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FNWTR Week 3 Report The weekly migration of Canberra’s track riders was a little larger this week. It is clear they are migrating for the track racing and not a warmer climate as arm warmers and vests were the popular clothing choice amongst the competitors. As always, the junior’s demonstration race kicked off the night. The demonstration, which is always entertaining, is made slightly more special by my lack of ability to know all the juniors names. Suddenly we have riders known as Robbie McEwen chasing down the Jolly Green Giant followed by Captain Black Helmet. I hope the kids and the parents forgive me for my enforced pseudonyms.
The feature race for the night was “The Rebel Sports 1.5km wheelrace” for division 3 co-sponsored by Pearl Izumi.
With a large field, we had a few on-the-track handicap changes to spread the field out, especially in 60m-90m area. A smooth start resulted in the field quickly forming four distinct groups, each containing about four or five riders. In the lead group was Nick Bregolin who was quickly joined by Tanya Bosche and Donna Meehan whilst the scratch group of Duncan Miller, Michael Hawkes and Ian Atkin where moving quickly to close down on the three other groups between them and the lead. Dramatically, at two and half laps to go, all the groups converged like Tug Boats to Nobby’s Beach. This made a wall of riders as big as the Pasha Bulka itself and would determine the outcome of the race. On the merging of the groups the pace slowed as the front runners lost hope of victory. The impending wall of riders also put an end to the chances of the scratch group who, despite being only 15m from the lead, now had 20 riders crammed in this space with zero gaps. The crowd gasped and held it’s breath as the wall continued to round the track at a slow pace. One spectator described the merging as being similar to a game of Tetris (very apt). Thankfully Rebecca Ellis’ experience and sensible thinking allowed her to manoeuvre her way to the front where she wound up the pace. Rebecca’s actions, despite ruining her chances of victory, also prevented a fall that would have surely resulted with so many riders riding so slow. On the bell lap it was Greg O’Brien who finally burst out of the semi compact bunch into some free space with Alex Verdi chasing his wheel, and that’s how it would finish with Greg taking a skillful victory. Impressively, Narelle Hards made a late charge to secure 3rd place. Rebel Sports Bankstown offer 10% off all cycling gear to FNWTR supporters and 20% off Pearl-Izumi clothing.
Division 1 had a slightly different program for the night with round 3 being the 200m fly. This ran extremely smoothly with all riders bar one being ready to start as the previous rider was finishing. Well done guys! Alex Bird from Canberra laid down the early fastest time of 11.19 seconds however, it was his team mate Daniel Ellis who prevailed with a FNWTR record time of 11.10 seconds. The ACT clearly has an abundance of fast twitch fibers as the Canberra riders secured the top four positions.
Round 4’s Madi-lead again proved to be a highlight of the night. In this race a Madison team acts as a derny, performing changes in front of the bunch and building in speed as the race progresses. This is a great opportunity for riders to learn a little about Madison changes and how to follow one. The last change by the team is done with about 7 laps to go and is a full bore attack. The riders struggle to hold the slipstream of the lead rider until 5 laps to go where the Madison riders pull out of the race, leaving a decimated field to complete the last 5 laps. The Div 2 Madi-lead saw Nathan Saunders as the only rider to be able to hold onto the final devastating attack. With 5 laps to go Nathan found himself 70m in front of a chasing bunch. Nathan extended himself over the next circuit to open half lap on the bunch. From this point Nathan suffered his way into a painful final lap, the call from the announcer (that’s me) was like a count down - 70m lead, 60m, 50m, 30m, 20m, 10m, 5m, 1m Nathan wins by a metre from a flying Alex Frame.
Division 1 then backed up for a Madison. The strongest team was clearly Palmer and Meisel-Dennis who repeatedly attacked the field, consistently blowing teams out the back. However, at mid race the race eased long enough for Hopkins and Roberts to recover and launch a devastating attack that caught the experienced field napping. Hoppy and Roberts opened half a lap lead. Palmer made a brilliant attempt to cross the gap only to come within 30m of the leaders and blow completely.
The Maersk logistics CNSW Time Blaster was missed by 2 seconds which means that the next Time Blaster is now worth $200 as long as the winner beats 9min 01sec. Spare a thought for John Deane who fought hard to be the Div 2 Ivan Colig Last Man Standing, only to see his prize disappear with the 2 second defeat. The Last Man standing prize also jackpots to $80.
Next week we see our famous 1 lap screamers. These are great, explosive races where four riders line up in drawn positions on the starting line. The whistle blows and the four riders compete full bore for the lap to determine the winner. Rarely do tactics come into this race as quite often the rider with the best start carries the initial speed all the way to the finish. It is Division 4’s opportunity to shine in The Rocky Pt Rd 1.5km Wheel-Race. Due to large numbers in Div 4 it is anticipated that we will take the top 18 qualifiers from the Warm up scratch races to make a slightly smaller field. So make sure you are already warmed up for your Scratch Race.
Side note: Peter Tomlinson, our usual Commissaire, will be on Holidays this month. If there is anyone out there keen to help out [please drop me a line at pcraft@vtown.com.au. Also, the Mellish clan (result keepers and lap counters) will be in Canberra this week, so help is needed in this area as well. Both these positions attract a payment (enough to cover your meal, a couple of drinks and your fuel so long as you live within a 50m radius of the DGV).
The Rebel Sport Wheel-Race Video should be on website and You Tube by Monday night.
All photos are courtesy of David Lane from Action Snaps Photography. Check out their website www.actionsnaps.com.au
Cheers Paul
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