30/06/2012

By Rob Monk

The teams race brought out big numbers of riders in cold, windy and at the end wet conditions at Darnum on Saturday.

Riders were divided into 3 teams. Team Chilli, Team Bikeland and Team Wiggle/PBK. Most riders would race 7 laps of the 8km circuit at Darnum. The C and D grade riders started at the same time but only needed to complete 6 laps.

Team Chilli started with a numerical advantage of one extra rider. After about 300 meters of racing Team Wiggle/PBK lost Captain Pete Finlayson with a puncture. Those cheap tyres he’d picked up on the internet let him down.

The Wiggle/PBK boys asked Bikeland Captain Phil Gallagher and Chilli Captain Kane Walker for an extra rider to make it a fair and even numbered contest. Gallagher was magnanimous in agreeing. Walker though thought a sheep station was on offer so refused to surrender his numerical advantage in the spirit of fairness. He justified his “win at all costs attitude” by suggesting in the Tour De France riders would not change teams mid race. It was pointed out that a club race at Darnum is a long way from the Tour de France but Kane would not be swayed.

Kane tried some early attacks and it was clear the Cy Monk from Bikeland and Leigh Hauxwell were the riders designated to go with him. No-one else seemed capable. Eventually this trio rode away much to the delight of the rest of the riders.

By lap 3 a small break was allowed to roll off the front. Passing the start finish line Rob Monk put the pressure on at the field split. In the break was Jimmy Lalor, Joe Patrick, Pete Whelan and Greame Parker from Chilli, Rob Monk, Jayden Manintveld and Glen Marriot from Wiggle/PBK and Phil Gallagher and Jack Walk from Bikeland. The bikeland and PBK boys were outnumbered but the break stayed away for two laps.

Finlayson was back circulating after repairing his tyre. He managed to drag Thommo (Wiggle/PBK) and Tambassis (Chilli) back to the break with two laps to go. Tambassis(Chilli) was pretty well cooked when he got back on so Rob Monk (Wiggle/PBK) picked up the pace ensuring the Greek Chilli would ride the last two laps alone

The C and D graders were locked in their own battle. Wiggle/PBK had dropped a rider back to try and help John Davine get off the front of his bunch. Try as he might he was unable to get away. The Chilli girls Kaylene Chaproniere and Louise Clark were not letting the boys from Bikeland or Wiggle/PBK get anywhere up the road. After repeated breakaway attempts John Davine and Col Manintveld went to plan B. Col went up the road and John was able to sit in and rest for the finish. Again it was the Chilli girls who chased Col back.

At the bell lap it looked like the C and D grade bunch would be battling out for the major points but Kane Walker had other ideas. He mowed the outmakers down passing Little Moe River Road. Hauxwell and Cy Monk went on to catch them on Sturs Rd.

Kane took the win and 20 points for Chilli, Cy (Bikeland) beat Hauxwell (Wiggle/PBK) in the sprint for second. Greg (C4) Horbowicz surprised all by taking the sprint for 4th while Xavier Prestcott finished 5th. Bikeland had 2nd, 4th and 5th and were looking good. Kaylene(Chilli) was next over the line with John Davine and Col Manintveld taking 7th and 8th for Wiggle/PBK. It was still anyone’s race.
It was going to be finishing order of the main group on the road that would determine the overall winner. Points are offered down to 20th place so riders have to keep battling to the end. Chilli dominated the main group in the finish. First Jimmy Lalor (Chilli) went up the road. Jayden Manintveld (Wiggle/PBK) was unable to match him so his team was forced to chase. Graeme Parker and Pete Whelan had done little pacemaking all race so were fresh when it mattered. Parker passed a tiring Lou Clark on the line to lock in 9th and 10th place for Chilli. Then followed Jimmy Lalor (Chilli), Glen Marriot and Geoff Thompson (Wiggle/PBK). Joe Patrick flew by a tiring Rob Monk to get more points for Chilli. Then followed Pete Whelan, Jayden Manintveld, Jack Walk and Phill Gallagher. Tambassis picked up the final point for Chilli 5 minutes later.

In the end the loss of the Wiggle/PBK captain proved the difference between the first and second placed teams.
Final points: Chilli 81, Wiggle/PBK 72 and Bikeland 57.

The team’s race always brings out the tactics and the talk. A great win by Chilli and good fun race for all.

Photos from today’s race.

Back to race list

Tags: darnum, points

13/04/2012

This year’s club track championships were an entertaining show with a few lappings and also some close racing.

Thanks to Steve Muggeridge and co. for organising this exciting evening of racing.

The following riders are the club’s 2012 track champions.Under 11: Lauchlan Jagoe

• Under 13: Mitchell Jones
• Under 17: Jack Walk
• Elite Men: Jarryd Jones
• Women: Mariah Dastey
• Master 1-3: Paul Yeatman
• Master 4+: Colin Brown

Fulll details of the points follow:

Back to Race List

Tags: championships, points, velodrome

03/03/2012

Warragul Cycling Club’s team’s race again proved a hit at the weekend.

Green team captain Pete Finlayson had been re reading his copy of Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” all week.

His pre-race quote to the green team.

“Speed is the essence of war. Take advantage of the enemy’s unpreparedness; travel by unexpected routes and strike him where he has taken no precautions.”

Captain Finlayson must also have been studying Churchill’s work. “Loose Lips Sink Ships”. He only released the race plan to his troops two minutes before race start. There would be no leaks.

The plan was simple. The green team were “going from the gun”. As soon as race director Thomas Sandner said go, the green team had 4 riders rolling though on the front. It was flat out to the first corner with the idea that others would not have warmed up and would be dropped.

As a good teams should, the green team followed their leader’s plan to the letter. By the start of Parker’s Road they were the only team with all 6 riders left. The red team was decimated. Their captain Brenton Jones had a mouth full of fruit cake on the start line. By the time he clicked into the pedals and finished chewing it, he and half his team was already off the back.

From then on it was all about discipline for the green team. They just had to use their numerical advantage to manufacture a break with more Green in it than the other teams.

Blue team captain Shane Stiles attacked along Parker Road but the green team let him go. It was about points not winning the race. Stiles would win but as long as the Green team had 3 or 4 in the top 8 placings they would win the race.

Charlie Davine was given the role of Green’s designated sprinter. He just had to sit on and did it well despite being yapped at by Keeble (Blue), Dastey (Orange) and Walker (Red). Those boys can really yap.

After a series of short lived breaks on lap 2 and 3 Andy Nicolls (Green) initiated a move on Parkers Rd that would prove to be crucial. He attacked and in the flurry of counter attacks after this Brett Rollinson, Ross Henry and Pete Whelan broke away. This meant one rider from each team was represented with the exception of the Red team who were like a rudderless ship by this stage. They had given up.

Rob Monk bridged to the break and the Green team had what it needed; two men in a break. Now Pete Finlayson and Graeme Parker, the strongest riders in the green team, could sit on and make the others chase. They chased in vain.

Rollinson, Henry and Monk drove the break hard for a lap and opened up a sizable gap on the disorganised chasers. Whelan did some work on the bell lap after some gentle encouragement from Monk and Rollinson. Stiles, Whelan’s team-mate, was up the road so Whelan was not going to work too hard.

Stiles (Blue) went on to take the win easily. Rollinson (Orange) was too quick for Monk (Green) in the sprint for second. Then followed Whelan (Blue) and Ross Henry (Green). At this stage the Blue team held the advantage having first and fourth riders across the line. But it was always going to be a numbers game. The green teams sprinters Davine and Parker were well rested and took out 7th and 8th position overall meaning green had taken 4 of the top 8 spots and with Finlayson taking 11th and Nicolls 12th the win was assured. 1st Green Team 50 Points, second Blue Team 37, third Orange 30 and the Brenton Jones led Red team finished with only one rider. Well done Neil Walker.

The D and E grade points race was a tamer affair. The wet weather had decimated the Red team. Their captain, 86 year old Terry Kelly, does not ride in the rain. This left Xavier Prescott and Colin Mantiveld on their own. The Velo Fille team of Cazz Clarke, Louse Clark, Adele Whelan, Annie Pryjmak and Kate Prestidge looked strong. John Davine was missing teammate Frank Bensted and when Geoff Gatt lost contact early with the bunch Davine was left to fend for himself also. The orange team of Tom Heard, Harley Bondini, Andrew Gordon and Mathieson Jenkin teamed well. They chased down Davine when he tried to take off. They waited patiently for the Velo Fille girls to try and use their numbers against them but that never eventuated.

Kate Prestidge rides like a runner and rolled along at constant tempo never trying to break up the bunch. This meant the race came down to a sprint. Harley Bondini took it out from Xavier Prescott with John Davine in third; so much for the Fille’s numerical advantage.

The girls need to talk tactics before the next team’s race.

In the final points score it was the Orange team 19 points just in front of Velo Fille with 17 points and the red team in third with 11 points.

There is a break from racing next week for the Long Weekend.

Back to race list

Tags: cloverlea, points, teams

17/12/2011

The Main Event

Warragul cycling club finished the year with a teams race. The race was composed of 5 teams with 4 riders in each. Points would be awarded for the first 10 riders across the line with the winning team being the team with the most points.

This format will always lead to tactical racing. As soon a break goes up the road with riders from a few teams the other teams have to do all the chasing, with plenty of gentle discouragement from others thrown in for good measure. There was plenty of banter in the bunch.

Shane Stiles (Bikeland), Pete Finlayson (WCC) and Simon Baxter (RHTBE) were the first to establish a break on lap one. This meant the boys from Chilli and Torq had to do all the chasing or try to get a rider to bridge across to the break. Along Parkers Rd the Torq boys, led by Jimmy Lalor and Charlie Davine, put in some big turns to pull the break back close enough so Jarryd Jones could jump across to it. This was a pivotal moment of the race for the Chilli team. Graeme Parker hesitated and didn’t try to bridge with JJ. Chilli was now the only team with no-one in the break. They’d have to do all the chasing.

Chilli team captain Neil Walker’s South African accent could be heard encouraging his boys to chase. He spared no vitriol on others who were not going to help. The break was too strong though and rode away. George Tambassis (Chilli) mistook himself for Jens Voigt and tried to bridge on his own only to blow up totally and be dropped from the race. Chilli was down to three riders with no-one in the break. Walker’s blood pressure was rising.

The Shane Stiles led break established a big lead by the end of lap 2. Rounding the turn into Hazeldean Rd Simon Baxter was dropped by the leaders. There was much mirth in the chasing pack as Baxter could be seen in the distance coming back to the chasers. This would mean the “sit on sprinters” in the RHTBE team; Rob Monk and Jayman Prestidge would have to now do some chasing and didn’t Walker let them know it.

As Baxter was assimilated back into the bunch in a puzzling tactical move Neil Walker decided the Chilli boys would not help RHTBE chase. As soon as Monk tried to get some organisation happening in the chasers, in an even more bizarre move Simon Baxter attacked his team mates and went up the road on his own. It was clear the breakaway was going to succeed as the chasers were a disorganised rabble, an observation Scott Keeble (Bikeland) was only too pleased to let Monk and Walker know about.
In the break away Stiles had Jarrod Jones in some trouble a couple of times but JJ managed to hang on till the finish.

The Bikeland pair of Thomas Sandner and Scott Keeble tried some solo attacks on lap four but the boys from Torq were fresh after doing nothing all race and were easily able to drag them back.

Sandner was particularly annoying for any team trying to organise a chase as he would constantly sit second wheel and refuse to roll through. Joe Patrick (Chilli) and Rob Monk (RHTBE) had chased hard but as soon as Sandner sensed they were tiring he’d attack them.

The final lap was uneventful as the breakaway was so far up the road that the chasers had given up. Jarrod Jones (Torq) was too quick for Shane Stiles (Bikeland) with an exhausted Pete Finlayson (WCC) finishing third.

The bunch sprint for fourth would decide the winning team. In a move that could only have been conceived by those conspiring against the larger men in the race, the finish line had been moved. Instead of the usual dead flat drag race to the finish, the line was now 1km further up the road at the base of the Mt Worth hill. The final kilometre was now a dead, uphill drag giving the lightweights an outlandish advantage.

RHEBE completed their day of tactical incompetence by blowing the finish as well. Baxter led out the RHTBE team and Monk sprinted for home with 500 meters of uphill grind left. This was always going to be too early and too hard for him. With 200 meters to go Jimmy Lalor (Torq) flew past him followed Clem Fries (WCC), Thomas Sandner (Bikeland), Jayman Prestidge (RHTBE). Rob (RHTBE) managed to hang on for eighth place from, Scott Keeble (Bikeland) and Graeme Parker (Chilli) collected the final point.
Final points were close with Team Torq, 17 points, taking it by one point from Team Bikeland (16). WCC (14) was third with RHTBE (7) in fourth and Chilli (1) fifth.

The C/D Race

A field of 8 raced in C and D grade. They stayed together for the first couple of laps before Matheson Jenkin was dropped.

Lap one saw Paul Yeatman launch an attack along Parker’s road which was doomed to failure. Laps 2 and 3 had Justin Prestidge attack over the hill about 1.5 km after the moved start finish line. The attacks ended too soon to put much pressure on the rest of the bunch. On lap 3 Terry Kelly found the pace too much rounding the turn into Hazeldean and lost contact as well. This left four in the lead pack: Graeme Patrick, Justin Prestidge, Paul Yeatman and Zvonko Maric.

Approaching the finish Justin put in a surge and Paul was in the wrong gear (small chain ting up front) and was unable to respond effectively. Justin powered to victory taking his career race wins tally to one. Yeatman was second with Graeme Patrick third and Zvonko fourth.

Racing returns next year on Jan 7th @ Darnum. In the warmer summer months we will be racing a 9.00am Saturday mornings.

Back to race list

Tags: cloverlea, points, teams

02/12/2008

Race 1 was a 15 lap scratch race.  Racing slowly ramped up the pace until with 3 laps to go, Paul Yeatman launched an attack.  This lasted for around 2.5 laps.  He was then swamped by most of the field.  Brett Rollinson gave chase closely followed by Shannon McCurley (LCCC) and Callan Barker.  Trevor Rollinson came up the rear.

Race 2 was an elimination with a rider out every 2nd lap.  Yeatman took after after the neutral first lap and stayed in front until 4 laps to go.  T. Rollinson was eliminated fist, then Callan.  The third rider eliminated was McCurley after being narrowly beaten by Yeatman who then got a taste of his own medicine (dished out last week) as B. Rollinson stuck to his rear wheel until initiating the sprint around the final bend.  The two riders were neck and neck with neither able to gain ground on the other.  This meant Rollinson won by half a length.

Race 3 was series of 1km time trials. There was bit of controversy with the distance as riders rode about 10metres further than the 1000km distance.  Each rider rode faster than the one before them.  Congratulations to the handicappers picking the perfect starting order.  Barker went first followed by T. Rollinson, Yeatman and then B. Rollinson.  All riders had a slow lap 1 followed by a fastest lap 2 and a slightly slower lap 3.  Some fast laps were posted.

Race 4 was a 20 lap motor pace.  All riders managed the pace which saw the final lap completed at an average of 53kph.  Yeatman again took off a fair way out (this time at 2.5kms) and was unable to hold off a fast finishing B. Rollinson or Barker who both rolled him in the final metres.

Race Details

Race 1

15 lap scratch (5km @ 41.8kph)

Race 2

9 lap elimination (3km @ 44.11kph)

Race 3

1km Time Trials

Race 4

20 lap motor pace (6.666km @ 40.77kph)

Back to Race List

Tags: points, velodrome

25/11/2008

After an abortive week last week with 7 laps to go of race 1, track kicked off for a full night of fast racing this Tuesday.  We had riders from WCC, LCCC and Carnegie CC in attendance

Race 1 was a 15 lap scratch race.  Racing was fairly sedate until 2 to go when Brett Rollinson attacked.  He was closely followed by Shannon McCurley (LCCC) with Paul Yeatman a little behind.  McCurley rode over the top of Rollinson with Yeatman following a few bike lengths back.

Race 2 was a 7 lap elimination.  After the neutral 1st lap, Paul Yeatman went to the front and made sure he stayed there for each lap.  Callan Barker was the 2nd last to be eliminated, leaving Shannon McCurley followed closely by Paul Yeatman.  Around the final bend Yeatman managed to go around McCurley to come home by half a wheel.

Race 3 was a 3 lap handicap with McCurley and B. Rollinson off scratch, Yeatman and Barker off 40 and Phillip Malneil (CCC) and Trevor Rollinson off 80.  At the start, Barker’s wheel slipped but he managed to stay upright.  This left Yeatman to chase down the 80m bunch of Malneil and T. Rollinson.  With no one to help, Yeatman ran out of legs with a lap to go.  Scratch was unable to catch those in front.

Race 4 was an Italian Pursuit with the team 1 consisting of McCurley, Yeatman and T. Rollinson and team 2 consisting of B. Rollinson, Barker and Malneil.  Team 1 won the toss and elected to finish into the headwind.  Racing was neck and neck until the final lap when B. Rollinson pulled away for an easy victory.

Race 5 was a 21 lap motor pace.  All riders managed the pace which saw the final lap completed at an average of 48kph.  B. Rollinson made hi move with a lap to go and easily outpaced McCurley who held off a fast finishing Yeatman.

Race Details

Race 1

15 lap scratch (5km @ 38.3kph)

Race 2

7 lap elimination (2.33km @ 40.3kph)

Race 3

3 lap handicap (1km)

Race 4

3 lap Italian Pursuit (1km)

Race 5

21 lap motor pace (7km @ 39.18kph)

Back to Race List

Tags: points, velodrome