The new track season received one of the most prestigious openings ever, when the riders, parents and supporters applauded, in recognizing the great achievement, when Michaela Drummond and Campbell Stewart rode a lap of honour in their World Championship Rainbow jerseys!
It was great to see the greatest number of track riders present in recent years (43 riders), with the biggest gains in the U15 and U17 grades.
Meg Thomas as new U15 rider from Kiwitea was selected as the McDonalds rider of the day by John Arbuckle, by winning the final U15 race (8 lap handicap). Even though she received a liberal handicap Meg stuck gamely to her task to stay clear throughout the race from the chasing riders behind her.
It was good to see a good number of masters riders turn up and Mike Craine impressed when he left the field to ride away and win the 7 lap points race.
Brent Zimmerman carried out safety checks on the U15 and U17 riders bikes; and found three loose stems and one loose seat which weren’t safe!
Remember to check your bikes before each race meet! This is an important safety factor.
In starting the long handicap races the procedure is a long warning whistle, 2 second pause, short whistle immediately followed by the gun to indicate the start.
Two riders last week started well before the gun. That can lead to disqualification and I am sure the Commissaries will be watching this point at the next meeting.
A new book by myself and Jonathan Kennett ‘Getting started in Road and Track cycling’ is hot off the press and a free copy is being given to rookie U15 and U17 riders. If you didn’t get your copy last week see Kate Stewart at registration desk. It has a lot of good information for rookie track riders.
-Ian Gray
A few important notes from Kate…
REGISTRARION
Thanks to majority of people who paid on Sunday, it makes our job a lot easier. If you didn’t pay last week or weren’t there could you please bring your $15.00 this week. I will be on Registration from about 2:30 to 3pm this week.
NUMBERS
You are allocated the same number for the whole season. It is expected that you bring it to racing each week. If you forget your number unfortunately your results for that will not be recorded, as the results system is set up around your individual number.
$100 CLUB
This season Mike McRedmond and myself have started a $100.00 club to raise money for track cycling. The idea is to have a prize pull of cash and vouchers we can use for prize money to draw people to our open Carnival and for overall age categories at the end of year prize giving. If you are connected to or know a business you could approach that would be willing to support track with cash or vouchers up to the value of $100 please contact me and I will send you through the letter with more information including what the business would get out of it.
VOLUNTEERS
Thanks very much to all of you who put your name down to help out this year. I will have who is helping each week on the programme and if you see you are written down and unable to help please flick me a text or email.
PROGRAMME for this Sunday will be posted on the website soon.
Cheers,
Kate Stewart
0278139922