14/09/2013
By Rob Monk
Saturday’s third race of the PrintSolutions@Work handicap series was taken out by Graeme Parker. He now takes over the series lead. Parker convinced the handicapper he could not ride off scratch last week after a below par performance. He was moved out to the chopping block this week and it was all over for everyone else.
The youngsters Jayden Manintveld and Cy Monk started off limit just 3 years ago. Now they start off scratch and chase everyone. Their task was made more difficult when John Davies missed the start of the 4 minute bunch he was supposed to start with and started with the 2 minute trio of Graeme Parker, Pete Finlayson and Brett Rollinson. This mean a group of 2 chasing a group of 4 and it was too much for the scratch men. Cy and Jayden covered the first two laps averaging 41km/h but didn’t catch those in front.
Pete Whelan, visitor Neil Adams and Jason Dastey rode well but were caught mid race by the charging chopping block group.
Col Brown, Rob Monk, Geoff Thompson, Pete Bailey and Matt Parkinson started 5.5 minutes in front of scratch and caught the group in front by lap 4 of 5. Brown and Parkinson were strong and Thommo refused to do a turn until lap 3.
Shane Stiles , having his first race for nearly 4 months, joined the 7 minute bunch. He marshaled Zvonko Maric, Grant Neilson, Allan McCulloch well and they reeled in the 8 minute group of Will Lumby, Mark Oakley Brown, Colin Manintveld and Andrew Jack on lap 3.
The storming chopping block bunch flew past the combined 8, 7 and 5.5 minute groups before Stur’s Rd on the final lap.
Adele Whelan was still to be caught. She had started with the chopping block group but was doing 4 laps. Frank Bensted was caught by the hurtling pack of 20 riders and Adele was caught on Sturs Rd.
Only one rider remained between the chasers and victory. Duane McDonald was a tantalizing 600 meters from the finished when caught. He went from first place to 20th very quickly on the hill to the final bend.
The sprint for victory was wild. Zvonko Maric went for an inside run that wasn’t there. He ended up going over the handlebars, finishing in the ditch at the side of the road. Parker opened up the sprint and could not be denied victory. Thommo, fresh from his earlier inactivity, sprinted well for second place. Then followed Finlayson, Davies, Parkinson, Pete Whelan, Jason Dastey, Pete Bailey and Col Brown. Adele Whelan was the first female finisher.
Next week’s race is at 2.00pm at Darnum.
The over all series winner will receive a Canon Pixma MG5460, an advanced and stylish All-in-One printer.
Gippsland Time Trail Championships
Wellington Cycling Club hosted this year’s Gippsland ITT Championships around a great little course at Briagolong. New Warragul member, Peter Dennis won the Masters 2-4 division and took out fastest time, beating the more fancied James Timmer-Arends by 21 seconds who rode elite.
Michell Scurr was placed in the Elite female category and was up against NRS rider Kristie Glover. Shell rode well to come second, only 1:20 down on the pro rider. Shell also recently came third in the Victorian Masters State Time Trial series aggregate and won silver in last month’s State Masters ITT Championships.
Paul Yeatman managed to get above 40kph in a TT for the first time in ages and came in third in the MMAS2-4 age group, a shade under two minute off Peter Dennis.
