Crit Races 22.1.11

A fine afternoon saw 24 riders line up for the much loved crit race around the TEC track.

C Grade

A mix of grizzled veterans and cherub faced youngsters set off on a 35 minutes plus two laps race led out by Bob Murison and Pete Creagan. Would they be able to shake off  Chicka who was aiming for a third win in a row?
(Read on and find out).

After a leisurely first lap (where was Wilfried?) the pace hotted up and the merry chatter stopped, except for Karlee who showed her usual dexterity in combining pedaling extremely fast and talking. New boys Dewald and John G seemed to enjoy the race so far.

19 minutes into the race, Dave R dropped off the back – he would continue to grimly circle the track on his own, his face a stony replica of Armstrong at his most competiteive in a mountain stage of the TdF (ed: THANKS WILF, MADE MY YEAR).
During the second part of the race, Bob, Pete, Dene and Dewald pulled away – ah, no, Chicka clinging like superglue was there as well. Adam, John, Freya, Karlee and Ray formed their own groups and battled each other for minor places.

On 20 minutes dewald was dropped and the familiar C Grade elite of Bob, Pete, Dene and (you guessed it) Chicka were ready to sprint for the honours. Surprise, surprise, Chicka took it from Dene, followed by Pete and Bob and Dewald rolling in in fifth. Well done, boys! The question on everyone’s lip is surely what hold has Chicka got over the handicapper?

A/B Grade

Just for a change, the race organiser carefully briefed the riders for a combined event with a difference: three “A” riders (Mick “Harold” Hoult, John Scott-Cannibal and Brent) were to leave  a few bike lengths in front of the rest of the riders and had to put one lap into the field for a 45 minutes plus 2 laps event. They had to stay together for 15 minutes and the ‘B’ riders were challenged to stay in touch for that period . . .

The three amigos took off like something pretty fast and time-trialed across the gap in just over 15 minutes, tempting the organiser to give them another lap to make up. On 23 minutes, John asks how many laps they needed to make up (NOTE: listen to the race briefing!) Two minutes later, John (he IS a trouble-maker)! and Brent took off from the AB group and the pace picked up forcing young Sam J to abandon as he couldn’t spin his gears fast enough to keep up with the big boys. On 29 minutes Hoult does the Bolt and takes after the two leaders and passes them with ease, eventually pulling nearly half a lap in front of the group. He maintained this advantage until two laps to go saw Brent close down the gap to 10 seconds for the final lap. Brent ran out of gears for the sprint and was beaten into
second place by John. Jason took third, followed by Col, Bill and Mick.