It was pleasing to see a strong field of riders participating in the three lap Memorial Handicap Trophy event at Paraparap on Wednesday August 19. 22 riders participated under near perfect winter conditions. Limit riders Kent Fuller, Dale Jennings and Brian Long led the field away. They had 20 minute break on scratch and 7 minutes to the following bunch. Scratch riders Carl Judd, David Pike and Peter Ladd gave the evergreens Rob Nicholls and Bill McConnell a one minute break and boy did they make the most of this advantage. The 13 minute group of Barry Primmer, John Watson and John Faulkner were working very hard to bridge the gap to limit and achieved this in the middle of the third lap. Soon after they were joined by remnants of the 10 minute trio of Ross West, John Bell and Terry Robinson. John Bell proved to be the stronger rider and broke away several times on Misery Lane only to be pinned back to the bunch before entering the straight. Barry Primmer was manoeuvring into a favourable position and proved too strong for the competing riders. He won clearly from John Bell and Brian Long. We can do well to remember a fine performance from Rob Nicholls and Bill McConnell who successfully kept the scratch riders at bay for the entire race. As a result Rob was rewarded the fastest time of 1.03.00 while breathing down the necks of the leaders.
Results: 1. B Primmer, 2. J Bell, 3. B Long, 4. J Watson, 5. R West, 6. R Nicholls, 7. B McConnell, 8. T Collie.
Fastest time: R Nicholls – 1.03.00.
Winners time: 1.14.00
Next week’s race will be a three lap handicap event. Entries by 9.30 please.