The last race of the year was held on December 2009 at the Traffic Education Centre circuit. After a series of tough road races held in the hot conditions in November and December, the criterium race format made a welcome change.
There were enough riders for three grades, with A grade racing 30 minutes + 2 laps, B grade 25+2 and C grade 20+1. Evenly matched fields ensured good racing in all three grades.
A grade featured attacks from a number of different riders, including Mick Hoult, Rob Tindale, Andrew Kirk, and Cody Burton. In the main these were quickly shut down and the finish came down to a bunch sprint, easily won by Mitch Bullen from Mick Hoult in second and Andrew Kirk and John Scott-Hamilton to close to call for third place.
B grade was also a good race with Dave Jenner winding up from a long way out, and with 10 metres to go it looked like he would hang on for the win. But Brent Weston came off Nick Myhill’s wheel with great speed to win by a tyre width. Nick finished in third place.
In her first race with the club for some time, Gillian Backhouse rode extremely well with some strong turns in the lead throughout the race before finishing with the main bunch.
Dene Bourke was racing the criterium format for the first time, and while he rode strongly lost touch with the main bunch in the final stages of the race. He then latched onto a breakaway from A grade and continued riding with them for several minutes after B grade had finished!
C grade was dominated by Craig Burton, Mark Haydon, Bob Murison and Dave Rubie who all worked strongly throughout, with Angus Swan hanging on by the skin of his teeth. It was again a close finish, with Mark Haydon in the lead going to the line, just overhauled by a fast finishing and determined Craig Burton. Angus came in third just ahead of Bob and Dave.