Well done to all those Northern riders that made their way out to the South East to compete in the first of the 3 race series against Eastern at their Casey Fields home circuit.
Conditions were excellent for this time of year with a mild temp & clear sky despite the breeze that always seems to be ever present at this race venue. Points were awarded down to 5th place in grades where numbers were high enough.
Unfortunately one of our D graders suffered a medical episode prior to the start of racing resulting in an ambulance being called and a ~30 min delayed race start time however the good news is that Vince has since confirmed that he is now out of hospital and is fine. He also passed on his gratitude to all those who assisted him.
Pleasingly we had good participation across all the grades apart from E & F that had negligible rider numbers.
The highlight was a clean sweep in A grade thanks to strong representation featuring the welcome return of past club champion Aaron Christiansen and new member (& ex Eastern rider) Jean-Phillippe Leclercq that resulted in a clean sweep.
There’s no word yet on the final points however reports are that Eastern shaded Northern although that won’t be confirmed until the full results are released by Eastern.
Casey fields race report A grade field of 14, with each club having 7 riders each. The Northern team worked cohesively, shutting down breaks and causing a bit of mischief of their own with the odd breakaway attempt. Aaron Christiansen managed to get away on his own around the 40min mark and was later joined by Jean-Philippe Leclercq, one of our newest members who has crossed over from Eastern to join us. With two in the break, Northern riders could afford to sit back follow the wheels and save their legs for the sprint. And sprint they did with our powerhouses Scott Gregory and Iain Clark claiming 3rd and 4th respectively. It was a true team effort, with many riders sacrificing their own glory for the team. Well done guys.
On the opening lap Andrew Gannon dropped the hammer, gapped the bunch and was never threatened from there with Eastern choosing not to send any riders after him. From that point on Northern effectively controlled the front and didn’t allow any Eastern attacks to get away courtesy of Ross C, Craig F, Luke M, Stephen S, Tom M & Garry Clively (no particular order) rotating the chasing duties on the front. There were a few attacks from Northern riders towards the end from Stephen S and Tommy M but these were short lived as the bunch was brought back together. At the finish the power went down before the final bend with Luke Markof and Ross Clarke breaking clear of the pack along with a handful of Eastern riders to fight out the battle for the minor places with Luke (3rd) being edged out by Paul Webster from Eastern (2nd) and Ross Clarke collecting 4th.
All in all it was great to race in such a fair and friendly manner. Well done to all involved.
Unfortunately no review for D grade however George Goodrope again proved his racing pedigree by taking out second place against much younger opponents.
Congrats to all the Northern winners and podium getters.
4th – Iain Clarke
4th – Ross Clarke
3rd – Franc Tomsic (E)
3rd – Kelly Dalton (E)
1st – Alan Cunneen (E)
1st – Danielle Van Tol (E)
