03/10/2016
by Jayman Prestidge
Twenty-three racers tackled the 2.86 km Burke Street Kermeese circuit in sunny conditions. Riders were allocated to one of three divisions based on the Race Committee’s flexible grading system.
Division One and Two included Brett Kennedy, Brett Rollinson, Will Lumby (Leongatha), Graeme Parker, Josh Akarsu, Joe, Patrick, George Tambassis, Jayman Prestidge, Pete Whelan, Matthew Malacarne, Jason Tubnor and Jason Dastey.
Within 100 metres of race start, Matthew (‘the Italian’) Malacarne accelerated off the front to try and soften the legs of his competitors. Whilst his break was short lived it did set the scene for the coming fifty-five minutes and one lap of racing. Multiple riders had their opportunities to take the race into their hands, but the chasers in the bunch were attentive, and at all time bought any breaks back.
At the thirty minute mark of the race George (‘the Greek’) Tambassis, Jayman (‘the Irish’) Prestidge, Josh (‘the Turkish’) Akarsu and Jason (‘the German’) Tubnor made a promising move from the bunch. This international break of four may have represented as many nations as riders in it, however there was clearly no agreement to work, with the Greek racer the first to wave the white flag. The break was reeled in by the bunch as soon as they sensed a slow down in the break, and it would stay this way for the remainder of the race.
In the final lap the pace was quite slow, which worked to the advantage of everyone in the group. Brett Rollinson and then Graham Parker sacrificed their chances at victory when they lifted the pace in the last minutes of the race. Josh Akarsu made an aggressive move that launched him to the front of the bunch. He accelerated at such speed whilst transitioning from the right of the road to the left gutter, that Brett Kennedy, George Tambassis and Will Lumby were all left on the hop.
Despite his early showing of speed, he could not break Lumby’s will however, and the young fast man from Leongatha took victory by a wheel length from the laconic Josh Akarsu, and the fast finishing Brett Kennedy.
Division Three racers were Colin Brown, Ross Henry, Ben Perry, Mark Mason, Ollie McLean (Leongatha) and Connor Bagot. They would race for 40 minutes plus one lap. The pace was consistent in this race with no one prepared to make a death or glory attack from the bunch. Mark Mason and Ben Perry are two developing
riders who have can show a good turn of speed when sprinting for the line. Neither of those two riders would need to make a breakaway. They were happy to ‘sit in’ and let the others set the pace.
Still together at the bell lap it was left to Ollie McLean to ‘light it up’ on the pinch on Burke and King Street. He did a great job to create a gap, but by the time the tenacious fella pointed his bike into the strengthening Northerly wind along Wills Street, his gap would be eaten up by the chasers of his bunch.
It was Ben Perry and Mark Mason who fought it out for the sprint, with Ben Perry taking line honours. In a great effort to recover from his last lap solo effort, Ollie McLean came over the experienced Ross Henry and Colin Brown to take third position.
Division Four racers were to race 30 minutes plus one lap. Linda Tubnor and Annie Pryjmak put on a great display in this field, along with Leigh Jamieson, Rod ‘Snowy’ Cheney (Philip Island) and Richard Bridge.
Linda has only very recently taken up racing, after spending a year getting used to the regular weekend bunch rides that occur each Sunday. Whilst taking that step to start racing can be daunting, the Burke Street circuit is fantastic to get started on. Even if you don’t ‘have the legs’ to stay with the group,
the circuits length means on most occasions you always have someone to ride with or to try and catch.
Linda impressed the field by finishing fourth, and by the looks of the smile on her face will be back for more in the coming weeks. Linda and Annie are terrific proponents of racing in the Club and are more than happy to offer guidance to other women who may be reading this article and want to have a try at racing.
Division Four lapped at a consistent pace and in a sprint finish, Leigh Jamieson took first place ahead of Richard Bridge in second, and Rod ‘Snowy’ Cheney in third.
Next week’s race is the Club Hill Climb Championships. Racers will climb Mount Worth in a mass start event that will depart at 2.00pm from the intersection of Yarragon-Leongatha Road and Yarragon South Road, Yarragon.
