A wonderful afternoon with only a light northerly breeze, a shining sun and a higher than normal temperature allowed the 41 track cyclists and their support crews to enjoy a fantastic days track cycling at the second meet of the season. We welcomed another 9 rookie riders to the group as well as few more seasoned individuals.
The programme was made up of 5 or 6 lap races followed by the first round of the clubs Omnium championship with one lap standing start time trials followed by short 2 lap scratch races and then finished off with the longer handicap races. In the interests of safety and the fact that it is early in the season and the rookie riders the fields were kept to manageable 7 per race. As a measure of the quality of riders we have this year the track record for the one lap time trial was unofficially broken in three different grades, to think that this is possible at only the second meet of the season, ensures that those that come along to watch track cycling will be witness to some of the best track cycling that is available in this country.
To select the best race is unfair as it could be split between 4 or 5 races, all with a successful tactic or winning margins measured in fractions of wheel widths. The two lap scratch races were a very short 800 metres but in that small time window human nature crossed with track cycling tactics was laid bare for all to witness. Human nature was to preserve your energy for as long as you could because once you began to spend it you could not get it back and you needed to keep enough of it to reach the finish line before your opponents. The track cycling tactic was not to lead out to early because all you do is fight to cut a path through the air for your opponents following you, which can save them upto 33% of their energy, so when you hit the home straight they have the extra energy to roll past you to the finish. No one likes to do all the work only to have a bludger take all the glory. In these two lap races we saw moderate calculated starts that moved into tentative follow the leader were there was more thinking and strategizing than track racing. Then without warning a rider grabs opportunity by the throat and with every aching sinew within their body they switch to maximum effort to extract maximum speed to try and catch the opponents off guard, in the hope that they can steal enough of a start to be able to hold on to the finish.
The A Grade two lap race was probably the most graphic example of such a race. So adamant that they were not going to be the lead out rider the riders would move up the track to the outside of the track and deliberately ride further as they knew other riders would not follow them. As the bunch meander down the finish straight to get the bell Cameron Howell was at the back of the bunch, he was not going to ride track at all on the day as he was still recovering from a mountain bike fall and had been a spectator up until this race. As the games continued down the straight the pole line was vacant as all of the riders were on the outside of the track and Cameron took the opportunity to take a flyer from the back and in the blink of an eye he had 15 metres and still going away from the hapless bunch as they realised they had been caught out. As the bunch became chasers and fought for speed to catch Cameron he was also fighting to stay clear and he did to be able to coast comfortably to the line, leaving a few red faces in his wake. This race proved that fortune does favour the brave.
The rider of the day was Michaela Drummond. Michaela for the second week running unofficially broke the current record and the time she set last week to also unofficially break the under 17 girls one lap standing time trial. Michaela also dominated the under 17 A grade with a maximum 10 points in the points race and winning her other races with complete control.
The next meeting will be on Tuesday so avoiding a clash with the Tour De Manawatu on Sunday. It does mean there will be less racing as we will have less daylight but we will return to Sunday racing on 11th of November.
Results for Sunday 28th October:
Under 15 5 laps race on whistle Heat 1: 1 Libby Arbuckle, 2 Fergus Bryan, 3 Megan Gardner, 4 Adam Martin
Under 15 5 laps race on whistle Heat2:1 Dylan Simpson, 2 Gorgi van Lienen , 3 Flyn Yates, 4 Fergus Washington-Smith
Under 17 A grade 6 Lap Points race:1 Michaela Drummond (10 points) 2 Chris Denholm (5 points), 3 Jake van Lienen (4 points), 4 Carne Groube (3 points)
Under 17 B grade 6 Lap Points race: 1 Joel Yates (8 points) 2 Fergus Allan (8 points) 3,Hayden Washington-Smith),
Under 17 C grade 6 Lap Points race: 1 Mitchell Kinghorn (10 points) 2 Cody Simpson(6 points) 3 Hamish Mikkelsen (4 points) 4 Jack Finlay (2 points)
A grade 7 Lap Points race: 1 Mark Finlay (10 points) 2 Jaycob Humphreys (6 points) 3 Jordan Castle (4 points) 4 Kate Stewart (2 points)
Masters A 6 lap points race: 1 Kelsi Eccles (5 points) 2 Brent Zimmerman (5 points) 3 Barry Gilliland (4 points) 4 Megan Blatchford (4 points)
Masters B 6 lap points race: 1 Teagan Roffe(10 points) 2 Sheralee Cleland (6 points) 3 Margaret Leyland (4 points) 4 Kim Anderson (2 points)
1 Lap Time Trial (First event of club Omnium series)
Jordan Castle 31.29, Brent Zimmerman 31.58(unofficial Track record), Mark Finlay 31.98, Jaycob Humphreys 32.08, Cameron Howell 32.86, Chris Denholm 33.07, Michaela Drummond 33.45 (unofficial Track record), Fergus Allan 33.58, Joel Yates 33.73, Carne Groube 33.76, Flyn Yates 38.77, Simone Davey 37.20, Dylan Simpson 38.69, Adam Martin 40.51, Mitchell Kinghorn 34.00, Fergus Washington-Smith 43.20, Cody Simpson 34.07, Jack Finlay 35.92, Greg Bryan 35.69, Margaret Leyland 39.99, James Denholm 34.57, Andrew McKenzie 34.24, Ruby Perry 34.26, Georgi van Lienen 37.92, Daniel Kendall 39.79, Barry Gilliland 36.45, Megan Gardner39.32, Ron Werner38.39, Fergus Bryan 37.53, Kate Stewart 35.12 (unofficial Track record), Hamisk Mikkelsen 35.56, Harrison Kinghorn 42.08, Kelsi Eccles 34.93, Jake van Lienen 34.28, Teagan Roffe 36.21, Libby Arbuckle 36.57, Toshi Yamauchi 38.44, Hayden Washington-Smith 35.48, Kim Anderson 40.84, Megan Blatchford 35.75, Sheralee Cleland 37.77.
Under 15 2 Lap Scratch race Heat 1: 1 Dylan Simpson 2 Georgi van Lienen 3 Harrison Kinghorn 4 Daniel Kendall
Under 15 2 Lap Scratch race Heat 2: 1 Libby Arbuckle, 2 Fergus Bryan, 3 Megan Gardner, 4 Adam Martin
Under 17 2 Lap Scratch race Heat 1: 1 Michaela Drummond, 2 Chris Denholm, 3 Carne Groube, 4 Joel Yates
Under 17 2 Lap Scratch race Heat 2: 1 Mitchel Kinghorn, 2 Hayden Washington-Smith, 3 Hamish Mikkelsen, 4 Jack Finlay
A Grade 2 Lap Scratch race: 1 Cameron Howell, 2 Jordan Castle, 3 Jaycob Humphreys, 4 Mark Finlay
B Grade 2 Lap Scratch race: 1 James Denholm, 2 Brent Zimmerman, 3 Megan Blatchford, 4 Ruby Perry
C Grade 2 Lap Scratch race: 1 Barry Gilliland, 2 Greg Bryan, 3 Sheralee Cleland, 4 Teagan Roffe
Under 15 7 Lap Handicap: 1 Flyn Yates, 2 Geogi van Lienen, 3 Harrison Kinghorn, 4 Daniel Kendall
Under 17 10 Lap Handicap: 1 Michaela Drummond, 2 Joel Yates, 3 Chris Denholm, 4 Jake van Lienen
C Grade 8 Lap Handicap: 1 Greg Bryan, 2 Kim Anderson, 3 Megan Blatchford, 4 Barry Gilliland
A & B Grade 12 Lap Handicap: 1 Jaycob Humphreys, 2 Mark Finlay, 3 Cameron Howell, 4 James Denholm