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THANK YOU:

Thanks to Joanne Buckton our Chief Commissaire on the day,  and assistant Jenny Spurgeon.  Thanks to our safety marshal Mark Robertson & Peter Zala.  Thanks to Richard Jenkins who deployed and retrieved all the safety equipment. Thanks to Roy of the St John Ambulance.  Thanks to Maria Jenkins who manned the canteen

REPORT

A pretty typical day at Heffron with the wind down to a moderate gale from the north.  It was fairly hard going along the back of the circuit and over the two little pimples but riders were able to achieve some good speeds down the main straight.

The pace in A Grade was high from the start.  Scott Callum kept it so with some big turns on the front.  On lap 4 Matt Lucas went off the front and suffered for about 2 laps battling the wind and trying to stay away from the chasing peleton.

On lap 7 Matt was caught and Robbie Cater, Chris Jenkins and another Ian Gardiner collectively made a second break off the front.  This successful break stayed away.  Todd Sinclair had a fantastic ride in successfully bridging the gap and joining the breakaways.  Robbie Cater was really driving the break hard at this stage with some laps in the 2 minute fifties.  This got a little too much for Ian who had originally got away with Robbie and Chris and he dropped off the back leaving Robbie, Chris and Todd.  The final downwind sprint saw Chris Jenkins take first, Todd Sinclair second and Robbie Cater third and Ian Gardiner held on for fourth spot.  It was not all bad news for Ian as he took out the weekly raffle.  Good rides from Michael Cohen, Dave Jackson and Joe Sorby, all recently promoted to A grade, who finished with the peleton. 

The B grade race was just one attack after the other.  About lap 2 Dave Macpherson decided to attack off the front and got away by himself for about a lap.  No sooner had he been caught than two more Randwick Botany riders attacked off the front.  Big Michael Murdoch with Shaun Bloch in tow hit off the front and stayed away for a couple of laps. 

 There were several other attacks and then with about 3 to go, four B graders got away.  Roger Shakleton drove the break and was largely responsible for keeping the four away from the chasing peleton.  On the bell lap, Rob Allen of the Easts club made an attack, John Buckton jumped quickly onto his wheel.  Roger having put in such a big effort driving the breakaway was unable to lift and as a result, about 700 metres out, it was Rob Allen with John Buckton conserving energy and drafting Rob’s back wheel ready to have a go at Rob towards the end of the sprint.  John was going over his  first place acceptance speech in his head, when all of a sudden his RBCC team mates kindly brought the best sprinter in the bunch, Brendon Ingram across the break, right onto the back of him at the beginning of the start finish straight.  The final sprint saw Brendon first,  Chris Young from Easts second and Simon Gallagher, third.  Dave Macpherson was really unlucky pulling a foot about 50 metres to go. Not one RBCC rider got in the placings.  I wonder if we can learn something about team tactics from this guys ????

There was not much action in C Grade, in fact when I asked third place getter Shaun Ballesty about the C grade action, Shaun said, “There was no action.  If there was, I didn’t see it.”  Dale Rockell, my duly appointed C crade correspondent confirmed Shaun’s comments.  Despite there being little action as such, Randwick Botany rider Craig Clement ensured that the pace was high as he did some big turns at the front. Just out of interest I might point out that Dale was sitting on the back of the peleton the entire race so as to have the best vantage point to view and take note of the action.  I wish to set the record straight and point out that, had Dale not been tasked with taking note of the race for this report, he would have been at the front, driving the bunch and/or attacking off the front. 

The D grade pace was pretty steady however around lap 8 James, James Dalton went off the front of the peleton.  Tony Aitchison lifted the pace and was able to bring James back into the peleton.  The final sprint saw Willaim Salter from Waratah Vets, take first place followed by Simon Llewellyn and James Dalton third.

 The Junior handicap was very exciting with all grades coming together about half way through the bell lap.  Junior results can be seen in the left hand column.

RADIO COVERAGE

Coverage of local cycling results can be heard on Sydney’s Eastside Radio 89.7FM “GAME ON” program, hosted by Brad Cooke, each Saturday morning from 10am to 12noon.

MORE INFORMATION

Randwick Botany Cycling Club conducts racing at Heffron Park, Maroubra NSW each Saturday throughout the year.  Juniors start at 1.00pm and Seniors 2.30pm.  For more information please contact the club secretary Helen Vella on 02 9667 3307 or email secretary@randwickbotanycc.com

Race report prepared by:
John Buckton (Tony Horneman just had to see the Grand Prix)
Photos by Mark Robertson & John Buckton

Web page layout & editing

by John Buckton

Webmaster
Randwick Botany Cycling Club
Tony:  communications@randwickbotanycc.com

John:   webmaster@randwickbotanycc.com