06 26 November 2014

The track session on Wednesday 26 November brought warm sunny weather with a gusty breeze that impacted on the time trial event. The roll up was 19 riders, split almost evenly between A and B Grades.

A and B Grade scratch races were each eight laps. The A Grade race started at a moderate pace and the bunch held together until Steve Jones attacked at 1.5 laps from the finish. Steve took the win with Jim Davis and Eddie O’Farrell hot on his heals. The B Grade scratch held a good pace with four riders dropped by lap six. Sally Thomsom took the win on her first track outing with the club.

The 2-Lap time trial produced times that were marginally slower that the last similar event on 15-October. The gusty weather probably played a part in this. Steve Jones and Jim Davey still managed to get around the course in less than 50 seconds, with Steve recording a best time of 49.12 seconds. In B Grade, Steve Hirstler managed a creditable best time of 57.16 to take a win from Bruce Griffin on 59.14. Alley Roach had a good night generally and her time of 54.87 showed that she is a solid A Grade competitor.

The next track event was the unique Snowball where each lap has a winner given escalating points as the race progresses. This race has some unique tactical attributes as riders can snaffle a place by garnering early points. In A Grade, Steve Jones dominated. However, Jim Davey, Cameron Ermet and John Barlow were tied for second points and Ben Robey took third all using early enterprise. B Grade was quite competitive. Sally Thomson took the final two laps for a win from Steve Hirsler who took laps three and four.

The track session concluded with an all in scratch race of six laps. B Grade were given a three-quarters lap start. The A Grade bunch initially took off in solid pursuit. However, by lap four, it was clear that the pace needed to be accelerated to catch B Grade. Steve Jones and Jim Davey had enough left for this challenge and worked well to close down B Grade and take first and second respectively. The next four finishers were B Grade with Phil Anderson doing a great job to take third.

Major place getters were as follows:

8 Lap Scratch:(A Grade) Steve Jones, Jim Davey, Eddie O'Farrell; (B Grade) Sally Thomson Phil Anderson, Steve Hirsler.

2 Lap Time Trial: ((A Grade) Steve Jones (49.12s), Jim Davey (49.75s), Steve Dean (53.88s); (B Grade) Steve Hirsler (57.16s), Bruce Griffin (59.14s), Sally Thomson (60.07s).

Snowball: : (A Grade – 10 Laps) Steve Jones (45pts), Jim Davey (4 pts), Cameron Ermet & John Barlow (T) (4pts), Ben Robey (2 pts); (B Grade – 6 Laps) Sally Thomson (11pts), Steve Hirsler (7pts), Phil Anderson (2pts).

6 Lap Scratch: (All grades) Steve Jones, Jim Davey, Phil Anderson.