A Davine Maiden Victory

17/03/2012

Warragul Cycling Club raced at Darnum on Saturday.

A and B grade combined to make a field of 12.

Jayman Prestidge looked like a man with a point to prove. Prestige did the whole of lap one off the front with only Geoff Thomson for company. He never asked Thommo to do a turn and Thommo obliged.

Prestidge attacked again on lap two, three and four each time soloing off the front for a short amount of time. In the main it was Graeme Parker and Ross Henry who chased him down. Ross did some time on his own off the front as well.

The longest lived breakaway of the race was Pete Whelan’s effort on lap 5 and 6.

He was allowed to establish a substantial break before the field was required to start to roll turns to bring him back just after the bell.

It was a surprisingly sedate bell lap which played into the hands of the sit on sprinters. With no speed applied on the final hills Rob Monk was allowed to hide and glide from the back of the bunch to be third wheel rounding the final corner. He jumped for home with 500 meters to the finish. “Too far”, the others thought and this moment or two of s hesitation was enough. Monk put the head down and turned on the power, establishing a break that, while being narrowed on the line, proved too big for the chasers to close completely.

Thommo just rolled over Pete Finlayson to take second.

Cy Monk claimed to have cramped in the final sprint but this was just an excuse to deflect the fact that he’d been beaten by his father.

Prestidge rolled in a distant last, having spent all his energy on the solo efforts.

A small but evenly matched C grade raced over 6 laps. Jayden Manintveld was a serial pest on the hills making the others chase him every time. Eventally they left him out to dry for half a lap to take some of the edge off him. Paul Yeatman is in good form and did most of the pacemaking on the flat sections. His allergy to hills appears to be subsiding.

It was Yeatman who was too strong for Glen Marriott in the final sprint which was won by a lunge. Jayden claims he would have got past them but they took up the whole road. He finished third with Col Brown in fouth. Terry Kelly’s 87 year old heart suffered palpitations on lap one so next week he will be back in D grade.

John Davine is tired of being the only cyclist in the family to never have won a WCC race. Davine was a short price pre race favourite for victory. His nemesis, Terry Kelly, had promoted himself to C grade. Davine had no excuses as D and E grade combined to compete over 5 laps. The first lap was completed under control but from then on John Davine pined the ears back and did all he could to break it up. His first sustained attack shook everyone but young Xavier Prescott. Prescott is faster than Davine at the finish though so John knew he had to get rid of him too. He insisted Xavier swap turns with him for a lap while the rest of the field chased them. On the hills of lap 4 John attacked and dropped Prescott. From here he soloed to victory.

His maiden victory at the Warragul Cycling Club. Xavier and Andrew Jackson combined to try and chase him down but he would not be caught.

In the “race within a race” for first female home Michelle Scurr managed to stay with the boys just a little longer than Adele Whelan. Michelle and Adele were separated by less than 150 meters for the entire last lap but try as she might, Adele just could not bridge the gap. Michelle was the first female finished with Adele second.

Next week our race is at Shady Creek, starting at 2.00pm at the Shady Creek Hall.

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