Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Gerro!

Great day out on the hill. Snuck a few laps of the circuit before the race.

Followed by a cracking race.

Green Edge well represented in the break... well... everywhere actually.
Pescott rode well before suffering a puncture

Phillips completed a number of laps with the main bunch before retiring
Mcfarlane causing chaos as usual. Peter English from sD also in the bunch




Lloyd, Gerro and Porte all rode a great race. 
Too exciting to sit

Friday, January 6, 2012

Christmas Track Carnivals - Bendigo

Country Track Carnivals



Bendigo


Beautiful sunny weather predeeded the seniors racing at the Tom Flood Sporting Complex in Bendigo. The wind was brisk and blustery on track and made for some unpredictable bunch dynamics at times. It was certainly going to be an eye-opener for Duggan who had missed the previous days racing at Horsham due to illness.

Mills - D grade
Duggan - C grade

Scratch races and wheel races (handicaps) were the order of the day, with C grade finishing with a miss-n-out scratch.

The Bendigo track was great. Nice smooth surface. A bit of wind to make it interesting. And HUGE. At 400+ metres if you were on the front when the bell went, you were done for.

Mills rode well in all his races, doing quite a bit of work on the front before finishing mid pack in most sprints. This included an effort in chasing down BWK's own Sean 'The Man' Hurley who had jumped from the pack.




















His effort ended as Brendan Bailey outlined in an animated fashion from the sideline what he would do to Mills if he continued the chase...

















Duggan, along with BWK compatriot Jared Otto, went into their first scratch a bundle of nerves. Fortunately Chris Pescott, a Tuesday night A grade regular, was also in the C-grade bunch which made for a familiar wheel.



















The racing was hard and noticably more dicey than the typical Tuesday night, with lots of close quarters riding and manouvreing making wheel overlaps virtually suicidal. With two to go Duggan was on the front only to have a CCCC rider attack. Duggan jumped to the wheel, bringing Pescott along for the ride. The three had a small gap on the hard chasing field until the back straight of the final lap when they were enveloped back into a raging bunch.

Significantly outgunned but survived...

Next up was the 1000 m handicap heats. Otto and Duggan started off 95 and 100 respectively. Otto took off very quickly and Duggan quickly jumped on the passing wheel.























Otto rode very hard over the first 500 m, not looking to anyone for help and just as Duggan jumped for the final 250 m, the scratch pack game past at a blistering pace, ripping the ears off the packfill in front.

Outgunned and poor timing but survived again ...

The 2000 m memorial wheel race was a different story. Duggan was off 140 m in his heat with Neil Robinson backmarker off 60 m.

















A long race, Duggan quickly rounded up the front markers and the pack slowly built. Heading into the last lap, Duggan jumped on Robinson's wheel as he moved around the back markers, hoping to at least stay in the big fella's draft for some of the sprint.

















Halfway through the final turn, a Bike Gallery rider collided with Robinson's hip. What looked like a fairly innocuous contact quickly escalated as the BG rider stiffened, bars snapping hard up track, then went down about 2 m in front of Duggan. Luckily close enough to have the BG rider continue up the track for a metre or two before sliding down, Duggan slipped underneath and attempted to contest the remaining sprint with about 4 riders ahead of him.

Rolling around on a warm down the carnage became evident. 3 - 4 riders down, 3 hurtly badly. Two ambulances and 30 minutes later, racing resumed.

The final race saw Otto and Duggan once again in the bunch of a 8 lap miss-n-out scratch race. With 18 riders in the pack, 10 would remain to contest the final lap sprint. After stupidly deciding to hang around the back of the pack and contest every elimination sprint, the 6th sprint destroyed Duggan's legs. Otto rode well to make it through and contested the sprint to come home mid pack.

















Excellent day out. Intense racing with skilled riders. We'll be back next year for sure.

Shouts of thanks for FOA crew who travelled up to heckle and give ace pushes in the wheel races. Thanks also to Dingus Dave and the indefatigable Cam McFarlane for the photography. More pics here at Leanne Cole Photography