (Scratch)
4 Mike Axton (120m)
 
Group Handicap Novice
 
1 Josh Dolan (Scatch)
2 Noel Christenson (80m)
3 David Birrs (80m)
 
The Cannibal 1km Wheelrace Div3
 
1 Jason Roberts (55m)
2 Jason Frazer (70m)
3 Mark Rowling (10m)
4 Jon Britton (55m)
 
Group Handicap Div 2
 
1 Ivan Colig (Scatch)
2 Roland Lang (Scatch)
3 Alex Simmons (Scatch)
4 Jim Gray (120m)
5 Matt Smith (Relegated from 1st)
 
Group Handicap Div 4
 
1 Anthony Bennett (Scratch)
2 Duncan Crosby (Scratch)
3 Peter Barnard (120m)
4 Brett Johnston (Scratch)
 
Round 3
 
Novice Sprint  Race
 
1 Josh Dolan
2 Noel Christenson
3 David Birrs
 
Teams Race Div 4
 
1 Front Luke Taylor
2 Back Paul Worby
 
Teams Race Div 3
 
1 Back Joel Chant
2 Front Mark Rowling
 
Teams Race Div 2
 
1 Front Alex Simmons
2 Back Roland Lang
 
Teams Race Div 1
 
1 Back Brett johnston
2 Front Anthony Bennett
 
Round 4
 
Point'A'Lap Div 4+Novice
 
1 Paul Worby                   5 pts
2 Chris Murray                 2
3 Neil Leifels                 1
3 Neil Land                    1
 
Point'A'Lap Div 3
 
1 Mark Rowling                 3 pts
2 Kevin Rablin                 2 (inc final Sprint)
3 Jon Brittan                  2
3 Joel Chant                   2
 
Point'A'Lap Div 4+Novice
 
1 Roland Lang                  4 pts
2 Alex Simmons                 2
2 Michael Stokes               2
2 Ivan Colig                   2
 
Point'A'Lap Div 4+Novice
 
1 Anthony Bennett              6 pts
2 michael Mellish              4
3 Phil Dixon                   2
4 michael Popplewell           1
 
Round 5
 
Div 3+4 Combine  20 laps
 
1 Joel Chant
2 Kevin Rablin
3 jon Britton
4 Leif Arnebarh
 
Div 1 +Div 2 NSWCF+NSWIS Time Blaster
 
1 Anthony Bennett
2 Phil Dixon
3 Michael Mellish
4 Duncan Crosby
 
Red Cross raffle Draw
 
1 Alex Simmons