18/01/2014
By Paul Yeatman
Thanks to riders heading over to Buninyong to watch the Nationals, numbers again were down. Seventeen riders showed up on a mild day with a slight westerly wind to hit it out around the Burke Street course.
A and B rode as one, as did C and D.
In A/B, Thomo was first around every corner. Paul Yeatman attacked a few times early, but was stuffed after each of them. Graeme Parker was attacked up the short ride along the back about 1/2 of the way into proceedings, but was caught on the main climb. Monk complained that Yeatman was nowhere to be founf when he needed a wheel to suck in the sprint. A mechanical has taken him out with two to go. Riders repeatedly allowed allowed to get away up the main straight and then caught on the hill. At this point, the pace would really drop off, so the bunch was never in any danger of splitting.
The top five places were:
1. Pete Finlayson
2. Graeme Parker
3. Neil Walker
4. Paul Rowse
5. Geoff Thomson
C/D
A couple of riders were shed early only, but battled to the end. Commentators were saying Trev must have miscalculated as he won.
The Top 5 places were:
1. Trev Rollinson
2. Graeme Patrick
3. Terry Kelly
4. Andrew Jackson
5. Duane McDonald
Nationals
At the Nats, Brenton Jones continued his good form to claim third in the Elite Men’s criterium and got plenty of TV time during the road race, featuring in an early break.
Jarryd Jones rode the U23 crit and road race. Kane Walker contested the Elite Mens crit and road race. Of 135 on the Elite RR start list, 41 finished.
