31/05/2008
Warragul Cycling Club members were again greeted with near perfect conditions for cycling on Saturday. The riders were faced with a few laps of the infamous Fishers Rd circuit and as usual the racing was intense.
In A grade Shane Stiles was after some hard interval training before next week’s assault on the Gippsland three day tour. Stiles allowed the bunch to stay together over the wall but forced the pace on the flat with speeds hitting the high forties for much of the journey. Of the other riders Thomas Sander was the first to crack on the wall the third time up. Thomas chased hard but decided to watch the finish from the sidelines and did not complete the forth lap. Stiles and James Henry rode away from Geoff Thomson and Brenton Jones on the flats on lap four. Stiles blasted away from James at the finish to take out a strong win. Thommo took out third position from Brenton.
The B grade bunch worked well together for the first lap. The second time up the wall Rob Monk and Tristan Murat establish a good break and decided to cooperate to maintain it. Neil Walker, Trev Rollinson and Matt Kennelly worked together to chase them down and the field was soon back together again. The final time up the Picnic Point Hill Tristan upped the tempo and had Neil, Rob and Trev in trouble. They did manage to close the gap to Tristan near the top of the hill but here Matt Kennelly launched the crucial attack of the race and no-one could go with him. At the bottom of the wall Kennelly held a 300 meter advantage. Tristan, Rob and Neil got over the climb together and worked together for the final 10km of the race to chase Matt. The three of them worked the turns well and they got to within 100 meters by the turn onto the old Princess Hwy but Kennelly would not be caught. Tristan tried to bridge but failed. Rob tried near the line but fell short. First Matt in an outstanding ride, second Rob and Neil battled on to take third. Matt is nearly ready to make the big jump into A grade.
In C grade the improving Richard Bridges showed early morning training partner Paul Kennedy a clean pair of wheels on the final lap. Richard got over the wall with a good break and managed to hold it all the way to the finish. In third place Lawrence Maskill managed to ride away from Dave Axford.
In the junior race James Lalor, Aaron and Cy Monk battled it out over one lap. James triumphed with Aaron second and Cy third.
Good luck to the WCC members who will contest the 3 Day Tour of Gippsland next weekend.
