22/03/2013

By Rob Monk

The team’s race at Cloverlea on Saturday was dominated not by a cyclist but a dog. Bringing a dog to a bike race is like bringing a shark to a swim meet. The runaway Jack Russel caused havoc for all.

The teams race format works by cyclists being divided into teams of 7 riders. Each team had 4 A and B grade riders, 2 C grade riders and 1 D Grader. The D graders started 15 minutes in front of the AB group with the C graders 10 minutes in front. The group of 10 C graders were organised into a smooth rolling group by Geoff Thompson. They were also assisted when the group of 23 AB graders had to slow down after rounding the corner onto Hazeldean Road on lap one to avoid a Jack Russel Terrier. The dog chased the group along weaving dangerously close.

The C graders rolled on catching the fragmented D grade bunch on lap 2. As the A and B grade bunch rounded the Hazeldean corner on lap 2 Glen Marriott (Black), Brett Rollinson (Orange) and Dave McClean (Black) were off the front. The dog still on the loose again appeared. This time the bunch had to break suddenly and Jack Walk fell heavily. Nick Jehu also was forced to withdraw with mechanical damage. The AB grade bunch had a lap out and rolled back to the start finish line.

The restart was fast and immediately multiple riders were in the red zone. Lalor, Sorenson, Brown and Rob Monk were dropped. This meant the black team was the only team with all their numbers still in the lead group. That is besides Paul Yeatman who thanks to head down, bum up, ran into a ditch.

Thommo kept the C graders rolling along they were not caught. In the sprint for individual victory Zvonko Maric(Black) took the win from Terry Kelly (Orange). Then followed Mark Oakley Brown (Red) and Mariah Dastey (Green), Roger Bell (Blue), Andew Gordon (Green), and Shane Wakker (Black).

The chasing AB group had broken up more on the final lap. Cy Monk (Blue) put it in the gutter going past the start finish line and rode across to Brett Rollinson (Orange) who had remained off the front since lap 2. Peter Dennis (Mixtures) was the only rider who could go with Cy so a group of three formed and they took out placing’s 7, 8 and 9. Shane Stiles (Red) won the bunch sprint for 10^th from Dan McClean (Black), Glen Marriot (Black), Tom Dekker (Blue), and Graeme Parker (Green).

Final points were Black 31, Green 23, Blue 21, Orange 20 and the Shane Stiles led Red team came in last with 18 points.

The black team owed their victory to Zvonko’s strong win, Scott Keeble’s non-appearance and super subs David McLane stepping in for him.

Next week we race at Shady Creek on Easter Saturday. 2.00pm start.

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Tags: cloverlea, teams

21/04/2012

Teams races are tactical affairs, but on the Shady Creek Circuit it usually all boils down to one thing: can you get over the climb? The team that marshaled the troops to get the most riders over the climb would be hard to stop.

This week’s team’s race had a different format. The D and E grade riders were combined in the same race but were given a head start on the main field.

First away with 15 minutes head start on the main field were Colin Manintveld (Red), Adele Whelan (Blue) and Frank Bensted (Green). They worked together well and stayed together till the run to the finish on lap 3.

Next away with 10 minutes start was Terry Kelly and Xavier Prestcott (Red), John Davine (Blue), Andrew Jackson (Green) and Greg Horbowicz and Danny Dilger (Orange). This group struggled to work together as Horbowicz was keen to race off on his own. The hill on lap 1 saw Danny Dilger go off the back of the bunch and soon Horbowicz was gone as well so the orange team now had no riders in the lead group.

The main bunch comprising twenty one riders set off and almost immediately the breaks started to go off the front.

Captain of the Red team Shane Stiles knew his team had a numerical advantage already up the road so he was not keen to animate the race. If the outmarkers were not caught the red team held an advantage.

The green team knew that getting some of their men over the hill would require a head start at the bottom. They were not blessed with mountain goats. They were trying to manufacture a split in the main group. Stiles was also more than happy for that to happen. Paul Yeatman (green) and Matt Kennelly (orange) figured they stood no chance up the hill and established a small break about a kilomtere out from the finish line on lap one. They managed to hold off the field until half way up the main climb.

After Sthurs Rd on lap one the main field split and when the counting was done the hapless orange team was soundly outnumbered at the front and overrepresented in the chase group. Stiles mentioned to orange team leaders Gallagher and Finlayson that all his red team was now up the road. The orange team had to chase. Gallagher, Walker, Finlayson and Kennelly went into pusuit mode to bring the race back together using plenty of energy in the process.

The first time up the climb Stiles manufactured another split. Parker (Green), Marriot and Walk (Red), Hauxwell and Marriot (Blue) and Finlayson (Orange) were allowed to charge up the climb leaving the rest of the bunch behind. Murray Campbell and Justin Prestidge (Green), Matt Kennelly (Orange) were dropped on the climb.

The orange team again had to do some serious chasing to bring this group back by Sthurs Rd.

Manintveld (Blue) was the only rider in the original break who didn’t sit up when the chasers were caught. Rob Monk (Green) jumped over to him and the pair worked together to ride away, establishing a 35 second gap to the chasers. Monk and Manintveld managed to get over the climb on lap 3 before the chasers.

Stiles put the power down on the climb putting most of the field into the red zone. He managed to drop Yeatman (Green), Gallagher (Orange), Rollinson (Blue), Blyth (Orange). Red was now the only team with 4 riders in the main group. Gallagher was the only one of the riders dropped on the climb who was able to get back on; a super effort. Yeatman came within 20 seconds of regaining the bunch.

The main field caught Monk and Manintveld before Sthurs Rd. A few short lived attacks by Neil Walker (Orange) were quickly chased down. At this stage it was clear the big finishing points would be taken by the outmarkers.

Colin Manintveld (Red), Adele Whelan (Blue) and Frank Bensted (Green) had worked well together for 50 km, but in the finishing straight the chasers were closing in. Bensted left his companions and headed for home. Xavier Prestcott jumped from the chasing pack to try and catch him. Within sight of the line only Prestcott (20 Points Red) was able to pass Frank (19 Points Green) to take the win. Bensted was second followed by Davine (18 Blue) and Kelly (17 Red). Then followed Col Manintveld (16 Red) Adele Whelan (15 Blue) Andrew Jackson (14 Green) and Greg Horbowicz (13 Orange).

With the main bunch to come the points were Red 53, Blue 33, Green, 33 and Orange 13. The orange team would need to do well from the main bunch.

The green team knew they were in trouble with only 3 riders left in the main group. Rob Monk led out the sprint hoping to catch the others napping. There was no napping. The red team’s sprinters queued up on his wheel. It was red riders who took the next three placings. Stiles (12 Points), Thommo (11 Points), and Marriot (10 Points). Cy Monk sprinted well for the green team getting 9 (Points). Then followed Keeble (Blue 8) Walk (Red 7), Rob Monk (Green 6), Pete Finlayson (Orange 5), Haxuwell (Blue 4), Parker (Green 3), Manintveld (Blue 2 ) and a procession crushed oranges then followed.

The final result was not close. Red 93, Green 53, Blue 45 and Orange 24. As usual the chat after the teams race was all about the “could of” and “should of” but in the end the Red team was just too strong.

Next week’s race is a Handicap at Cloverlea. Riders are asked to preregister on the WCC Facebook page if they intend to race. This makes Handicapper Shane Stiles’ job much easier.

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Tags: shady creek, teams

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.

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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.

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Tags: cloverlea, points, teams

30/05/1992

By Geoff Cuckson

Warragul Cycling Club’s racing took a slightly different format last Saturday as riders rode individual time trials as part of a team relay event.  With three members in each of five teams riding alone the emphasis was on both speed and stamina over the 10 km circuit.

A brilliant last leg of 15 mins 53 secs by John Pettingill added to a smart 17.52 from juvenile Brett Williams and an excellent 17.03 by Anthony Radcliffe to give his team victory by almost one minute.

The second team was led by Glen Gibson (16.57) whose lead rider Stuart Cuckson went around in 18.08 with his number two junior Murray Fenwick, blasting around in the equal third fastest time of 16.44.

Third place went to the team of Tim Eerhard (16.44), Grub Melnyk (16.59) and Paul Yeatman (18.48), almost two minutes off the pace. Graeme Hank’s 17.07 was an excellent ride and faster than his leader Andrew Palm (17.21) with Simon Cuckson’s 18.28 being sufficient to just hold on to fourth spot.

The second fastest individual time went to the flying John Salton with 16.08 but this was not quick enough to pull his team through -  juvenile two lad Brett Miller riding an excellent 18.23 to come in ahead of his father Brian who went around in 18.26. On Sunday several club members took part in the Gippsland Hill Climb Championships – an annual event on the cycling calendar.

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Tags: nilma north, teams, time trial

27/07/1991

By Ian Fromholtz

Wayne Kestle rode well to get a second place in the Victorian Country Championships at Horsham this weekend.  Brett McCraig managed to pip Wayne on the line after Wayne led out in a long sprint, and Randall McGreggor was third

The team time trials held at Nilma North on Saturday were won by a team captained by Brad Lester, with Grubb Melnyk and Mike Coyne as team members.

They beat a team captained by John Salton, with Paul Yeatman and Ian Fromholtz as team members.

The respective times for the 40 kilometre ride were 1.14.27 and 1.17.34.

Stuart Cuckson defeated Brett Williams and Travis Fromholtz in a 20 kilometre secret handicap.

Mike Goyne leads the point score with 56 points from Paul Yeatman on 52 points, John Salton on 50 points and Brad Lester on 47 points.

Travis Fromholtz leads the juvenile point score with 70 points from Stuart Cuckson on 67 points and Brett Williams on   65 points.

Next week the club will hold a trophy race.

Seniors A and B will race for 100 kilometres and C grade for 70 kilometres, while juveniles will race for 40 kilometres.

Juveniles starting time is 12 noon and seniors 12.30pm.

There is a lot of interest in the mountain bike race to he held on Sunday, August 11. For more information contact Geoff Quirk at Active Outdoor Sports.

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Tags: championships, nilma north, teams, time trial