Carl Hooton achieved a first Armidale Cycling Club handicap road race win on Saturday, recording his fastest average speed on the Long Swamp course in the process. It was a day when a big early group battled hard to stay away and despite some hard chasing from those behind, pulled off a great win, ensuring the Road Racer Competition remains alive and well with just one round remaining.
The forecast confirmed heavy rain for the whole weekend and consequently the elite road cycling fraternity of Armidale had mentally switched off with little prospect of racing on Saturday afternoon. With barely any wind to blow it around, somehow, the much-needed rain fell everywhere in NSW except for a 7.5km stretch of Long Swamp Road in Armidale, ensuring Round 9 of the 2018 Road Racer of the Year was well and truly on.
A large group of 8, including Hooper, trundled off the start line just four and half minutes after solo starter Jo Wauch. Another group was two minutes further back at which point there was a healthy gap to the last ten riders who formed three smaller groups with 3m:15s between them. Following his impressive effort in the crosswinds last weekend, Hammy found himself part of the furniture in Scratch with Dave Munday and Houlty for company. This group had some work to do to get to the Block trio of Johnny, Tom and Rob Hale but they clearly rated their chances despite Johnny’s impressive sledging on the start line.
The calm conditions translated into some smooth and fairly rapid progress across all the groups. At the end of lap one, Jo still lead, but her advantage had tumbled to just 31s on the group of 8 ahead, with Hooper and Chris Stace looking determined to make this one count. Bourkey, Tinny and Pete Hosking had managed to make a slight inroad to this bunch but had lost Wilf along the way and turned in a tough spot, marooned between two larger groups. Behind them, Swanny and Jason were chasing hard with Pat Ferris and doing well to hold off Block who came close to making the catch across open ground but then lost time on Dump Hill. Scratch were also going well, and averaged 40.14kph for the first lap, but were still over a minute in arrears of Block at half-distance and perhaps just starting to fade a little.
Things stayed fairly consistent on the outward leg of the last lap at which point legs started to tire and gaps started to close. Block put in a sustained effort to catch the group ahead at three-quarter distance and this bunch then combined to try to reel in the leaders who were still over three minutes to the good. Up ahead, Captain Creagan succumbed on Imbota and Hooper’s group was now down to just six riders but by the bottom of Dump Hill they had the race in the bag. The nearest chasers were still almost two minutes behind and it was now a battle between the remaining half dozen heroes. Greg Flynn made it half way up the lower slope of Dump Hill before being shelled, followed by Wilko and then Hayden Freeman. That left a three-way battle but Chris Stace and Mitchell Jones couldn’t match the Hooper kick at the finish, settling for second and third place respectively.
Perhaps Johnny’s sledging did the trick as it wasn’t a day for Scratch, despite some solid racing, they only managed to make up 1m:15s on Block. That didn’t stop Dave Munday hitting hard over the final climb to finish with an average speed of 40.14kph and fastest time on the day. Notably, both his laps were an identical and well-paced 22m:55s, giving him his second-fastest race on Long Swamp. Several other riders also posted some great times with well-earned PBs for Greg Flynn, Tom Simmonds, Pat Ferris, Paul Whitford and Paul Williams.
With just one round remaining, seven riders are still in with a shout at claiming the 2018 Road Racer of the Year title but that list doesn’t include reigning champion Chris Stace although he could still easily finish as runner-up, if things go his way next week. The final round is 3 weeks away and Pat Ferris might need to swap duty on that day, or rely on his 4 points to get him over the line if current leader Rob Hale doesn’t race.
Congratulations to winner Carl Hooton on a great and well-deserved maiden handicap race win. Many thanks to Alex Thomas for being on sign duty and running the race and well done to everyone for another hard-fought and enjoyable afternoon of racing.
Please try to support the Tamworth cycling festival next weekend which includes a hill climb, criterium and road race across the two days. For those unable to travel, we’ll hold a 20km ITT on Dangarsleigh so lots of opportunity to tune-up those legs ahead of the NSW State Masters on 22-24 September.
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