25/03/2006
A big field of riders turned out in near perfect conditions on Saturday to the relatively flat Cloverlea circuit.
After the last few weeks racing where Shane Stiles has smashed the A grade bunch to pieces from the gun, he was in a more restrained mood and the A graders stayed together for most of the race. It is rumoured that Shane was told to “tone it down a bit”. Controversial. The pace was too much for Chris Beales and Tim Lee. Visitors from Caufield Carnegie, Matt Davis and Glyn Thomas were finding the pace OK until Glyn punctured on lap two but rejoined the race later. At the end of the race Stiles leapt for home from the last corner giving himself a nice 2000 meter time trial that proved too much for most of the bunch. Only Jim Timmer-Arends from the Latrobe Valley club could hold his wheel in the run to the line and Jim took second place. Geoff Thomson finished strongly taking third place.
In B-Grade the field effectively “ganged up” to try and stop Brett Miller dominating the sprint finishes. Initially Pete Finlayson repeatedly attacked the field and Brett had to work to bring the bunch back up. Then Steve Twining leapt up the road for his turn and again Brett worked the bunch back on. Eventually on the 2nd lap Brett decided attack was the best form of defence and he took off up the road by himself. By this stage the repeated surges had seen Dave Bailey and Paul Yeatman tailed off. Brett did two laps on his own perched tantalizingly 200 meters off the chasing trio of Rob Monk, Pete Finlayson and Steve Twining. The chasers were content to let Brett dangle for as long as possible. The four leaders came together just at the end of Parkers Road on the final lap. Brett had stayed away for nearly 20 km on his own. In the sprint Brett still had enough gas in the tank to take the lead-out position and when he jumped for home with 300 meters to go it was still going to be difficult to catch him. Steve Twining rode a beautiful sprint. He pocketed his main opposition Pete Finlayson behind Miller and flashed up the inside to take the win. Pete got out too late but flew home for second, a tired Brett Miller in third and Rob Monk was just behind them in 4th place.
Trev Rollinson gave the C graders a good workout but in the end the younger legs of Matt Kennelly had too much kick at the finish of the race. The field of 8 worked well together for the first lap but Lawrence Maskill had a mechanical breakdown which she believes cost her the race on lap two. Trev bounced off the front of the bunch often but they didn’t let him get too far up the road. Jo Hanley matched it with the boys in all aspects of the race except her cornering which she described as “slow”. So did those riders behind her on the corners. Neil Walker took the last corner so well he found himself off the front and leading the bunch to the line. Matt Kennelly described his sprint as “Boonen like” and took out the race. Trev was second and Ross Henry was third followed very closely by Steve Hall, Neil Walker and Jo Handley.
D Grade welcomed husband and wife team Tammy and Graeme Patrick for their first race. The D – grade group of 6 riders stayed together for the first lap and only Vicki Reid and Liz Watson found the going too quick on lap two. Drouin Cycles proprietor Wilf Tampoline and Greame Patrick were doing much of the pace making. On the final lap Graeme rode away from Pam Benstead and Tammy Patrick who fought out a good sprint for the Silver and Bronze medals.
