Sunday, May 7
Geelong and Surfcoast Cycling Club 7-5-17
Graded scratch races 50km and 39km. Grays Rd, Flaxbournes Rd, Forest Rd and laps.
A Grade
A good field of eight A graders started with a quite steady pace. The favourite rider of the day, David Newett was being watched throughout and he was up for an aggressive day with a lot of attacks making it a good solid race. After dodging a dog, the turnaround marshal going awol and losing the the lead car all before the Flaxbournes rd turn around racing settled down on the return trip before Harvey Lang had a couple of mechanical issues then Robbie Southern had a flat tyre to drop the field to six, all this happening inside the first 10 kms. David kept the attacks up, with counter attacks from Rick Buckwell who was back into A grade for the first time since his crit race crash earlier in the year. Craig Van Dort was doing his best to hang on in his first A grade race but the last time over Forest Rd hill was too much for him. On the last lap David attacked twice and each time the group reeled him in but Rick counter attacked as the bunch settled. On the second attack before Larcombes rd corner Rick managed to gain some distance as the rest of a group continued to watch David and Josh. Turing into Larcombes rd Tony French lead the charge followed by Andrew to pull the group back onto Ricks wheel and with everyone hanging on watching for David’s fast finish who managed to catch Rick 20 metres from the line and Josh snatching second on the line with Rick hanging on for third and Andrew fourth after a very aggressive and enjoyable race had by all.
MyLaps was finally called upon to verify placings with the line judges awarding Andrew third but the timing software was in favour of Rick by 0.054 of a second. Way to go MyLaps.
1st David Newett, 2nd Josh Williams, 3rd Rick Buckwell.
B Grade
Only 4 riders greeted the starter on a cold and damp morning, so self-preservation was the order of the day as the group swapped turns for most of the 50k race. In the last 5k Rowan Neerhut launched a series of attacks into the wind that finally dislodged first Kane Airey and then Roger Cronk up misery Lane for the final time but Nick Oakley managed to hang on and roll over Rowan for a cheeky win. by Nick Oakley
1st Nick Oakly, 2nd Rowan Neerhut, 3rd Roger Cronk.
C Grade
The C grade scratch race was run as was the other grades in very cold conditions. This resulted in the pace being a bit easier for the first part of the course while the four riders tried to get their legs warmed up and going. The pace started to pick up in places along Forest Rd with Paul Bird applying pressure on anything that appeared to be up hill. Brian Weppner trying to gain some race fitness again was working hard on these sections not to loose contact and eventually got those legs to settle in and was a strong competitor for the rest of the race. After the turn at Gundrys Rd Paul, Brian, Grant Rodgers and Carl Judd settled into a good rhythm all sharing the load into a side head wind. Once back onto the Paraparap circuit Carl Judd attacked at the club house corner where you turned into the head wind. He was able to hold his advantage for the next lap to take the win. The chasing riders made up ground with Paul “birthday boy” Bird chasing hard up Misery Lane the last time and finishing not far behind the winner in second place. Grant Rodgers close behind in third place and Brian Weppner finishing strongly in fourth spot. by Carl Judd
1st Carl Judd, 2nd Paul Bird, 3rd Grant Rogers
D Grade
Seven riders fronted the starter in cold conditions. Mainly damp roads & patchy clouds. Quite an ordinary start as everyone easing into it. Gordon Spargo was having an off day and found himself dropping off in the first few kilometres not long after the first left turn. Not sure if he had a bike problem as this is very unlike Gordon. The race changed and split into 2 after the ‘U’ turn. Tina had a miraculous save after her rear wheel slipped on some moss but this did not stop her, regaining her composure and sprinting off to join Gary Blick and Steve. Geoff Blick had his work cut out to catch these 3 who had broken away but managed to just claw his way on. This left Paul Bird and Jamie Robinson behind as they were caught by surprise. The remainder of the race was a game of chess between the Blick brothers, Tina and Steve. The Blick’s trying to break away several times but could not quite manage to get away. With a few K’s to go we all realised it would come down to the sprint and joked that the Blick’s team orders now no longer counted. Tina took off before the last turn in an attempt to avoid taking on the guys for the sprint but was chased down by Steve with the Blick Brothers in hot pursuit. With about 200m to go Geoff pulled out and powered to the win in the sprint a couple of metres in front of brother Gary followed by Steve then Tina. Bragging rights to Geoff until next race when Gary will seek revenge. by Geoff Blick
1st Geoff Blick, 2nd Gary Blick, 3rd Steve McLaughlin.
E Grade
Six E graders started today in what was a pretty even field. Ross West and John Bell dropped of the back on during the lap of the main circuit. New club rider Damian Letts was starting to show his cycling fitness working hard, Jenny Denouden and Gavin Gamble were riding well also. Damian proved too strong in the finish, with Gavin not far behind and Jenny Third.
1st Damian Letts, 2nd Gavin Gamble, 3rd Jenny Denouden
There were also open races held in central Victoria over the weekend with some very good results by GSCC riders. Kelvin Dyson won the handicap race on Sunday with Mandy Hosking 7th and Andrew Goodwin 20th. In the scratch races on Saturday, Paul Beasley was third and Mandy 5th in division 4 and Brian Long won division 6.