News

2015 Winter Aggregate Race Series sponsored by Europa Café

W.A.R.S. race 1, Windmill / Mt. Beckworth Handicap

Go, go Gomez

Visiting Warrnambool rider, Richard “Gomez” Adams expresso-ed himself with a strong grind into a block headwind up Mt Beckworth, followed by a frothy downwind dash for home, the chocolate sprinkle on top of his cappuccino was taking the final sprint by half a wheel cup.

Strong northwesterly winds, heavy showers, wet roads and cold temperatures resulted in only the dedicated, desperate and just plain silly arriving at the club rooms for today’s race, the first in this year’s WARS series.  A total of 15 stoic individuals braced themselves for a tough day out.

This week the 9 Minute bunch dominated proceedings.  They adopted the coffee bean race strategy, “if we smash it and mix it with water it will be awesome”. Richard “Gomez” Adams drove the Addams family into the wind, Brian “Fester” Lee felt no pain and was almost religious in his work, never missing a turn and keeping things honest on the rises.  John “Lurch” Creek found his legs earlier than usual and was having a day out, while Peter “Cousin IT” Livitsanis was keeping it grounded and ensuring the bunch stayed a close knit and smooth brew.

They were chasing a quartet off 19 min who were having a mixed day.  Better latte than never Greg Curnow arrived at the start line about 10 minutes behind schedule and his race never got much better, freshly roasted and finely ground he was turfed on the quarry hill first time around.  Despite being a man down early the three remaining riders, Kevin Popeye Lee, Rob Young and Tony Herbert fought hard to hold a 7 minute lead on the chasing bunch after the Windmill lap.  But then the wind got inside the bunch and took its toll, one by one the group fractured, eventually only Tony remained.  He must have had a particularly strong coffee that morning which had given him unrealistic expectations of success.  Despite temperatures south of 5 and a wind chill that had the local farmer putting jumpers on his newly born lambs, Tony had his jersey fully unzipped and flapping in the freezing wind.  When the 9 min bunch caught him on the Donovan’s Rd hill, his manly chest hair was tipped in ice.  Today’s effort being rewarded with Ride of the Day, Iceman Tony will win a race when he learns what the big ring is for.

Chasing the winning 9 min bunch was a group of four off 3 min.  Andrew “Sparky’ Rushton had appeared looking for some race pace to energise his legs and get his season wired up.  Darren Terry, EVCC’s newest little Spanish climber lead them up the first hill but endured the double shot of being dumped by his bunch and dispatched by Scratch as well.  Grant “Smokey” Dawson put everything into his race and despite fewer training miles in the legs than normal he didn’t shirk his duties on the front, eventually he pulled a massive turn, and Smokey was blowing smoke. In conditions that didn’t favour diminutive riders, the hyperactive Peter Kiel was as strong as a short black.  However, with the power in the bunch dwindling quickly the hunters soon became the hunted.  At the turn around they were about 2 minutes behind the Addams family that were rocketing for home.

Scratch could see the race up the road but try as they might it remained just out of reach.  Tony Mirabella is more machine than man these days and fresh from his top ten finish at the Fred Icke the day before his performance today was impressive.  Phil Cartledge and Matt Bowman combined with him to narrow the gap to the 3 min bunch to 20 seconds on the line, with a watchful Tony accounting for Matt in the sprint for fastest time.

So the race came down to the power of a group of four working as one.  They’re creepy and they’re kookie, mysterious and spooky but the Addam’s family were riding in formation, close enough to be in eachother’s pockets.  With the front of the race fracturing and the over-caffeinated Tony visible up the road popping up and down on his tiny gear, confidence was building.  They steamed through Coghills Creek, and darted up the little rise, this put the bite on Fester Lee’s legs and he cramped up and was dropped, Lurch, Gomez and IT rounded Donovan Rd corner with a 2 min lead and pressed for home.  Richard and Peter wound it up with 1 km to go, John was struggling holding a wheel and when Richard decided he was going to be the one, only Peter could go with the acceleration.  With the race between the two of them, professional etiquette was observed, which each rider insisting that the other take the well deserved win. Eventually Richard took the “sprint” from the chair.  Creekie hung in there for a distant third, surprisingly Tony Herbert finished ahead of the fast closing 3 min bunch for fourth, while Kiely sprinting hard for fifth.

Special thanks to our sponsors for this race series, Europa Café, who have donated a $50 voucher to the winning rider of each race and the overall series winner.

Results:

1st – Richard Adams (9 min)

2nd – Peter Livitsanis (9 min)

3rd – John Creek (9 min)

4th – Tony Herbert (19 min)

5th – Peter Kiel (3 min)

Fastest Time – Tony Mirabella (Scratch), 1hr 27m 22s

Ride of the Day – Tony Herbert (19 min)

 

2015
Winter Aggregate Race Series
 

The Eureka Vets CC are excited to welcome Europa Café on as a new sponsor in 2015.

Kathryn and Jason wanted to be involved with the club and we can think of no better place to relax,
either apres velo (after cycling) or just because it’s warm and friendly.

Europa Café is located right in the centre of Ballarat at
411 Sturt Street.
Just a block and 1/2 “up” from the Town Hall, Europa Café is perfectly situated close to the Central Square shopping precinct.

Europa is a spacious, inexpensive family style café, where the coffee is great and the buzz is lively.
The lunch/dinner menu is seasonal and ranges from Italian to venturesome and imaginative Middle Eastern and Asian dishes.
The wine list is extensive and admirable with many by the glass.
All day breakfast at Europa has become something of an institution.
If you are visiting from out of town you should have at least one breakfast during your stay…
if you are a local Kathryn, Jason and the team look forward to seeing you again and again and again…

Open everyday from 7:00am for breakfast and lunch.

www.europacafe.com.au

Davidson’s Blinds Handicap.  Weatherboard circuit with a new top and tail. 52.7 km

Tony “the Roman” Blinds ‘em

Some say Tony Mirabella is the product of secret medical experiments behind the iron curtain, and that his tendons have the zip of overwound blind springs.  Today, Tony “the Roman” took full advantage of his window of opportunity, with a superhuman sprint for first and fastest.

Perfect sunny conditions greeted the riders on the start line, with just a zephyr of breeze from the NE to challenge them on the Avenue.  Usually the sort of conditions that favour the front of the race…but not today.

First away off 24 mins was Stay-away Ray and his new side-kick.  Yes, Ray had company for a change – in the form of the new and improved John Faulkner.  With his doctors blessing, John has commenced his comeback.  He has ambitions and a renewed hunger for racing again which will only see him improve every week.  This week John and Ray made a great fist of it.  Riding two-up and being chased by bigger bunches, they lead the race until late into the last lap – an admirable achievement.
John’s efforts rewarded with Ride of the Day.

The chasing 14 min bunch (of three) made steady progress on the Ray/Faulkner duo.  They stayed clear of the chasers until the end of the penultimate lap.  Graeme Parker was in great nick.  Tony Herbert was struggling on the hills, but otherwise raced on-pace.  And Rob Young is making huge improvements with every race.  Rob has been moved back a good 10 minutes since starting with the club this year.

Today the race was brewing from the middle markers back.  With the race drawing together at an even rate like a perfect pleated curtain, the 6 min seamstresses were stitching together the bunches up the road.
Brian Lee was rock solid despite limited racing over the last month.  Duncan Bates provided much needed strength, he had more to give but the bunch was keen to stay together and work as one.  John Creek struggled early but found a rhythm by mid race, by the time the race drew together he wasn’t pedalling squares anymore.  Bob Morley captained the bunch, moderating the enthusiasm and monitoring progress (poorly). To the surprise of the rest, Peter “Fifi” Livitsanis had been granted a lift into the bunch and was frisky on the hills.

Two laps to go and the Morley bunch rounded up the 10 min bunch of Ed Rozycki, Kevin Popeye Lee, gentleman Barry Robinson and new rider – on his maiden club race – Louis Nuspan.
Louis was draped over the most strikingly orange bike ever seen and was a driving force in the bunch early.  Ed was riding well and even worked a few turns with the 6 min guys.  For his great early season form Barry, has been moved back a bunch, while he found the going solid, he rode a smart race, the draw string only snapping when Scratch came through.  At the end of that lap, they caught up with Graeme’s 14 min lads just at the bottom of Hendersons Hill.  Fifi took a fly at the hill to try to dislodge a few, but his attempt was about as substantial as an organza curtain, with most finding what they needed to stay in touch.  Graeme in particular was impressive as he steamed up the short incline.

Rounding the corner into the Avenue for the last time and the call came from Rocky (marshal) on the corner “4 mins, 4 mins to the front”.
That sounded like a lot!  Ray and John must have been digging deep to still be that far out.  However they were fast running out of juice and as they rounded into Weatherboard Rd for the last time is was curtains for them as what was left of the 6,10 and 14 min combine bunch took the race lead.
Morley swivels around in his chair and reports back that Scratch are still 1.5km behind!  Unfortunately he hadn’t swivelled far enough, in fact Scratch and second Scratch were on top of them and 10 sec later were storming past.  From a feeling of complacency it was now time to scramble.
The scratch trio of Phil Cartledge, Tony Mirabella and Brendan Scheimer had been working smoothly and efficiently and for their efforts had caught the larger second scratch markers of Rob Phillips, Grant Smokey Dawson, Darren Terry, Peter Kiel and Dave Peters by mid race.
These 8 combined to chase the rest of the field.  Rob’s new bike must only have one tiny gear on the back and at a cadence of about 80 rpm he ground along like a black steam train.  Darren is always strong and ensured no rest.  In contrast to Philips, Peter Kiel is like the Energiser Bunny, animated and high revving.  Smokey was also riding well, although he took some interesting gambles late in the race.  Dave “Pixie” Peters struggled, yo-yoing off the back and working hard to get back on, occasionally with the assistance of farm machinery.

Into the last lap, the field had all come together on Weatherboard Rd.  Phil led everyone through the chicane at rapid pace which dislodged a few at the back who didn’t have the acceleration out of the corner to rejoin.  Then up the Henderson’s Rd Hill for the last time, terrible Tony, Brendan, Kiely and Phil turned the screws.  Fifi jumped on and the five crested with a bit of a gap.  However, despite the urging of Tony to press on, the five eased off and the stronger chasing riders found back wheels by the Avenue corner.

On toward the pig farm at a leisurely clip, occasionally interrupted by the impetuous, although no-one bold enough for a long distance raid.  Round the final corner and Smokey sneaks off the front into the headwind.  Duncan controls the pace of the pack to maintain the gap to Smokey (or perhaps to give him half a chance to increase his gap).  No one is interested in being the one to close Smokey down and they left him to fry.

The shutters went up for those that fancied a sprint finish, and the race took a deep breath.  Inevitably, with the finish line approaching, someone’s nerve would break, in the end Fifi took off after Smokey.  The junction was made and the curtain was raised on the free-for-all sprint finale.
Tony, Brendan and Kiely opened up simultaneously and whipped up the right, Phil chose suicide inside left, and the four of them took it to the line with Rob and Darren on their heels.
Tony took the lead 50m out and was never headed.  Phil’s line started to close out but he had enough space and pace to take second, with Brendan third and Kiely fourth.

Results:

1st and fastest – Tony Mirabella (scratch)
2nd – Phil Cartledge (scratch)
3rd – Peter Kiel (2 min)
4th – Brendan Schiemer (scratch)
5th – Darren Terry (2 min)
RoD – John Faulkner (limit)

Our Sponsor this week:

 

 

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