Northern Vets Cycling Club

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The Fingal 50 lived up to its reputation as one of the toughest races on the Vets calendar with riders finishing the race in a state of exhaustion. While the back groups were yet to catch any groups in the first three quarters of the race, the D grade group were riding strongly to the front of the race. With 4km to go D grade could see that Scratch were getting close and Dale Hainsworth decided to make his run for it. While Scratch bought the entire field together at the 300m mark, Dale’s judgement paid off and he managed a well deserved win by this distance. In the bunch sprint it was Glenn Myler who took fastest time from Jason Andersch and Mark Wilkie who rode strongly all race off scratch.

In conditions that gave a good prelude to next Saturday’s Fingal Valley Festival 50, it was encouraging to see the superb ride of both Scott Smith and Jason Andersch of the BC group, who rode away from the rest of the A grade, with Scott winning the sprint to the line, and Michael Dalton winning the bunch “kick”. In B grade Andrew Flanagan is showing that he is not far from returning to his form of last year by beating Nathan Jackson in his first ride and the ever reliable Adam Sanders. Jeff McMahon, Peter Dadson and Neil Wesley all rode strongly to take out the places in C grade, while Dale Hainsworth once again showed why he is fast moving up the gradings by taking out D grade from Adam Ashton and Garry Pickett.

Andy Wells in his 4th ride, has improved from a puncture, a fall, now a place and a win by beating Ray Brien and Linda Sulzberger in E grade, with John Hillier defeating newcomers Rick Easton and Julianne James-Smith in F grade.

In very trying windy conditions The Northern Vets held their Point Score Race at Bishopsbourne. Despite numerous attacks by Glenn Myler, it was Michael Dalton who took out A grade once again with the Leedham / Dalton (Cycle Torque) combination proving very successful .Scott Smith returned to the Vets with impressive form to take out B from fellow BC rider Adam Sanders. Jason Turner in C grade showed he is coming back to form quickly while Dale Hainsworth in D Grade has started to show the benefit of his last couple of weeks racing, by winning the first 2 sprints, before Rob Weeks and Rob Nimmo attacked on the last lap and broke away from the rest of the group, fortunately Dale had gained enough points early to take out the win. Gary Baker in E grade and Hilary Ivery in F showed good form to win their races also.

The WFG Northern Vets saw two stand out rides from Scott Freeburgh and Luke Moore in B and C grades respectively. Scott Freeburgh continued his attacking riding style and went with 15km to go, and while Adam Sanders got within 30m of him at the line, the chase group underestimated Freeburgh's ability to stay away for that long in what was an exceptional ride over a tough course. Luke Moore signalled his intentions to move up a grade by riding off from his bunch for the 2nd week in a row. Moore rode off on the first major climb of the race and did not falter in what was another great individual effort.

Michael Dalton returned to the winner's list with a well timed attack in A grade. Mark Wilkie rode strongly all race and put in a good attack to bring the race to life, but it was Dalton who took the opportunity to counter the attack and hold on for the win. Michelle Dabner held off Gary Baker to take out a keenly contested E grade sprint, while Hilary Ivery and Christine Neil took out the two different race distances offered to F grade.

The Wills Financial Group Northern Vets saw D grade take out the major places in the Graded Handicap race. While the scratch bunch had a group of 8 who worked well, they only managed to pick up a scattering of dropped riders. The signs did not look good when they saw B Grade and C Grade come together just after the half way mark as scratch were approaching the turn. This bunch of 25 looked like they had the potential to take control of the race, however they were unable to combine successfully and D grade stuck together to take out the race. Leigh Kerrison was always going to be tough to beat in the sprint and took out the race from Garry Pickett. Newcomer Adam Ashton has taken to racing well and finished a solid 3rd in only his 2nd race. The boys from Cycle Torque and Coffee were well represented this week and look set to become a force at the Vets, taking it right up to the friendly rivalry between the other bike shop teams out there.