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2015 Winter Aggregate Race Series sponsored by Europa Café

W.A.R.S. race 4, Mt. Misery Handicap

Stay Away Ray Rollicks Home

The Mt Misery circuit again proved a happy hunting ground for Stay Away Ray Hodgson who lead from gun to flag to take a convincing win.
Ably assisted by the enigmatic Greg “Cadel” Curnow, the limit pair took on the challenging parcours with determination.  Ray in particularly good form, from his current training regime which includes SUPERVET midweek racing.

You know when Spring arrives in Ballarat…the temperature of the rain is a bit higher, there’s 10 minutes more sunlight each day and that damn magpie is back on Weatherboard Rd swooping anything in sight!
Enjoying the Spring conditions, a small field of 14 riders were separated by some generous handicaps – which meant that apart from Tony Mirabella (who was chasing 1 minute) no groups actually caught anyone else – the race essentially becoming a time trial for most and a training ride for the rest.

The 15 min bunch of Barry Robinson, Graeme Parker and Terry Collie made up some of the 7 mins to Ray and Greg with dedicated and disciplined work, probably missing just one more rider to bridge the gap.
Terry is fast finding his groove and improved upon last week’s ride, while Graeme continued to be the heart and soul of this outfit.  They also welcomed back the evergreen Barry Robinson who rode strongly, only fading in the run to the line.
Their efforts rewarded with holding the chasing bunches at bay and picking up the minor placings.

Often a bunch with a Lee in it gets up, and with two Lee’s in this week’s 10 min bunch expectations were high.  Kevin Popeye Lee having a recent race under his belt, and the never-say-die Brian Lee welcomed Rob “Mr Smooth” Parker to their confederacy.  All three relatively lightly raced over recent weeks, this militia fought on bravely, glimpsing the race lead car late.
There was one minor spot in the money left and it was Popeye who kicked hard gapped Rob and Brian and sprinted for 5th.

The biggest group of the day had their work cut out for them.  Chasing 9 minutes to the next bunch and with the slenderest 1 min gap back to Tony Mirabella, the odds were not good for these 5 riders.  The odds took a further dive when Grant Dawson punctured early on Edmonston Rd and, although a little later than expected, Tony Mirabella the lonely scratch rider, caught them 8km in, at Addington.
Tony decided to play nice and jogged along with these mere mortal middle markers, content in the knowledge that fastest time was his even if they didn’t bring back the race.
Danny Whelan was in an aggressive mood and worked solidly on the front, John Creek eventually found his legs halfway in and rode well until late when Tony lifted the pace.
For the sure-footed Bob Morley, its been a while since he’s ridden off 1 min, but today he again applied himself and rode a strong race. For hanging on to Tony’s wheel on Ercildoune Rd, when all others were crying for mercy, he was also rewarded with Ride of the Day.

With the race up the road and gone by a long way, Tony sauntered off the front up Weatherboard Rd and away for fast(ish) time, 6 minutes behind the winner.

Results:
1st – Ray Hodgson (22 min)
2nd – Greg Curnow (22 min)
3rd – Graeme Parker (15 min)
4th – Terry Collie (15 min)
5th – Kevin Lee (10 min)
Fastest Time – Tony Mirabella (Scratch)
Ride of the Day – Bob Morley (1 min)

Forty Winks Team Time Trial. Windmill circuit. 53 km.

It’s not often that we get to race as part of a team, usually our races are dog-eat-dog affairs (at least at the end of the race), so this week’s handicapped team time trial was a popular change of pace and the inclusion of a handicap meant all teams had a winning chance.

The C Team worked as a tight trio and while the other two teams boasted an extra rider, these three pushed out a gutsy ride to preserve the modest 5 min starting advantage until two thirds of the way into the race.  With Graeme Parker doing a lot of the heavy lifting and a very consistent Rob Young sharing the duties it became a test of how long would Terry Collie hold out.  Terry is just back from an extended break, he was a solid contributor, however his lack of race condition in the back end of the race became a factor.  Could they hang onto their undisclosed handicap advantage?
Once caught it was a case of chasing the stronger teams as hard as they could to limit time differences at the end.

The B Team spent the first 10 minutes discussing team tactics, much strategizing and theorizing came down to:
1) put Popeye on the back and get him to hang on
2) rotate short smooth track turns

Simple plans always work the best…
Danny Whelan only rides one big gear, the rest of the cluster is pristine and seldom used, and he rides a steady pace that never waivers whether into the wind, downwind, uphill or down.  Bob Morley continues to confound the experts by actually riding better with ever decreasing training, again today he never missed a turn and even put in extra to drag Popeye back to the other two on a few occasions.
The A Team cruised past on the last lap at the quarry, from there it was a case of trying to limit the distance the A team put into them, they seemed to disappear up Cricks Hill pretty quickly which didn’t bode well for the B Team.
By the end of the race Popeye was juiced, he had nothing left, just an empty husk of a man.

There was a noticeable variance of abilities in the A Team.  Guy Falla and Phil Cartledge both noted hard men particularly at grinding out a time trial, had to find a way to gel with Rob Phillips and Grant Dawson, two second scratch riders.
This was a puzzle that took a while to sort through especially as Guy disappeared up the road from the gun, so enthusiastic was he to get things moving.  Phil’s first turn on the front was to drag Smokey and Rob back up to the exuberant Falla.
The strategy they settled on from there was to share the work around but try to preserve Smokey and Rob by limiting their time on the front and into the wind.  This worked OK until the catch with both Smokey and Rob on the limit but managing to hang in there. Once they had reeled in the other two teams it was time to make time, and the urgency went up a notch up Crick’s Hill in the back straight.  This put Smokey into difficulty and by the top he was blowing smoke and the A team slowed to get him back on and recovered.

And the final analysis?
Well the start times might have been 5 minutes apart but the actually handicaps were set by averaging the marks of each of the riders in each bunch…so in effect there was more than 5 minutes handicap advantage between each of the groups.

When it came down to work out the handicap adjusted times it was very close, 40 seconds or less separated each of the teams.

Today’s winning team by just on 38 secs was the B Team, followed by the gutsy C Team in second and rounding out the trifecta was the A Team just 1 min 14 secs behind the winners.

Results:

1st – The B Team: Bob Morley, Danny Whelan, Kevin Lee, Peter Livitsanis

2nd – The C Team: Terry Collie, Graeme Parker, Rob Young

3rd – The A Team: Guy Falla, Phil Cartledge, Rob Phillips, Grant Dawson

Special thanks go out to Forty Winks – Ballarat store – for their continuing sponsorship of the Eureka Vets.

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GP Doug Garley. Davenport circuit. 43.5 km (incl. 12 km of dirt!)

Daring Darren Dominates

In a move that Doug would have been proud of, the man in yellow, Darren Terry, threw caution to the wind and attacked a lap and a half out, AND made it stick, riding away from the field for an emphatic win and ride of the day.

Most would not dare a solo raid in such ferocious weather but Darren, resplendent in his Del Tongo kit, proved his mettle, more Saronni than Cipollini, he is a worthy winner of the prestigious trophy race named to honour Eureka’s Hardman.

A small field of eleven of Eureka’s hardest pitted themselves against the challenging parcour and the harsh Learmonth winter, and an even smaller field of five finished.
The wicked westerly block headwind slog up the unsealed Davenport Rd ended the race for most, a puncture or two didn’t help either.  At least it wasn’t raining, yet.
Short race?  Yes!  Brutal?  You bet!
Honour and glory to all those that started and to the brave souls marshalling on the corners.

First away was the 14 minute bunch of Graeme Parker, Mal Rock, Rob Young and John Faulkner.  Graeme was under doctor’s orders to behave himself and keep the revs low.  Mal had scouted the course under more favourable conditions earlier in the week, and he and Rob rode well with Graeme to hold off the race to just over the half way mark.  John struggled in the wind and was cut loose, just another training ride for the long suffering gentle giant of Eureka.

Chasing this bunch, some 10 minutes back, was a strong group which included the eventual winner Darren Terry, last year’s winner Michael Veal, last year’s runner up Peter “Fifi” Livitsanis, and Duncan Bates.  With a 4 minute gap to Scratch it was always going to be close.  Darren spent most of the first half of the race straining on the traces, pulling the group forward at every opportunity.  At times his enthusiasm drove him 10 to 20 metres clear off the front until the others called him to heel.  Duncan found the going difficult and following one of Darren’s little surges became unhitched into the wind, soon distanced he retired from the race, leaving Michael and Fifi to try to hang on to the tiger’s tail.
With a lap and a half to go, and with the 14 minute bunch just ahead on the Avenue, and Scratch no-where to be seen, Darren’s enthusiasm could not be constrained any longer and with the blessings of his confederates he took off.
By the Hendersons Rd corner he had ridden straight through the bunch in front, by the next corner he had extended his lead to 0.5 km and going away, and the penultimate leg up Davenport Rd saw him ride out of sight.  Fifi and Michael picked up and shelled the 14 minute bunch on the downwind Hendersons Rd leg and then worked together to try to preserve 2nd and 3rd.
The Scratch trio of Phil Cartledge, Guy Falla and Andrew Rushton started well and were making steady progress until Andrew punctured a lap and a half in.  This put a serious dent in the pursuit but Guy and Phil were not content to just race for fastest time and continued the chase in earnest.  The bell saw Fifi and Michael come into view and by the Avenue they had made the catch.
Was it a gust of wind?  Was it Guy putting the race into the gutter?  Was it Phil’s overreaction?
What ever it was, it put Michael into the gravel and Fifi into the grass, both dropped as Guy and Phil sped off to chase the elusive Terry.

As the wind increased the race stretched out with about 3 minutes between the leader, his pursuers – Guy and Phil – back to the next pairing of Fifi and Michael.  Those five rounded the last corner into Davenport Rd, the 14 minute bunch, now a long way back, didn’t, and rolled home.

Today Davenport Rd was all about strength, Darren seemed impervious to the cold block headwind and in a display of power riding he surged to the top of the rise and the chequered flag, 1.5 minutes clear of anyone else.
Guy and Phil were left to battle for second and fastest time with Guy just edging out Phil on the line.
The race for fourth was an entertaining contrast of the small chainring spinning Fifi and the large chainring grinding Veal, Fifi with a little more in the tank stealing fourth.

Results:

1st – Darren Terry (4 min)

2nd – Guy Falla (Scratch)

3rd – Phil Cartledge (Scratch)

4th – Peter Livitsanis (4 min)

5th – Michael Veal (4 min)

Fastest Time – Guy Falla (Scratch)

Ride of the Day – Darren Terry (4 min)

 

Darren holds aloft the perpetual GP Doug Garley – kindly donated to the EVCC by the Veal family.

The cobble is an original from the Flanders region.