18/06/2005
Twenty-seven riders made the most of the fine but cool conditions at Shady Creek on Saturday. The riders who competed in last weekends 3 day Tour of Gippsland seemed to have the edge on the others. The 3 days of hard racing had a positive effect on their performance at club level. In the Tour of Gippsland Geoff Thomson won B-Grand and Rob Monk finished 3rd in C Grade.
In A grade Chris Beales, Tim Lee and Geoff Thomson showed how 3 days of solid racing in the B-Grade tour of Gippsland can top off their conditioning. These 3 regular B-grade riders at club level were able to stay with regular A-graders Steve and Thomas Sandner and Danny Dilger for all 3 laps of the Shady Creek – Sthurs Road circuit. The bunch worked well together clocking laps of just under 29 minutes. With 3 km to go a surprise attack from Chris Beales and Tim Lee left the regular A grades looking at each other wondering who would chase. By the time they had got themselves organised it was too late. Chris and Tim had a winning break they held to the line. In the sprit to the finish Chris Beales was too strong for Tim Lee. Their time for the 3 laps 1:25:26. Steve Sander finished strongly for 3rd place 1 minute later.
B – Grade completed 3 laps in 1:30:04. The field were together up the first climb. Pete “Doggie” Bailey was kept on the leash until lap 2. It was James Henry who put it to the field on the later part of the Col de Shady creek each time up. His junior gears didn’t allow him to maintain his advantage on the descent so each time the field caught him by the turn onto Sthurs Rd. Luke Handley tried to force the pace with some surprise attacks but was unable to stay away. The bunch sprint that eventuated was again dominated by James Henry. He took it out early and established a winning lead and despite weakening near the line he had enough to hold off the fast finishing Trent Brown and Pete Finlayson.
C-grade also raced 3 laps. The first lap was raced at a steady pace with the strong Dave Baillie, and Mark Oakley-Brown doing most of the work. Paul Yeatman punctured and was forced to meet the bunch at the end of first lap by riding the course in reverse. On the climb the 2nd time up Rob Monk, Mark, Dave and Micheal Pridmore managed to break away from the field. They worked well together but a determined chase from Bill Murphy and Paul Yeatman saw the field back together by Sthurs Road. On the 3rd lap the story was similar. Monk and Baillie got away on the climb but only stayed away for 8km. This time they were caught as they turned onto the Darnum Shady Creek Rd. From that moment, those riders who thought they were a chance in a sprint finish did very little work. Rob Monk and Micheal Pridmore sat on an allowed Baillie, Oakley Brown and Yeatman to do all the work until the finish. Rob was too strong for Paul and Michael in the final sprint. The time for 3 laps was 1:31:01. Only 57 seconds behind the B grade time.
In D grade Dave Axford finally found someone to ride with in a race. Dave and Paul Kennedy complete 2 laps in 1:10:25 with Dave taking out the sprint finish. 3rd was Rod Atkinson with Glenda Pridmore in 4th.
