14/12/2013
By David Jordan and Paul Yeatman
Warragul was set to host round one of the Summer Club Track League – a five event series presented by Blackburn, Carnegie Caulfield and Warragul cycling clubs. Round one was a wash out, so the first event of the series was kicked off in sunny conditions at Packer Park Velodrome on Sunday.
A group of eleven Warragul/LCCC riders headed over to the mildly banked, green 360m home of Carnegie Caulfield track cycling for three races each. The winners on the day would be determined omnium style, with the most consistent riders securing a podium place. For a number of our riders, today’s event was their first race outside of Warragul on the track.
Racing consisted of a graded racing comprising scratch, sprint race and elimination. The mild westerly wind would play a factor in race tactics.
Junior D Grade
Warragul riders performed well above expectation with Lachlan Jagoe (Rollinson) finishing 3rd in D grade juniors in his first ever carnival with a win in the sprint.
Scratch: ?
Sprint: Lachlan Jagoe (Rollinson) – 1st
Elimination: ?
Overall: Lachlan Jagoe (Rollinson) – 3rd
Junior C Grade
Lachlan Jordan performed flawlessly after struggling in the scratch race he dominated the sprint and rode a tactically brilliant elimanation only to cramp on the final bend to get 2nd finishing 1st in c grade juniors.
Scratch: ?
Sprint: Lachlan Jordan – 1st
Elimination: Lachlan Jordan – 2nd
Overall: Lachlan Jordan – 1st
Women
Felicity Waddell enjoyed her first ever racing and showed some genuine speed. She learnt a lot and will be one to watch in the near future. The same goes for Adele Whelan & Zoe Veldmans who tried hard all day and just need some track craft to become very competitive in the womens section.
Mariah Dastey was a little bit dissappointed but she will learn a lot, having the most speed on the day she made a couple of tactical errors but still finished with a 3rd & 2nd to finish 2nd overall. Dastey knows she will win next time.
Scratch: ?
Sprint: Mariah Dastey – 2nd
Elimination: Mariah Dastey – 3rd
Overall: Mariah Dastey – 2nd
Masters C Men
In Mens C grade, Warragul dominated the 16 man field with Zoe’s father Eric riding well all day to win overall. Rob Waddell put in an outstanding first up effort to take 3rd overall and David Jordan pinched the win in his speciality, the elimination to finish up in the overall 2nd. Steve Cahill was right behind all day finishing a close 4th.
Trev Rollinson, riding with his grandson at their first carnival together were a great thrill to watch. Trev, after winning the scratch race in c grade was promoted to b grade and still performed very well.
Scratch: Trevor Rollinson – 1st (then promoted to B)
Sprint: ?
Elimination: David Jordan – 1st
Overall: Eric Veldmans – 1st, David Jordan – 2nd, Rob Waddell- 3rd
Masters B Men
Paul Yeatman dominated in B grade placing highly in every race in a great display of all round track riding and took out overall b grade. Despite saying he had tired legs from our criterium race the previous day, Yeatman rode strongly. In the first race, he found himself off the front early into race one, so he eased up allowing himself to be caught. Into the wind, he stayed in cover, and along the back straight, he pushed the pace. When the final attack went about 500m out from the line, he went with it. The eventual winner put in enough effort to keep Yeatman from claiming the win.
In the second race, a all in sprint, the first lap was neutral. Yeatman made sure he was up front, and with two to go, a group of four riders were neck and neck across the line. One rider ht the gas, but eased up coming out of the first conrner. Yeatman jumped heading into the next bend, getting a gap which he held onto all the way to the line.
For the elimination, Yeatman spent most of the race high on the track, slowing into the wind, but getting enough assistance along the back to stay in the running until there were three riders left. In the sprint to knock out the third last rider, Yeatman had to come from behind and in the process, dead heated with the other two riders. This meant all three would be contesting the sprint for bronze again. Yeatman had used up much of his energy in the last sprint so it was race over for him the next time around.
Scratch: Paul Yeatman – 2nd
Sprint: Paul Yeatman – 1st
Elimination: Paul Yeatman – 3rd
Overall: Paul Yeatman – 2nd.
The day was hugely successful and magnificently run by Carnegie Caulfield with double the expected entrys of about 120 riders.
Bring on Warragul where we can build on today’s performamces and with everyone’s support on Sat 12th Feb we can run an even bigger event. We are looking forward to having more juniors compete. Along with Sharon Gordon, Wendy Jordan, Col Brown, Brett Rollinson and others we will have a very strong team.
The full photo-set can be found here.
More photos can be found here.
