16/04/2005
By Trent Brown
On a perfect Saturday afternoon for a race, 28 riders turned out for a three lap handicap race around the Lillico circuit. Staf Duncan required his many skills to determine the correct order for start, as many riders were coming off limited training or injury. While the murmur around the riders at the beginning was that no A-grader was going to get up on the day, there were plenty of other potential winners in the 5 different groups that were sent around the circuit.
The outmarkers riding off 15 minutes had a good start, as they had a 7½ minute break on the next group to leave. The outmarkers group consisted of Rod Atkinson, Brendan Pridmore, Travis Parker, Lawrence Maskill and Chris Herreen who all rode the majority of the first lap nearly all together before the pace that Chris, Rod and Travis were pedalling caused both Brendan Pridmore and Lawrence Maskill to drop off. The pace was good for one lap of the circuit with the first three riders all breaking 20 minutes. These three kept the tempo high as their second lap was also pretty much on the 20 minute mark.
Next to begin were Dave Bailie, Paul Yeatman, Michael Pridmore, Brett Miller, Ross Henry and Steve Hall. This group needed to work well together to catch the outmarkers in front of them. The teamwork was apparent with all riders pulling their turns on various parts of the course. This consistent riding enabled them to complete the first lap in a tick over 17 minutes. The pace did ease slightly during the second lap as those early bursts trying to stay away from anyone behind them used their energy reserves and as such the lap took 30 seconds longer than the first. The group was still working well over the second lap and was still clear of any riders in B- or A- grade when they past Staf for the last time. However the sense in the peloton was that they were to be shortly joined by riders from other grades.
Staf broke the B-grade riders into two different bunches, based on the assumption that these riders were less “strong” than the others behind them. This group including Justen O’Connor, Rob Monk, Luke Hanley, Graeme Coull (welcome to the club!), Chris Beales and eventual winner Brett Rollinson who started 2 minutes in front of the next B-grade bunch. These five were riding off the mark of 10 minutes, probably realised early on that one of them was going to be the eventual winner of the race as they had a 5 minute start on any rider in A grade, as long as they kept the pace high. So this was the order of the day for this group riding an ever quick first lap in 15 minutes 50 seconds. This pace was too quick for Monk and Hanley who dropped off early, leaving Beales and Rollinson to do most of the work with Coull pulling some strong turns early. O’Connor was struggling at the back and found himself fighting to stay in touch on three occasions. Rollinson and Beales were strong on the second lap posting another sub 16 minute lap and were closing the gap to all those in front of them.
Starting two minutes in arrears of this group were Peter Bailey, Steve Twinning, Geoff Thomson, Trent Brown, James Henry and Tim Lee. The pace was on from the start as this group knew that A grade was only 3 minutes behind them. The questions were asked whether to sit up and wait or roll through and stay away. While the latter was chosen, the group worked well together under the tutelage of Thommo was marshalling the troops. This group stayed all together for nearly all the three laps, with lap 1 completed in just over 16 minutes, lap two in 16:28.
A grade had the hardest job of the day trying to bridge the 15 minute gap to the outmarkers. Some thought impossible and in reality was probably a touch too much time between the scratchies and outmarkers as a result of the harsh handicapping system applied by Staf (bad luck boys!). Fresh from a hiatus of about 4 months the club welcomed back Shane Stiles, who was joined by the recently new adult Stevie Sandner (happy 18 th!), Scott Keeble, Matt Malacarne and Jason Kruger. They rode an exceptional quick first lap in 15:19, completing the second in 15:40. They tried valiantly to bridge the gap but to no avail.
How it really unfolded
The eventual winner, Brett Rollinson and his group of riders including O’Connor, Coull, and Beales caught C grade just near the Drive-in on the last lap. This created a super group of riders from which the eventual winner was to come. They continued to pick up the outmarkers on the last lap. It was along Bloomfields Road that Rollinson decided to make a jump for it and put the pace on for a short burst putting 50 metres into the remaining peloton. Beales and O’Connor knew this a dangerous move and needed to be countered so after screaming at a few people to get out of the way, adjusted their tempo to bridge just before the final turn. Miller also had to work to close the subsequent break down and rejoin the train. O’Connor reluctantly led down the first hill on Lillico Road, before being passed by Chris Beales. Unfortunately for Chris, no one else came through and he was cemented in the lead-out position. Brett having learnt from Master Keeble at the club champs new he could hit hard from the bottom and with the help of his namesake Brett Miller jumped past Coull, Yeatman, Bailie and Rollinson. O’Connor shot out only to see Rollinson disappear over the hill and could only grab second, with Yeatman third. The rest of the riders from various grades finished within 4 minutes of the winner.
