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35th Bendigo Madison - IM
Australia, March 11-13, 2005
Day 3 - March 13: Bendigo Madison, 200 laps
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Clarke & Sanderson grab the big one at Bendigo
By Mal Sawford
Eighteen year old junior world champion Simon Clarke capped off a sensational weekend at the Bendigo Madison Carnival with wins in both feature races – warming up with the Golden Mile Wheelrace, before teaming with Nic Sanderson to control the 200 lap Madison from start to finish. Together with his win in Saturday’s Gold and Opal Wheelrace, it has proved a very profitable weekend for the youngster.
After another very hot afternoon, the warm evening air brought spectators in droves, with the track lined ten deep all the way round to watch the action unfold. The crowd was kept entertained by a non stop mix of cycling and athletics, with Tamsyn Lewis the star attraction on the grass track. In a first for the carnival, a giant TV screen loomed over the back straight, with roving cameras to follow the action both on and off the track.
Golden Mile Wheelrace
Rarely have four riders earned the Scratch mark in a Victorian carnival, let alone have four in a final. Shane Kelly was a hot favourite to claim back to back wins, but as he had tipped after Saturday’s heats, Simon Clarke was the one to watch.
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Off the middle marks, Stephen Fitzpatrick took control, setting a good tempo for Jason Niblett, Aaron Salisbury, Matt Crampton and Pat Shaw. Clarke was quickly on terms, and perched happily on the train, which reeled in the outmarkers with two laps remaining.
Darren Young and Jame Carney did the early work to put the scratch in contention, leaving Nathan Clarke the job of taking Kelly to the front of the race. As Kelly had feared, just as they made contact with the back of the group, Simon Clarke launched off the front, and rode away to claim the $3000 winner’s cheque and salute the crowd in style. Kelly flew home, but had to settle for a distant second, with Salisbury third.
Clearly, the race had gone to plan for Clarke, who was so confident he chose to ride entirely on his own merits, without the informal alliances that are the norm when big money is on offer. When asked if things had gone to plan, he said “Exactly. I made sure I was in the right position coming round the outside; you don’t want to get boxed in. I just made sure I went as early as I could with as much as I had in my legs, because I knew the backies would be coming.”
Madison
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The favourites before the race were a mix of the old and the new. Scott McGrory and Erik Weispfennig represented the experience of years of competition on the international circuit; while Chris Sutton and Sean Finning were the new kids on the block excelling in the endurance events at national level.
Both teams had faced disruptions to their preparation, with McGrory recovering from broken ribs after a fall in Bremen and Finning called in at the last minute to replace Chris Pascoe, Sutton’s Australian championship partner, who had taken ill.
McGrory had sat out the previous day’s races, feeling the Friday night criterium had taken too much out of him to allow three consecutive days of racing. “My back is still quite stiff today. Perhaps I could have ridden yesterday, but I would have been much worse for wear today. We’ll see how it goes. Once the race starts you tend to forget about these things! A race like this, there is only one goal – I want to try and win it.”
McGrory felt the field was the strongest he had encountered in Bendigo, when asked who he though the main danger was “there’s definitely a few more than what I’m used to. There’s a lot of young guys who’ve really stepped up the last couple years. Finning and Sutton will be a good team, combined with the Germans guys (Christian Lademann and Lars Teutenberg) and the British guys who have been riding really well in the amateur Six Days. There’s definitely seems to be a lot more depth this year, I couldn’t pick one team, they’re all going to be a bit of a handful I think.”
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The unique format of the Bendigo sees both members of each team race to the first sprint, before a sprint session with five sprints at five lap intervals. After a ten lap ‘recovery’ (called a chase), the second sprint session has six sprints, followed by a fifteen lap breather. Sprint session number three is eight sprints; with the final chase twenty laps, leaving riders to face fifteen sprints over the final seventy laps of the race
The opening sprint session saw Sanderson and Clarke combine perfectly to take the first two sprints. McGrory and Weispfennig picked up points late in the session, but finished on 13 points to trail the youngsters by two. The Fitzpatrick brothers picked up points in all five sprints and held third place.
McGrory opened the second session with an impressive burst of speed to take the win and move into the lead, and after a second and then third win, looked to be pulling away from the VIS team. Clarke fell in heavy traffic midway through the session, but shrugged off treatment for his badly grazed elbow and shoulder, and after a quick wheel change was back into the race.
Clarke showed no signs of slowing after the fall, and picked up points at the end of the session to close to within two points of the lead. Finning and Sutton had stating to gel after a quiet start, and made a number of unsuccessful efforts to break away, but picked up valuable sprint points in the process.
The third session saw McGrory and Weispfennig gain points early, and looked they were about to take control of the race. Once again, Clarke and Sanderson fought back, with Clarke slinging his team mate in very late on the sprint laps to steal the wins: at the end of the session, they were back in the lead with 45 points, a single point ahead of McGrory and Weispfennig!
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With two teams so far ahead on points, the other teams had no option but to try to take a lap on the field to win the race. Teutenberg and Lademann were first to try, followed by Christian House and David Pell, and Ed Clancy and Mark Cavendish. The final extended sprint session saw McGrory and Weispfennig start to struggle, while Sutton and Finning began to rack up points in the sprinters paradise.
In the closing laps, Sutton’s late dominance vaulted him into second place, but there was no catching the silver medallists from the Australian Championships, who rode the final ten laps knowing they could not be beaten.
Twenty year old Sanderson acknowledged that the pair had made errors in the Aussie title, “we made a few blues there, so we just made sure we didn’t make them this time.” Clarke agreed, admitting “we were really lucky in the Aussie Madison, we didn’t ride very well at all; we didn’t set up the sprints, it was really messy. But this, we just knew – top three in every sprint, and we did it!”
Weispfennig was obviously a little disappointed, having thought he was capable of the win, but “after half of the race, I had really bad legs; the power was gone and I think it’s different this year to the other years because the young riders who are going to the World Championships are in absolutely the best shape. For us it is different, the Six Day season is over, so the form is going a little bit down and that set a new situation in this race.” The German star hopes to return in 2006 saying “I like this event here. It’s really a great race, with a big, big crowd and like today perfect conditions.”
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McGrory knew his third win wasn’t on the cards early in the final session “when we weren’t really clicking with the sprints like we were early in the race, and that’s a sign of tiredness. With about forty laps to go I had a good dip at a couple of the sprints but I started to cramp, so it shows we just didn’t have the legs.”
Support Events
A Grade Scratch Race
The eight lap heart starter gave Shane Kelly the perfect opportunity to show his class against the best of the domestically based fast men, and he had little trouble powering past field in the final bend, relegating Joel Leonard and Daniel Thorsen (Drapac/Porsche Development Team) to the minor places.
1000m Wheelrace
The riders not competing in the Madison fought out a “blink and you’d miss it” handicap which consisted of just over two laps of the lightening fast track. Back markers struggled to get up over the short distance, with Joel Leonard (10m), Jason Niblett (30m) and Jeremy McLay (40m) facing a near impossible task in the final: eight of the fifteen finalists were grouped between 75 and 90 metres!
Unsurprisingly, the back markers were never in the hunt. Limit rider David Fairburn (115) held off the pack until the bell, before he was swamped. The win went to Jarrod Moroni (Moroni Cycles), from Tony Jones and Casey Munro (Fitzroy Cycles).
A Grade Elimination
In an interesting variation on the traditional elimination format, the race distance was capped at twelve laps, with the last rider over the line eliminated each lap until the final two laps, when the surviving riders were free to fight out the win.
Alex Smyth (UNO Clothing) attacked the nine survivors, but had no chance of holding off the charge from Shane Kelly, who had effortlessly cruised through the elimination part of the race, saving his effort for one all out sprint, giving him the win over Japanese star Kouji Yoshi and Nathan Clarke.
Kierin
Eight riders qualified for the Keirin final, including current Australian Champion Joel Leonard and Shane Kelly, who is concentrating on the event at the World Championships later in the month.
Leonard had bested an otherwise untouchable Ben Kersten in the Kierin held as part of the Austral Carnival, but today couldn’t produce the same initial jump to put Kelly on the back foot. Leonard’s attack in the back straight saw him lead into the home straight, but with Kelly perched perfectly on his wheel. Leonard could only watch as the ‘King Kelly’ charged past to rack up his fourth win for the weekend.
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Women
The Women’s 1000 metre Wheel looked like it was following the same pattern as the Men’s race, with the back markers struggling to make up ground to the well organised limit bunch over the first lap and a half. Catherine Allen (30m) buried her head at the bell, and kept up an impressive pace all the way to the line, coming within inches of stealing the win after the leaders had hit the wall rounding the final bend.
Roz Bradley (Decked Out Coaching) just held on to take her biggest win, ahead of Allen (Giramondo Sportswear) and Scratch rider Tess Downing (Drapac/Porsche Development Team).
The two short scratch races were decided with bunch sprints. Belinda Goss (TIS) crossed the line first both times, but was relegated in the opening race for an indiscretion in the back straight, handing the win to Catherine Allen. She made no mistakes in the second race, powering past Jessica Berry in the straight for a convincing win.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Shane Goss/www.licoricegallery.com
- Any takers?
- The camps of the Madison teams set up at Bendigo
- The Great Britain team on Aussie shores again
- Shane Kelly after winning the Keirin final
- Simon Clarke (Jayco-VIS) takes out the Golden Mile final
- Sean Finning (NSW Institute of Sport) prepares for the Madison
- David Mckenzie (Ridewiser) adds some sustenance before the Madison
- The Bendigo Madison is wheely big!
- A budding track star is all smiles
- Junior riders introduced the teams by riding ahead of them on a warm up lap
- '“Mmm I wonder if I can win it again this year”
- Chris Sutton (NSW Institute of Sport) awaits the start
- Lars Teutenberg (Australian Abalone Exports) on the start line
- Tim Decker (L) and Zac Dempster of the Valentini and Murphy Accountants team
- Two hundred to go in the Madison
- The team from 3BO FM of Tom White and Matt Brammeier combine
- David McKenzie slings Ridewiser team-mate Aaron Salisbury into the action before a great crowd
- Valentini Murphy Accountants team-mates Tim Decker and Zac Dempster were local hopes in the Madison
- Stephen and Peter Fitzpatrick of the Morey and Hurford team change in front of a section of the large crowd at Bendigo
- Riders swing round the Tom Flood Sports Arena at Bendigo
- The speed of the 2005 Bendigo Madison
- Lars Teutenberg (Australian Abalone Exports) goes on the attack
- McCaig Daikin Air Conditioning team-mates Franz Stocher (R) and Miles Olman in action
- Simon Clarke (Victorian Institute of Sport) bites the dust between riders
- Simon Clarke (Victorian Institute of Sport) shrugs off any pain after his fall
- Scott McGory, left, (Innes Motors) and Kristian House (Peter Lehmann Wines) side by side at Bendigo
- Mario Giramondo and Gerard Murphy of the Bendigo Sheetmetal team change in front of the big screen
- Bendigo blur!
- Pat Shaw (9, Bendigo Party Hire) shakes hands with the peloton at the back of the bunch
- Leigh Deluca swings Bendigo Party Hire team-mate Pat Shaw into the action
- The New South Wales Institute of Sport team get to know each other at Bendigo
- Gerard Murphy, left (Bendigo Sheetmetal) has the hand out while Peter Fitzpatrick (Morey and Hurford) looks on
- Miles Olman slings McCaig Daikin Air Conditioning team-mate Franz Stocher into the thick of it
- Erik Weispfennig prepares to launch from the sling from Innes Motors team-mate Scott McGory
- Nick Sanderson gives VIS team-mate Simon Clarke a helping hand
- A battered Simon Clarke (VIS) receives congratulations after his win with Nick Sanderson
- Victorious Victorian Institute of Sport team-mates Nick Sanderson (L) and Simon Clarke
- A pair of pairs - or is that threes!
- '“So how does it feel to be Bendigo Madison Champs?”
- A podium finish for New South Wales Institute of Sport couple Sean Finning (R) and Chris Sutton
- 2005 Bendigo Madison champions Nick Sanderson (L) and Simon Clarke of the Victorian Institute of Sport team
Images by CJ Farquharson
- Hannah Bush and Tess Downing lead the A Grade scratch race - Belinda Goss looks for a way through
- Shelley Flood leads the chase in a W15/W17 wheelrace
- Tahlia Clayton and Emma Waldron head for the line in Women's B Grade
- Shane Kelly and Joel Leonard get 'up close' in the Keirin
- Simon Clarke celebrates a clear win in the Golden Mile Wheelrace
- The Fitzpatrick brothers change over in the feature race of the weekend
- David Pell was teamed with Britain's Christian House
- Eventual winners Simon Clarke and Nick Sanderson
- Huge crowds enjoyed the racing
- This was Franz Stocher's last race before retirement
- Young British riders Mark Cavendish and Ed Clancy make a change
- David McKenzie throws Aaron Salisbury into the action
Results
Afternoon Session Bud's Flowers Women's B Grade Scratch Race 1 Tahlia Clayton 2 Roz Bradley 3 Emma Waldron Faye Buerger Women's A Grade Scratch Race 1 Catherine Allen 2 Tess Downing 3 Briana James Bart'n'print D Grade Scratch Race 1 Justin Tomlinson 2 David Mannix 3 Mackenzie Bradley Bendigo & District Cycling Club C Grade Scratch Race 1 Evan Corry 2 Daniel Vains 3 Reece Van Beek Seymour Cycles B Grade Scratch Race 1 Kyle Marwood 2 Justin Leske 3 Jarrod Moroni Smartline Homeloans A Grade Scratch Race 1 Shane Kelly 2 Joel Leonard 3 Daniel Thorson Castlemaine Cycles Under 11 Scratch Race 1 Mark Kelly 2 Brae Mapson 3 Elisha Asplin Bendigo & District Cycling Club Under 13 Women's Scratch Race 1 Toni Abbisogni 2 Imogen Jelbart 3 Jessica Robertson Damien Drum Under 13 B Grade Scratch Race 1 Brandon Asplin 2 Mark White 3 Eamon Jackson Bruce & Lyn Whitecross Under 13 A Grade Scratch Race 1 Jaron Gardiner 2 Evan Hull 3 Tyson McCaig Jacinta Allan Under 15/17 Women's Scratch Race 1 Esther Pugh-U'ren 2 Bianca McKenzie 3 Imogen Jelbart Gejay Automotive Under 11 600m Handicap 1 Jessica White (135m) 2 Mark Kelly (10m) 3 Elisha Asplin (70m) Neverfail Water Under 13 Women's 600m Handicap 1 Imogen Jelbart (40m) 2 Sophie Waldron (80m) 3 Toni Abbisogni (35m) Goldmines Hotel Under 13 600m Handicap 1 1 Jay Herbert (50m) 2 Jacob Schmid (30m) 3 Brandon ,Ay (60m) Cohen & Johansen Under 13 600m Handicap 2 1 Mitchell Elmer (45m) 2 Sam O'Dea (50m) 3 Christian Barkla (80m) McArthurs Shoes Under 15/17 Women's 1000m Handicap 1 Monica Kelly (80m) 2 Rebecca Hooper (100m) 3 Shelly Flood (85m) Doug Lagoon Real Estate Under 15 1000m Handicap 1 Todd Schintler (65m) 2 Aaron Cooper (50m) 3 Simon Bush (80m) Graham Burns Landscaping D Grade Elimination 1 Justin Tomlinson 2 David Fairburn 3 Lawrie Naughton Newmarket Hotel C Grade Elimination 1 Brenton Slotegraaf 2 Evan Corry 3 Dean Stewart Lakeview Hotel B Grade Elimination 1 Kyle Marwood 2 Laurie Noonan 3 Brendan Savage Oval Motel Women's B Grade Scratch Race 1 Emma Waldron 2 Tahlia Clayton 3 Roz Bradley Perrows Paints Women's A Grade Scratch Race 1 Belinda Goss 2 Jessica Berry 3 Tess Downing Perseverance Exploration Under 17 2000m Handicap 1 Rhys Newby (165m) 2 Jamie Crass (140m) 3 Cory Robinson (150m) ING 1000m Wheelrace Heats Heat 1 1 David Fairburn (115m) 1.04.78 2 Tim Ralton (85m) 3 Rohan McCaig (85m) Heat 2 1 Casey Munro (75m) 1.05.91 2 Evan Corry (85m) 3 Tony Jones (80m) Heat 3 1 Jason Niblett (30m) 1.06.28 2 Dean Stewart (85m) 3 Jeremy McLay (40m) Heat 4 1 Mark O'Brien (55m) 1.05.35 2 Jarrod Moroni (80m) 3 Mark Nelson (90m) Heat 5 1 Toby Lennon (50m) 1.04.59 2 Alex Smyth (45m) 3 Joel Leonard (10m) Poppy's Bridal Women's 1000m Wheelrace 1 Roz Bradley (95m) 1.15.18 2 Catherine Allen (30m) 3 Tess Downing (Scratch) Richard Cambridge Printers Under 15 B Grade Scratch Race 1 Todd Schintler 2 Shelly Flood 3 Sam Conder Richard Cambridge Printers Under 15 A Grade Scratch Race 1 Aaron Box 2 Aaron Cooper 3 Nicholas Rix Bendigo Dry Cleaners Under 17 B Grade Scratch Race 1 Todd Schintler 2 Shelly Flood 3 Sam Conder Ing 1000m Wheelrace Finalists David Fairburn (115m) Mark Nelson (90m) Tim Ralton (85m) Rohan McCaig (85m) Evan Corry (85m) Dean Stewart (85m) Jarrod Moroni (80m) Tony Jones (80m) Casey Munro (75m) Mark O'Brien (55m) Toby Lennon (50m) Alex Smyth (45m) Jeremy McLay (40m) Jason Niblett (30m) Joel Leonard (10m) Final 1 Jarrod Moroni (50m) 1.03.00 2 Tony Jones (80m) 3 Casey Munro (75m) Tuff Gloves Under 17 A Grade Scratch Race 1 Anthony Rix 2 Lachlan Ritchie 3 Ryan Pontelandolfo Aapt A Grade Elimination 1 Shane Kelly 2 Kouji Yoshi 3 Nathan Clarke Evening Session Trvor Baldwin & Associates Kierin Heat 1 1 Daniel Thorsen 0.11.47 2 Nic Sanderson 3 Scott McGrory Heat 2 1 Jame Carney 0.10.97 2 Matt Crampton 4 Simon Clarke Heat 3 1 Joel Leonard 0.11.19 2 Darren Young 3 Jason Niblett Heat 4 1 Shane Kelly 0.12.02 2 Stephen Rossendell 3 Peter Fitzpatrick Final 1 Shane Kelly 0.11.90 2 Joel Leonard 3 Darren Young 3 Matt Crampton Powercor Golden Mile Wheelrace Finalists Justin Tomlinson (160m) Paul Dalton (145m) Mark Nelson (140m) Justin Leske (130m) Laurie Noonan (110m) Sean Pontelandolfo (105m) Steve Fitzpatrick (70m) Pat Shaw (70m) Jason Niblett (70m) Aaron Salisbury (70m) Matt Crampton (65m) Mark Cavendish (55m) Ben Price (50m) Simon Clarke (45m) Richard England (40m) Zak Dempster (40m) Joel Leonard (15m) Darren Young (Scratch) Nathan Clarke (Scratch) Jame Carney (Scratch) Shane Kelly (Scratch) Final 1 Simon Clarke (45m) 1.41.16 2 Shane Kelly (Scratch) 3 Aaron Salisbury (70m) 4 Matt Crampton (65m) 5 Justin Tomlinson (160m) McCaig Daikin Air Conditioning 200 Lap Madison 1 Nic Sanderson/Simon Clarke (VIS) 74 pts 2 Chris Sutton/Sean Finning (NSWIS) 60 3 Scott McGrory/Erik Weispfennig (Innes Motors) 57 4 Franz Stocher/Miles Olman (McCaig Daikin Air Conditioning) 44 5 Stephen Fitzpatrick/Peter Fitzpatrick (Moery & Hurford) 30 6 Lars Teutenberg/Christian Lademann (Australian Abalone Exports) 26 7 Ed Clancy/Mark Cavendish (Shamrock Hotel) 18 8 Tim Decker/Zac Dempster (Valentini & Murphy Accountants) 17 9 Christian House/David Pell (Peter Lehmann Wines) 15 10 Tom White/Matt Brammeier (3BO FM) 13 11 David McKenzie/Aaron Salisbury (HLP/Ridewiser) 10 12 Mitchell Docker/Stephen Rossendell (AAPT) 8 13 Darren Young/Jame Carney (Volkswagon Symes Motors) 14 Mario Giramondo/Gerard Murphy (Bendigo Sheetmetal) One lap behind 15 Leigh De Luca/Pat Shaw (Bendigo Party Hire) 2 pts 16 Richard England/Brad Norton (Giant Bicycles)
