Preston Points Score - Race Report

A tale of two trains... 

27/08/2011 - National Boulevard - 1 hour points race (sprints every 15 minutes)

Preston Points Score: Race report

The first race of the spring campaign for TDR riders was met with sunshine and light winds. With a slew of promotions TDR, joining forces with the Hell Krew and a few Fixed.org ring-ins, hatched a plan to take out the C grade Preston points score. In a somewhat bizzare decision, TDR nominated their climber/roueler D'Alfonso as leader with their sprinter, Duggan, assuming road captain status for the day. 

The first sprint saw D'Alfonso (TDR) and Soawyer (HK) attack on the back climb, dashing clear. Leading the peloton down the back straight, D'Alfonso and Sowyer entered the final straight with a handy lead, however as the freight train that was MUCyc built up some good speed as they lead out thier sprinter, passing D'Alfonso and taking out the first sprint. 

As the bunch regroupped, on Duggan's advice, Mills (HK) and Hogan (Fixed.org-TDR) attacked. D'Alfonso and Duggan sitting on the front of the pack rode false tempo letting the two escapees enjoy a strong break. An astute Michael Sparke (BWK) along with Michael Holder (MUCyc) bridged across to the escapees acknowledging the false chase of Duggan and D'Alfonso. As the bell rang for the second sprint, the peloton reacted angrily to D'Alfonso and Duggan's false tempo, tearing down the back straight to catch the escapees. Soawyer pulled the TDR-HK train around the ultimate corner, peeling off to release Duggan with Kent (HK) on his wheel, reluctantly reeling in the escapees just 250 m shy of the line.

With little time for recovery, the next sprint was on. The TDR-HK megateam, having to this stage controlled the majority race (as MUCyc was content to let the peloton sort itself out), were caught out recovering and failed to take a minor placing.

This served to sting the TDR-HK train into action. As the bell rang for the penultimate lap, the TDR-HK train set itself up. Duggan leading Soawyer around the first corner, D'Alfonso calls in Kent setting up a formidable train. As Duggan peels off at the crest of the rise, Soawyer take control, riding tempo and stringing out the bunch along the back straight. Peeling off and letting Kent lead out D'Alfonso around the final corner up the back straight. A perfect lead out by Kent saw D'Alfonso stay clear to take the final sprint. D'Alfonso finished 2nd overall, ruing the stuffed up third sprint. Bonus points for the last sprint would have sealed it...

Some good lessons learnt as the lead-out efforts consistently got better with each sprint...

Results: 

TDR-HK - A force to be reckoned with  

D'Alfonso - 2nd 

$60 spent at the pub on two jugs and sweet potato wedges after the race - Awesome