Gusty Winds Make for Tough Conditions
23.11.08
The strong gusty wind made racing tough on Friday night as the riders came around the western bank into the head wind.  Ryan Ware led Rhyse Carpenter, Tim Fulton, Darren Anderson, Ben Young and Nicole Goldring into the final lap of the Senior A Grade 15 lap scratch race but wasn't able to hold off the other riders.  Fulton was the strongest in the sprint to the line to finish first followed by Carpenter, Anderson, Young, Ware and Goldring.
In the Combined Senior 10 lap scratch race Jai Sutton made his move with three laps to go creating a split in the group and a 15 metre lead on Nick Hellowell who was trying to chase him down with a further 10 metres to Pierce Sutton, Adrian Wilson and Peter Werner.  The move was a bit too early for him to be able to sustain his lead in the tough conditions and the group were back together as they got the last lap bell and it was N Hellowell who took out the event from Werner, Wilson, P Sutton and J Sutton.
Charlotte Wakeling put in a good effort all evening and led Dylan Fewster, Jessica Shore, Sam Campbell, Liza Wakeling and newcomer Jarrod Hamilton into the final lap of the Junior A Grade six lap scratch race.  Fewster sat in her slip stream before moving around the outside to take the lead and finish first from C Wakeling, Campbell, Hamilton, Shore and L Wakeling.
Justin Burke and Richard Engelke lifted the pace and broke away from Ari Milne and Tegan Wood to have a handy lead as they began the last lap of the 4 lap scratch race with Engelke first to the line followed by Burke, Wood and Milne.
Novice riders Scott Litchfield, Corey Gibbons and Chloe Hellowell enjoyed a series of 2 lap handicaps with Gibbons taking out two events and Litchfield one while Hellowell came second in each event.
Tristan Ward came out for the first time to try his skill in a one lap dash on his scooter.
A series of two and three lap handicap races followed the opening round of scratch races with those off scratch having their work cut out to reel in the rest of the field in the windy conditions while others made the most of their handicaps.
Senior A Grade then had a 20 lap point score with the first three riders across the line in the four sprint laps awarded points and Fulton taking out the event on nine points ahead of Ware (6) and Anderson (4).  This was followed by the combined Seniors Elimination where the last rider to cross the line in the first two sprint laps was eliminated from the race leaving N Hellowell, Werner and P Sutton for the final sprint and they finished in this order.
In the final round of scratch races for the evening Junior B Grade and the Novice's combined for a six lap scratch race, which was won by Wood followed by Gibbons, Milne and C Hellowell.
The Senior B Grade 12 lap scratch race saw N Hellowell lead P Sutton and J Sutton into the last lap and hold this advantage to the line with J Sutton second and P Sutton third.  It was a close finish in the Junior A Grade six lap scratch race with Fewster's wheel just in front of Hamilton's as they crossed the line while C Wakeling was third ahead of L Wakeling and Shore.
A Steady pace was set from the start of the Senior A Grade 30 lap scratch race and after nine laps the first attack was made splitting the group but they regrouped two laps later.  The second attack came with nine laps to go and again they were all together two laps later.  Vet rider Werner decided to join this race but is not used to such a tempo and lost contact with the bunch half way through and retired.  It was a close sprint finish with Fulton first from Carpenter, Ware, Anderson and Goldring.