13/03/2016
By Rob Monk
With many riders taking a break for the long weekend race numbers were down for the Criterium on Sunday Morning at the Burke St Circuit. Light rain made the conditions very slippery too and some riders chose not to race.
A and B grade combined and a field of 15 made for fast lap times. Nick Aitken was back having his first club race for a long time and he was keen to be in any breaks going up the road. When he bridged across to Matt Parkinson and Harry McLean taking Josh Akarsu with him, this group of four looked dangerous. It took the combined efforts of Brett Kennedy, Jim Timmer- arends, Chris Joustra and Will Lumby to bring them back. After the catch Darren Spiteri took the corner into King St a little too quickly and hit the deck on the slippery road. Akarsu and Timmer-arends also fell. All took a lap out and rejoined the race. Nick Aitken lit it up in the last 10 minutes and had many riders in the red zone. Harry McLean was super strong all race and he also had many in the hurt box when he attacked. Simon Baxter was the only one to be dropped but others were close. Nick Aitken could not break the will of the sprinters and the bunch was together at the bell. Akarsu went for the long late break but was caught in the home straight. Glenn Marriott had saved his efforts well during the race and was too quick for Nick in the sprint. Spitsy was third. The missing skin from his earlier crash slowed him little. Then followed Harry McLean and Matt Parkinson.
The C grade race was a stop start affair. Fred DeCosta spent most of the race towing the bunch around. When he tired, Col Brown would do a short effort then peel off to let Fred take over again. Garry Olsson put in a couple of attacks but he accelerates like a Kenworth so it is difficult for him to get a gap. Jason Dastey sat on the back the whole race doing nothing until he tried to break away with 2 laps to go. Unfortunately for Dasty there were 3 laps to go and he was caught. He still had enough energy to come second in the sprint to Ben Perry who is clocking up wins with monotonous regularity. Col was third, Olly fourth and Fred fifth.
Young Ollie McLean will be able to buy Drouin Cycles soon if he keeps winning the vouchers every week. His older competitors underestimate his speed and power. Duane McDonald thinks he has to tow young Ollie around. Leigh Jamieson is 50cm taller than Ollie and a few years older but Ollie is has ridden more races. Leigh will have to work out a different way to beat the young fellow because letting it come down to the sprint is not doing it for him. Pete Bailey won’t beat anyone unless he gets there for the start of the race and Nicole Summerfield would have won but for a mechanical. Anyway good luck to Ollie; just keep racking up the wins.
Next week’s race is on Saturday Morning at Shady Creek starting at 9.00 AM.
