Racing at Tarwin Lower

SATURDAY racing saw the early riders at the assembly point at Tarwin Lower waiting for a shower to pass, however, after that the riders had a good break for racing; a light wind but pretty cold conditions.
The seniors raced from Tarwin Lower out to Walkerville and returned with riders needing to tackle the hill to the west of Walkerville from both sides.
The senior field was only 14 strong and the scratch rider Brett Franklin, gave away starts out to 15 minutes to the lone limit rider Damien King.
At 10 minutes there was a chasing trio followed by six riders at six minutes and then another trio at three minutes. However, none of the riders was waiting for Brett so he had a lonely day at the office just managing to grab Fastest Time: 69.49min and 11th place.
Morgan Barnes who has ridden sparingly over the season always likes this course and riding off the 10minute mark suited him to a tee.
He managed to go with the big seven minute bunch when they caught him and then when the three minute bunch caught the leading group with just three kilometres to go and lifted the pace, he was able to answer the challenge.
As the bunch of nine riders headed down the final straight it was Morgan who finished ahead by two lengths from Neil White (seven minutes) and David Supple (three minutes), in 3rd.
Then it was Steve Wilson (seven minutes), Kevin Feely (three minutes), Brad Bouquet, Rod Cheney, Phil Hanley and Harrison McLean all from the seven minute bunch (seven minutes).
In 10th place it was the limit rider Damien King who has shown great improvement over the season.
Juniors rode a 16 kilometre out and back course and limit rider Thomas Fitzgerald (8.30 minutes) was caught by Oliver McLean (eight minutes) by the six kilometre mark and managed to go with Oliver to the turn.
Then it was a big gap back to Matt Winchester (3.30 minutes) who had to wait for several vehicles right at the turn mark.
At the turn the chasing scratch duo, Bernadette Fitzgerald and Grace McLean, had cut the gap substantially but had plenty of work to do on the return run.
However, Oliver who, like Morgan, relishes the flat roads at Tarwin Lower flew home to take an easy win.
Thomas looked like he may manage to hold on for a place was rounded up by the three chasers who then settled in for a sprint to the line.
In a very close call it was Grace who claimed 2nd and fastest ahead of Matt, Bernadette and Thomas.
Over the weekend the Victorian Road Titles were promoted at Wangaratta.
On Saturday the other big improver of the season, Austin Timmins, rode his best race yet to grab the Bronze medal in the Under 15 Individual Road Title.
This was another step in his development following his good rides the previous weekend at the Eildon Junior Tour where he placed 5th overall.
On Sunday he backed up with 5th in a bunch sprint.
Thomas McFarlane and Will Lumby were competing in the Under 17 division but both missed on podium finishes.
Next weekend there is no club racing as the Gippsland Road Titles are being held in the Latrobe Valley.
All our club members are urged to have a go at the Titles and see how they fare in a mass start race.

Action: from left, Kevin Feely, Morgan Barnes and David Supple working together to chase down the main bunch on the return to Tarwin Lower.

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Posted by Sarah Vella on Aug 5 2014. Filed under Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry