Week 1 - (19th June) please feel free to add Race Reports.
Artson:
RAW Track
Week 1 Report
It was cold, but I guess that is what you expect sometimes when you Race All Winter. RAW Track 09 kicked off last Friday and it was great to see so many returning riders. It was even more exciting to see so many RAW Track virgins. Div 4 and 3 had to be split to ensure a safer passage for riders in these divisions.
Highlights of each round.
Round 1 warm up Scratch race.
It was clear that some of our first time riders underestimated their ability, especially in the lower grades with the majority of early races being won by the proverbial country mile.
It was also clear in the early stages of the Div 1 race that a few riders were showing some first race jitters as the pace line was snaking around the track. Eventually the top riders got their act together and the pace line picked up and smoothed out. Jackson Law took the first of what I would expect to be many wins for 2009 season.
Round 2 RAW Track Pass’n’Out Wheel-Race
The top two riders from Div 4 – 1 lined up for this interesting adaption to the standard Wheel-Race. The difference was that if you were passed by a rider you were instantly eliminated. Immediately from the start tactics became clear as the two Div 1 riders joined together to start mowing down the already depleted leading riders. With only 2 laps remaining we were down to two riders Div 4 rider George Lowe holding a slender 60m lead over Div 1 rider Scott Law. It seemed that Scott would easily catch the Div 4 rider; however George showed some serious speed and held all his advantage to take a great victory.
A little investigation revealed that George was a very competent triathlete who was trying track racing for the first time. So far he had 100% record at track racing 2 wins from 2 starts.
Round 3 Win’n’Out
One of my private joys of this race is when a rider goes all out for the first sprint and just misses it. They then find themselves a small distance in front of the bunch and wisely decide to keep going only to be rolled on the line. Still in the lead they bravely continue on but get completely blasted as they approach the line for the third sprint. My compliment s goes to Ross Clague who fulfilled my private joy. Ross got beaten by Jason Ingram in the first sprint, pipped by Madison Law in the second sprint and demolished by Ian Dencker in the third before he assumed the foetal position in the middle of the track.
Round 4 Points Race (Over 15 laps 3 sprints)
David Evens is a rider with great credentials on the road riding for the North Sydney based KOM team. However this was track racing and David was struggling with positioning in the Div 3 field. That was until he worked out a successful tactic. David made his way to the front to contest the first sprint which he won from a long lead-out, he then basically stayed on the front for the remaining 10 laps to take out the last 2 sprints. Whenever anyone tried to take the lead from him he would simply ride faster. I wish racing was that easy!
Final night combines
After having a very successful debut in track racing, George Lowe lined up for the Div 3 + 4 combine. There is very little I could write that would elaborate on the action you will see on this clip www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmyDr_xODqE
Really worth watching.
CNSW / Swerve Cafe Time Blaster
Scott Law has had a traumatic year
• Set national record in 200m fly
• Wins Silver medal at Jnr Worlds (South Africa) as a first year
• Training for Nationals has serious accident with car
• Brakes leg doing permanent damage to knee joint
• Second shot at Worlds dashed.
• Has to learn how to walk again.
• Finally gets back on bike around March
• Early May is involved in a pre-race accident that puts his Dad in a comma and Brother in hospital.
Look out World Scott Law is on his way back! Taking small but important steps he won the Time Blaster in 8 minutes 54 seconds to win the $100. I am sure the $100 meant very little compared to the reassurance that he is making progress in the right direction.
all photo's by actionsnaps www.actionsnaps.com.au
Michael C:
Quote
Round 3 Win’n’Out
One of my private joys of this race is when a rider goes all out for the first sprint and just misses it. They then find themselves a small distance in front of the bunch and wisely decide to keep going only to be rolled on the line. Still in the lead they bravely continue on but get completely blasted as they approach the line for the third sprint. My compliment s goes to Ross Clague who fulfilled my private joy. Ross got beaten by Jason Ingram in the first sprint, pipped by Madison Law in the second sprint and demolished by Ian Dencker in the third before he assumed the foetal position in the middle of the track.
win 'n out is the devil....
mikesbytes:
I've got a thread on another forum where I post my results, but I'd thought I'd put a copy of them here for the trackies.
First a bit of background, I'm a MMAS4 rider who started racing for about 3 years ago, 2 years at the track, though not a lot of races there. Getting to Dunc Grey on Friday night has had its challenges and often I'd ride the 30 odd k's from Chatswood to get there.
Over summer I got more into track racing and was interested in doing a full season at RAW this winter, however I crashed racing at Tempe on Jan 29, breaking my ribs and puncturing a lung, the result of a crank arm failure.
With time off the bike my fitness suffered and the track bike had it its use by date, I didn't end up back on the track bike until 2 weeks before RAW.
On week 1 I couldn't make it so I did 2 spin classes and then the reason I couldn't make it disappeared and I called Christian up to see if he could transport my bike. Rode out Dunc Grey from the CBD. Anyway enough waffle, here's my report
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Race 1 - 10 lap scratch
Didn't arrive in time for warmup, so it was straight onto a race. I was dropped after 7 laps, the glutes gave out, not surprised in the slightest.
Race 2 - some sort scratch sprint
Not my kind of race, not particularly interested, however I changed my seat height between races and wanted to test it out, so I came out onto the the track a couple of seconds after the race started and sprinted around by myself, so to test the new seat height.
Race 3 - 12 lap points race
Scored down to 4th place, I was still struggling but my legs were getting better as the evening went on. I didn't contest the earlier sprints, but as the field got thinner, I managed to hang on, ie not get dropped and I went for it on the final sprint, but I was pipped on the line for 4th, I think, the other rider wasn't sure who got 4th, but you don't know if your won, but you do know when you lost. So zero points for me, but I was getting further towards the front.
Watching the video later, I could see that I did an excellent job of positioning myself for the final sprint, but simply didn't have the legs.
Race 4 - 12 lap scratch race - Div 3 + top end Div 4 riders
Had myself in a good position with one lap to go, up the track where it was a good to get a clean sprint, but I was a bit slow on the first 150mtrs of the last lap, then I started to sprint and immediately I had to slam on the brakes (back peddal), which isn't particularly obvious on the video, instead of gaining metres on those in front, I had to loose them and just as well, as I only just managed to miss him. I felt that I had a chance of getting a placing, but in the end the achievement was not crashing. If only I had an on board camera. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmyDr_xODqE
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