2012 Northern Cycling Promains Criterium Series – Race 1 @ Campbellfield

80 riders across 6 grades signed up for the first of 4 winter criteriums hosted by Northern Cycling and generously sponsored by Promains.   Campbellfield is a terrific circuit with wide smooth sweeping surface which leads to fast and attacking racing.

Attacks in A grade started from the gun with Kos Samarus (Kosdown) getting away for an early lung and leg tester.  Once this move was nullified, it was team mate Simon Welsh who then went on the charge.  Simon managed to slip off the front and was joined by a very inform Darren Roberts who set the pace for the next couple of laps.  Kos obviously feeling pretty good managed to cleanly bridge across to the break to bolster the Kosdown numbers, however this move awakened the beast and the bunch quickly brought it all back together.

This was pretty much the pattern of the day.  Kos, Simon, Michael Saunders, Graham Carlson and a fluro booted Glenn O’Rourke were ever at the ready to animate the race.

2012 EVCC Athletic Soft Tissue Handicap @ Avenel Rd

David McCormack has been sponsoring the Athletic Soft Tissue Handicap for many years now.  I have done this race a couple of times and with last years race was definitely a highlight for me as I managed to snag a win.  This years race was run on the Avenel Rd circuit in Seymour and given the relatively benign conditions, it was always going to be a tough ask for the scratch markers to make up 30minutes on limit.

As it turns out, all round nice guy Ken Bone riding in the 17minute group, took out the win followed closely by Kelvin Stagg and Karl Cundall.  The race for fastest resulted in a dead heat with Peter Howard and a lunging Roy Clark sharing the spoils.  Rob Amos, from the scratch group, recorded an average speed of 43.3km/h for the 58km.   Jaunita Cadd was the first lady home.

Ken

Check out the collection of reports in the EVCC newsletter.

2012 John Sewell Memorial Handicap @ Carlsruhe West by Ritchard Longmire

Ritchard Longmire is having a terrific road  season and he has generously provided his race report of the John Sewell Handicap.  Ritch won the 2011 version of this race and he wasn’t quite sure what mark he would get after winning the B grade SKCC Trophy Race a fortnight ago.  As it panned out, Ritch was off 5mins in a very strong group which the book makers had penciled in as the early favourites.

Thanks again to Ritch for contributing the following race report and to Jo Upton for the photos.

-oo-

Cold but sunny and light winds at Woodend for the John Sewell Memorial Handicap, hosted by Brunswick CC. Over 120 riders in 11 groups with Limit @ 24min with three laps of the 25km Carlsruhe West course ahead of them. Chief Commissaire, Cam McFarlane ran the race the way the late John Sewell would have run it to ensure safty for all and respect for the locals.   See Cam’s  detailed write up of the race from his perspective which includes the reasoning for the number of disqualifications.

The 5 min group comprised 13 riders:  Anthony Fewster (SKCC), Nick Smith (Sunbury), Rick Horvat (SKCC), David Baker (HCC), Adam Versteege (CCCC), Julien Fleurus (HCC), Heath Jackson (SKCC), Ritch Longmire (SKCC), Paul Aulakh (SKCC), Adam Katsonis (Coburg), Simon Macaulay (Coburg), Lynton Zawadzki (SKCC) and Sean Roberts (SKCC). We set out at a solid pace and soon settled into a good rhythm with plenty of communication in the group to keep it together. Wind was cross-tailwind for the first part of the lap, head/cross for the second half.

At the end of the first lap, we had taken 8 minutes away from the front of the race and were still riding smoothly, picking up random riders from middle marker groups and keeping all of our riders working. Our pacing was pretty good as our second lap was marginally quicker and took a further 6 minutes with one lap remaining. 25km to make up about 5 minutes and the group was still working well with a handful of riders starting to drop off after giving it everything earlier.

We picked up a couple of riders from (probably) the 7 min group that were willing and able to contribute to the effort and helped us keep the pace high. As we rounded the turn onto the highway with 11km to go, we could see the front of the race a short distance ahead and close the gap to under half a minute with 5km to go.

The final railway crossing intervened in the race as a goods train held up the front bunch and enabled our group to complete the catch, freewheeling to join the front of the race with 4km to go. The group now comprised all of the front and middle markers as well as the 5 min group for a bunch of around 80 riders jostling for position inside the last 3km. As expected, the pace slowed and the expectations for bunch sprint increased.

The finish line was about 1500m after the final turn onto Cheveley Rd and was flat with virtually a block tailwind. The group wound up and I found myself crossing the finish in 3rd behind 69 (Iain Clark?) and Steve Duggan (Brunswick), the former timing his run to the line perfectly as Duggan just faded late from a long sprint. Fellow 5 min riders, David Baker (HCC) and Nick Smith (Sunbury) followed closely over the line. As expected, Charter Mason Drapac Porsche rider Shannon Johnson took out Fastest Time for the day, while Abby Grave (Coburg) won the prize for First Unplaced Female.

I was happy that our 5 min group had rode well together to stay away from 3 min and Scratch, although we learned later that Scratch had been held up by a train on lap one. Nevertheless, it was a pleasure rolling turns with such a smooth group. It was an additional and unexpected result for me as Clark and Duggan were DQ’d along with around 30 riders for crossing double white lines at various points around the course and so I ended up with the win by default. Baker was another DQ’d so Nick Smith ended up with a very well deserved 2nd, Baker unfortunate to lose out for his strong contribution in the group. All in all, another terrific result for @Becozcycling!

Although the train crossings influenced the final order, the groups would have arrived within moments of each other in any case, so it was a great job by the handicapper. Thanks to the volunteers and marshalls once again for devoting their time and energy to running the NC winter road series.

See the NC site for the full results and Jo Upton’s FB page for more photos.