27/06/2009
Perfect conditions greeted Warragul Cycling Club members for the race on Saturday. Good numbers in all three grades made for close and competitive racing.
Our recently crowned Victorian Country Road Champion, Kane Walker took it easy on the boys until the final lap in a Grade. Paul Yeatman surprised the bunch (and himself) by leading the way up the Shady Creek hill at over 26kph and attacking over the top on lap one. It did not take the remaining five riders long to bring him back. Along Stuhrs Road, Shane Stiles powered along dragging everyone behind him. Callan was feeling good and had a small gap as the bunch crossed the start/finish line at the end of lap one.
Lap two saw some attacks from Kane Walker with Shane kindly dragging the rest of the 6 riders back. Paul was 5m off the back after the KOM while Tristan Marut was well and truly dropped. It took about 800m for the bunch to reform with a short lived break being formed with Paul and Callan Barker as soon as this happened. Callan was also keen to increase the pace and was off the front once or twice. The bunch was not keen on letting anyone get away for long, so all breaks were short lived.
Heading into lap three, Paul was about 20m off the front. This did not last long and on the final turn into Nilma North Road, the bunch had reformed. Kane attacked about 3/4 of the way up the main climb. He was joined by Shane who was chased in earnest by Geoff Thomson and Callan, but they could not keep pace. Paul was left on his own by the top of the climb. At the final turn into Stuhrs Road, Kane and Shane were 16 seconds ahead of Geoff and Callan with Paul another 20 seconds behind.
The chase group joined the lead two up the first climb along Stuhrs Road much to Paul’s dismay (it was now 4 against 1). However, a slackening of the pace allowed Paul to complete his four kilometre time trial and he regained the bunch before the climb up to the very last turn into Darnum Shady Creek Road. From here to the line, the pace gradually slowed with the pace dropping 24kph before Shane initiated a short tactical sprint. He was followed by Kane who came across the line first. Paul was about 20m back to claim third. Callan and Thommo came across the line another couple of seconds behind.
In B grade the bunch made it over the hill the first time intact although Dave Bailey had a long chase to resume contact. On the run to the base of the climb on lap two visiting Latrobe rider, Shane Pettingel got a good break but was caught and passed half way up by the strong chasing Peleton led by James Lalor and Steve Muggeridge. Some hard turns on the flats meant Shane and Dave Bailey would be tailed off and complete only two of the three laps. There seemed to be a plan on the climb the third time that Lalor and Muggeridge would go hard from the bottom to try and gap noted descender Rob Monk. They had Rob in trouble half way up but were unable to keep the pace high enough to hold the gap. Rob did his customary sprint near the top of the hill and James Lalor was able to go with him. This pair attacked the descent and worked together on the flat to establish a good break. Steve Muggeridge and Jason Dasty chased hard but could not bridge the gap. On Stuhrs road James found the going too tough and Rob headed for home on his own. He won by a minute from Steve, Jason and James.
The five riders in C grade all completed two laps of the circuit. Cy Monk and Joe Patrick worked hard to establish a break going over the hill the first time causing the group to split in three. Dave Axford and Renee Patrick worked together at the back while Tammy was stuck about 50meters behind Joe and Cy. The lead group worked together for the next 10km but it wasn’t enough to stop Tammy Patrick latching back on at the start of Stuhrs road. The three riders kept a steady pace for the rest of the lap. Cy tried as hard as he could to get a gap on the other two up the hill the second time but the Patricks were determined not to let him get away. The group stayed intact and rode smoothly until 500m to go when Tammy attacked and caught Cy unawares. Joe was able to hold her wheel and Sprint past her 100 metres from the line. Tammy took out second closely followed by Cy in third and not far behind them were Dave and Renee in 4th and 5th.
