The cyclists responded to the vocal supportive crowd at the Velodrome on Friday night with some exciting finishes in all grades.  There was barely a wheel length between Chloe Hellowell (60m) and Dana Prater (30m) as they crossed the line in the junior B grade two lap handicap.  Bailey Kesby (70m), Justin Burke (0m) and Connor Margaritis (20m) were equally close as they finished just seconds later.

The crowd cheered on mini riders Sebastian Hubner and Braden McLeod as they raced around the track on their BMX bikes in their one lap handicap races.  Hubner tried out some tactics in his bid to pass McLeod, getting a bit too enthusiastic in one race.  Hubner tried to go up the bank to pass McLeod but found out it was impossible to do on a BMX bike.

Scott Litchfield, on his three wheeler, showed improved confidence in handling the bends and overtaking on the straights when he was given the challenge to chase down Mini rider Jasmine Ledington in their one lap handicap races.

The wind started to pick up just before the senior A and B grade riders began their flying 200m event.  Riders had two laps to wind up to their top speed before diving from the top of the track to be timed over the final 200m.  The warm track meant some fast times were still recorded with the first rider, Daniel Anderson, setting the time of 12.38 seconds for the other eight riders to try to do better.  Rhyse Carpenter (12.75sec) and Tim Fulton (12.61sec) fell just short of the mark and Anderson looked to be able to hold onto the fastest time.  But the second last rider, Ben Young (12.32 seconds), managed to be faster by a mere 0.06 seconds.

Senior C grade's Sam Campbell showed he is able to match it with Keith Gibbons, Peter Werner, Kelvin Rohrlach and Darryl Fulton after stepping up from the junior ranks this season.  Campbell will be one to watch as the season progresses and as Rohrlach's confidence grows he too will be one to keep an eye on This grade promises to be quite a spectacle as we watch these riders fighting it out for line honours.

Charlotte Wakeling, Liza Wakeling and Jessica Shore have been joined in junior A grade this season by Jacob Hughes who has moved onto a bigger bike and has continued to show speed and gutsy determination.  This was particularly evident in their eight lap scratch race when he took off on the bend as they got the bell and made a small break before the girls chased him down and Charlotte took the lead.  Hughes sat on her hip all the way around the last bend, holding off Liza and Shore, and gave it his all down the straight to the line.  Charlotte held onto the lead and Liza made her move to be just in front of him as they crossed the line.

At the moment there are only two riders in the 24" bikes category, Heather Cutting and Chris Margaritis, and although Margaritis is the stronger rider Cutting's race fitness is improving and she wont give in.  In their four lap scratch race Margaritis broke away from Cutting on the last lap and had a good 25metre lead but Cutting, with steely determination, gradually reeled him in to finish a bike length and a half behind.

FULL RACE RESULTS HERE