29/11/2008
A grey sky threatening rain meant numbers were down for the Warragul Cycling Club race on Saturday.
Race starter Anthony Lalor decided to have two bunches. He combined A&B into one race and did the same with C&D grade.
The A&B grade group rode the first two laps at a very easy pace (lap 1 32.5kph, lap 2 34.5kph, lap 3 36kph). The C&D grade group were gaining ground on them at the end of lap two. The slow pace was contributed to by the fact that Shane Stiles punctured at the beginning of the first lap so he was not there to drive the peleton along. The race started for real on the Shady creek climb at the beginning of lap three. Youngster Callan Barker decided he’d stretch his legs on the climb and quickly established a 200 meter break. Little did the young fellow know that the boys in the bunch were letting him dangle, using up his energy while riding into the strong headwind on his own. When the chasers caught Callan they didn’t give him a chance to join them. Led by the strongman Paul Yeatman the bunch flew past Callan and he was unable to catch them. Tim Lee was also dropped. The group powered on to the finish. Yeatman and Stiles were doing most of the driving until the final turn into Sturrs Road where Thomor took over from Yeatman who began to struggle to hold a wheel. In the sprint Paul Yeatman got a good bread but was unable to hold off a fast finishing Tristan Marut who got a good jump on the more fancied riders. He passed Yeatman with 100m to go and held a small gap all the way to the line to take out his first A grade win. Yeatman was a close second and Geoff Thomson was third. Well done Tristan.
The combined C&D grade bunch raced over two laps. Junior rider Cy Monk held on for much of Lap one as senior riders Neil Walker, Trev Rollinson and Rob Monk kept the pace high.
On the climb for the final time Trev Rollinson put the pressure on by gradually picking up the pace. Simon Baxter was first to crack. Three hundred meters from the top Neil Walker was also dropped off. James Lalor and Rob Monk struggled but hung on to Trev over the top of the climb. The three worked together well on the flat to make sure that Neil and Simon would not catch up to them.
Trev was again the instigator of the next move. He picked up the pace on the slight rise 3 km from the finish and immediately had James in trouble. Rob and Trev swapped turns for a couple of kilometres to ensure the youngster would not rejoin them. In the sprint Trev was first to head for home and Rob struggled to get up to his wheel. With 50 meters to the finish Rob was able to come over the top and take out the win. Trev second and James came third.
