On Friday, December 22, the Cycle Club held Bushy’s Christmas Pageant Track Night. All races had a Christmas theme in the title, carols were coming out of the speakers and Christmas cake was sitting there to keep us all fueled up. First up was the juniors All I Want For Christmas is a two lap scratch race.
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The three girls had a cracking race with Katelyn Rawlinson attacking on the final lap and making Elsie Apps and Caitlin Bensley chase.
Elsie and Caitlin worked hard and caught and passed Katelyn with Elsie just getting the win from Caitlin B with Katelyn R third.
C Grade Deck the halls with a five lap scratch race was next and is always a guess as to who will win each week. This week Belinda Smith outclassed the more experienced racers to take victory from Chris Bushell second and Emma St Vincent a solid third.
A and B Here comes Santa five lap scratch race was very civil for the first three laps with each rider taking half lap turns. Coming into the fourth lap no one wanted to lead the pack. Chris Berry found himself on the front and stayed there leading into the last lap. And true to form Chris attacked early.
This got everyone excited and the race was on. Jacob Emmerton and Wayne Bensley passed Chris and opened up a gap on the field. Wayne tried to come around the outside but had to settle for second from Jacob and a fast finishing Paul Parlett in third.
Juniors Jingle Bells two lap handicap saw the three girls spread out over 150 meters. Caitlin B and Elsie came together quickly and started working together to catch Katelyn R. But the race didnt go there way and Katelyn managed to stay away for victory from Caitlin B and Elsie third.
Seniors Joy to the world five lap handicap was never going to be joyful. Chris Berry and Wayne were the out-markers on 225 meters with Brian and Emma next and Josh Daniels just behind them. A big gap back to Paul and than Callum and Jacob on scratch. After three years of racing handicaps together Chris and Wayne finally had it worked out and were looking solid working together out front.
Josh worked hard trying to make contact after passing Brian and Emma but with no one to help he ran out of puff and had to just pedal to the finish solo.
Jacob Callum and Paul worked hard until Paul fell off and the two Emmerton boys were left with a hard chase to reel in the out markers.
The pace was to hot for Chris and his job was done after three laps and Wayne was left to go solo to the line. Unfortunatly he couldn’t hold out and with 100 meters to go Callum flew past for first and Jacob not far behind got second and Wayne third.
Rudolph the red nose chariot race had the juniors line up for a standing start lap dash. Elsie was the quickest around the track and had the red glowing nose leading the way for first place.
In C grade Emma was quickest away but was soon passed by the two more mature riders of Chris Bushell and Des Kidd and had a ding dong battle for first and second with Emma third from Belinda who miscounted how many laps the race was.
B grade little drummer chariot race was a battle between Josh and Chris after Wayne had a sluggish start and still felling the effects of the handicap race was never in the race. Chris made Josh work the whole way for his first place, won after a protest for coming out of the sprinters lane was upheld.
A grade have yourself a merry chariot race saw only two line up. Callum and Jacob were still recovering from there big effort in the handicap race. They were happy to sit out and watch the big powerful sprinters go against each other.
Paul has been working hard on his standing starts for his worlds campaign and it was on point Friday night. He blitzed the start and Brian was left with a hard 400 meter chase once he wound his big gear up.
But the advantage from his start was to great and Paul managed to stay away for victory.
Frosty the snowman’s three lap scratch race will finish off a great night for the girls.
They were happy to keep the race a sensible pace and all took turns out front. As they started the last lap no one was keen to up the pace early.
With about 300 meters to race all three stood up across the track for a drag race to the line. Again Elsie took the quickest line at the bottom of the track making the others try to come around the outside. Katelyn R faded first and came in third with Caitlin B in second and Elsie a solid first place.
Do you hear what I Hear 10 lap scratch race was definetly what C grade wanted to hear after a solid nights racing.
Although with the tempo they were setting you would of thought it was there first race.
It was anyone’s race as they traded places the last couple of laps. Belinda was looking good to sprint around the outside of Chris in the last 50 meters but just ran out of track and finished second less than half a wheel behind Chris with Emma in third.
A and B combined again for their It’s beginning to look a lot like a 20-lap scratch race.
This race is always a race of attraction for the B graders who try to hang on as long as possible. All was going well until Jacob attacked after Chris swung off the front, leaving him off the back and out of the race. Paul tried to bridge across but with Callum unwilling to work with him it went nowhere.
Wayne saw an opportunity to use the tail wind to his advantage and attacked from the back dragging Paul and Callum with him till they caught Jacob. After that effort he was happy to sit back and set his own tempo and finish solo to the line. The three A graders attacked each other for the remainder of the race with Callum winning from Jacob with Paul pushing them all the way for third.
The trackies now have a break until January 6, when the club hosts its annual Track Power Carnival sponsored by Whites Tractors and Atkinson and Stalker Dental Surgery. Juniors start at 2pm and seniors at 3.30pm. Entry into the track is free and a canteen is on site for all our food and drinks. We look forward to seeing you down there supporting the local riders battle it out with some of the best riders going around.