News

Mirabella Trophy.  Mt Misery-Langi Kal Kal circuit.  60km.

High Voltage Sparky blows the fuse box

Obviously powered by the sun, a re-energised Andrew Rushton rewired his season, as he surged away from Scratch and his fellow second Scratch riders to win this year’s edition of the Mirabella Trophy race.

This year’s race coincided with the winter solstice – halfway out of the dark for us winter warriors – but the bright blue skies and lack of wind belied the fact that Ballarat is usually very bleak at this time of year.  Mind you, a -4 deg C start in lycra is still quite bracing.

With quite a few of the usual front markers not making an appearance the first bunch to knock the frost off was an eclectic band.  The gap between the front and back of this bunch could be measured in kilometres with Mal Rock (fresh from a month on the spuds), and Greg Curnow (slowly making a come back) tested early and shelled by the stronger Rotten “Ronnie” Larkin and Graeme “Powerhouse” Parker.  Rob Young continues to show marked improvement hanging onto these two until the back of the race arrived late on Ercildoune Rd.

Seven minutes back was the trio of Dave “Pixie” Peters, Bob “Mr CX” Morley and Peter “Fifi” Livitsanis.  Bizarrely, Bob has officially stopped training and is a lot stronger for it, very impressive on the Mt Misery climb and perhaps even eclipsing Pixie in terms of time on the front.  Pixie welcomed a move out, but after being dropped on the first hill and coughing and wheezing his way around the circuit was left wondering if he should be further out.  Fifi tagged along enjoying the sunshine, with the trio made steady progress on the disintegrating bunch ahead.  Bob hadn’t ridden the extension to the course before and was wondering how far it was ‘Are we there yet?’, ‘It’s not far now’ replies Fifi – which really meant “hope you brought your passport and a cut lunch”.

A particularly strong second scratch bunch of 5 had a 6 minute deficit to make up and it took two thirds of the race to do so.  In his own race, Tony Mirabella had dropped himself into second scratch just to be a tourist.  Andrew “Sparky” Rushton knows whats watt and was in stronger form than the week before and the bunch benefitted greatly from the bullock train of Dean “The Phantom” Wells and Darren “Earthmover” Terry.  The fifth rider in the bunch, Grant “Smokey” Dawson was dropped inside the first 5 kms.  Nearing halfway and the bunch then lost Tony when he “forgot” about the Langi Kal Kal extension on his own race.  Darren imploded at the same time as Tony missed the turn.  This left Sparky and The Phantom to hold off Scratch for as long as possible – with Earthmover clinging onto their tails.

The Scratch quartet soon became a trio when Matt “Riff Raff” Bowman blew a gasket less than a quarter into the race.  The remaining three – Phil Cartledge, Brendan Schiemer and Guy Falla rode an impressive race.  Three chasing a strong five soon became four chasing when Smokey joined their ranks.  Smokey was even able to swap a few turns with the Scratch lads.  Four then became five when Tony “Italian Stallion” Mirabella joined Scratch on the road to Langi Kal Kal.

Despite the bizarre set of mid race bunch substitutions Scratch was able to catch 2nd Scratch on the Langi Kal extension.  The combined group of 8 was now the biggest bunch on the road with only 6 riders ahead of them.
They caught Mr CX, Pixie and Fifi on Black Bottom Rd, all of whom latched onto the back, happy for someone else to do the work out front.
Parker, Young and Larkin were rounded up a few kms down Ercildoune Rd.  With the front of the race achieved the pace went out of the race.  Sparky had his legs on today and was feeling comfortable enough to remark that the race had suddenly turned into a Sunday morning coffee bunch ride, too bad the riders he was talking to couldn’t respond and had their tongues hanging out.
Dean “The Phantom” Wells tried to keep the pace at least a little above pedestrian leading the procession like a pacing derny.
To their credit Parker and Larkin were still in the mix and travelling comfortably.

With no one really taking an aggressive attitude the chat in the bunch was about who was going to have a go on the Weatherboard hill – odds on was Darren, Phil and Guy.

The headwind and a hard chase must have discouraged the first two, and the compact group stayed as one to about half way.  But Guy was the man for the job, eyeballing the bunch he realised his main adversaries were sitting back a bit and he only had a couple of the weaker riders on his wheel, so he took a leap off the front.  Sparky and Phil had to dig deep to get around and onto his wheel to shut him down by the top of the rise.

The race wound back together on the downhill run with the bunch waiting for the inevitable throw for the line, who would it be, who would flick the switch?  With 200 m to go, suddenly around the outside Graeme “Powerhouse” Parker lights up the race with a brutal attack, Sparky grabs the wheel with Cartledge, Schiemer and Falla all following the lead out.  Graeme’s cannonball run ends 100 m out, when Sparky volts over the top and immediately removes the shorts of the other three, taking a three bike lengths lead.

Phil offers some resistance and gets within a length and a half, but Sparky has the flux capacitor at 88 and charges to the win, Phil a clear second and a dog fight between Schiemer and Falla sees Brendan generate enough to secure third.
A long way back, in fifth, Fifi has something to be positive about, managing to get over Pixie and Darren.

For staying away for two thirds of the race, then mixing it with the much younger and faster boys, and finally laying out the field in an impressive final attack, Graeme Parker receives Ride of the Day.

 

Special thanks to the Mirabella family for sponsoring the race.

All club members convey their deepest sympathy and condolences to Tony and family for the recent loss of Tony’s dad.

Vale Mario Mirabella.

Results:

1st – Andrew Rushton (2 min)

2nd – Phil Cartledge (Scratch)

3rd – Brendan Schiemer (Scratch)

4th – Guy Falla (Scratch)

5th – Peter Livitsanis (8 min)

Fastest Time – Phil Cartledge (Scratch)

Ride of the Day – Graeme Parker (15 min)

L-R: Tony Mirabella with Phil Cartledge (2nd placegetter and Fastest Time).

L-R: Brendan Schiemer (3rd), Andrew Rushton (1st), Tony Mirabella (race sponsor), Phil Cartledge (2nd and Fastest Time), Guy Falla (4th), Peter Livitsanis (5th).

 

Wayne Horne Earthmoving Hcp.  Windmill circuit.  53 km.

Des Lane Buries ‘Em

Top of the podium at Eureka must be reserved for Warrnambool riders with Des Lane recording the second win in a row for the Warrnambool club.

Des kicked home with a strong final sprint to knock off Lance Rodgers from Geelong & Surf Coast and a fast finishing John Creek from Eureka.

Eureka Veterans CC welcomed 72 riders from Geelong Surfcoast, Warrnambool and Colac clubs with Perfect conditions!  Sunshine, hardly any wind for the first of a four combined club race series which involves the EVCC.

While the conditions favoured the front markers it was the middle marker 12 min bunch that had it pretty much their own way today.
A strong bunch which combined well and rode strongly, and enjoyed a bit of luck with the two chasing bunches behind missing a corner and losing time.

First lap and the 5 limit riders (24 min) saw their lead reduced from 6 min down to 3:35, ahead of the next bunch on the road (18 min) with 15 min bunch also closing in, only a further 2 min back.
The 6 min bunch had missed the turn at Coghills Creek, as had the 9 min bunch who rode on to the next corner.
This gave the 3 min bunch the opportunity to catch both bunches quickly and the three bunches came together at the Donovan’s Rd corner creating a peloton of 27 riders, problem was they were now 7 min down on the next group on the road.
Scratch were struggling to get ontop of the pace required to pull in the field and with only 6 riders chasing 27 it was always going to be a slog, they failed to take any time on the next bunch on the road on the first lap.

2nd lap and the stronger riders in the front bunches started to attack their own bunch in an futile attempt to both stay away from the relentless march of the 12 min bunch and try their luck up the road.
The 12 min bunch were still riding well and had both limit & 2nd limit in sights -they were only 1:30 down & had the race by the throat.
The super peleton of the 3/6/9 min bunch were still 6min down with Scratch still held at 3 min behind.

Final lap the 12 min bunch had the race sewn up, and had scattered a string of limit riders along behind them.
The combine 3/6/9 min bunch were still a good 5 min back at the final corner and riding hard while scratch appeared to now have lost their advantage and had a lot of work to do to make fastest time. Over the final rise and with nothing behind them but empty road the 12 min bunch settled for the finale.

You can see the finish from the top of the rise but you are still too far out to open up, a fact known to local riders who settled in to wait.
With so many riders in the sprint it came down to wheels, lead outs and positioning.  Des had judged his jump to perfection and took his advantage to the line, Lance and John both chasing hard to take the remaining spots on the podium.

The race referees gave Scratch fastest time, but it was close and they hard to work home hard to secure it.
In the final analysis it was Garry Wearmouth that had the watts crossing clear of his Scratch bunch.

Results:

1st – Des Lane (12 min) – Warrnambool VCC
2nd – Lance Rodgers (12 min) – Geelong & Surf Coast CC
3rd – John Creek (12 min) – Eureka VCC
4th – Barry Clay (15 min) – Geelong & Surf Coast CC
5th – Gary Legg (12 min) – Colac VCC

Fastest Time – Garry Wearmouth (Scratch) – Geelong & Surf Coast CC

 

Our Sponsor this week is Wayne Horne Earthmoving.

With over 22 years experience, no job is too big or too small. Wayne Horne Earthmoving specialise in all types of excavation works and their service comes complete with qualified, professional workers and top quality equipment.
From levelling dams to subdivisions, they have it covered.  They also do plant hire.

Wayne and Catherine have been sponsors of the club since it was established in 2009.
The ongoing support of our sponsors is crucial to enabling the EVCC to operate effectively and provide an exciting race calendar for our members.

Wayne Horne Earthmoving is located at 3 Trewin Street, Wendouree.

tel. 5338 1650

Des Lane pictured with his prize money and bottle of Janz.