(not dissing, the track reports from Heffron, i love them! keep it up!)So yes, as you may have read from the state titles thread, Simon (Llewellyn) was a bit stuffed for this open having ridden a points race an hour before, which is 160 fast fast fast paced laps, with even faster sprints, against at least 6 or more riders that are considered professional as they dont work, just ride) as well as an omnium the night before. so he was a bit under the weather for the night, though still in high spirits!
Matt Walman was there fresh as a bird, and pumped for his first ever track open at Dunc Grey, pumped at thought of starting from 170 meters in the wheel race heats, and with the support of his lovely girl friend who i have forgotten the name of (though i an tell you that she studying a doctorate in history, which i thought would be of interest as there are so many people around here with degrees of that caliber!)
And i was there having ridden my favorite event of the year that morning the match sprint, and looking just to have fun.
The night started well, with a 6 lap heat for some thing called the lightning sprint, which is a 3 lap wheel race, i jumped on the front of the heat that me, matt and keithy Oliver were in, trying to slow the pace, hoping Keith would fly off, with matt on his tale, but it didn’t happen, and we got rolled by two guys, leaving matt a bit behind in the sprint.
Simon in the same race was feeling a bit tired i think, not sure how he went.
The women of Bisci sport on the day, and night had a blinder! Katrina lane, is now a state sprint bronze medalist! (gold going to Jinjie Gong, who narrowly beat Katrina in the semi finals), and Donna Meehan took home a second in the lightning sprint final (taken on the line by a current world junior champion) then a third in the women’s wheel race!!
For Dulwich hill, we didn’t have as much happening on the women’s side of things, though Matt’s girl friend said she would think about at least training with us down at Tempe once every so often, though more for the atmosphere, than the killer instinct.
In our wheel race heats, Simon and Paul Meehan where in the first heat, me and matt in the second. Simon still looking a bit tired didn’t make the final but did put in a humungous effort. I on the other hand didn’t put in a humungous effort in my start at all, which annoyed a guy called Gil carver (father of Alex) who was right on my wheel, he then proceeded to fly past me, leaving me with nothing to do but to jump on his wheel
he then proceeded to ride for 5 or so laps with me on his wheel with two to go, i was expecting people to start flying over me, so i decided to go past him, riding along waiting for every one to fly past still. Turns out, i made a break, and won the race?! I don’t know what happened to any one else, but owe an amazing amount to Gil In the final (which only i made it into), Gil, didn’t fly past me, but instead sat on me until i caught the little lad from warratah vets who absolutely killed me in his start, before we formed some sort of group of 5. We then rode for 4 or 5 laps, before i decided it was time to go around them. Just as i was going from my 4th spot in the group in the front, the lad in the front pulled up, and i had to totally ride wide around him, despite this, i made a bit of a break, before some one or other jumped on my wheel (its amazing how much you have no idea what’s going on in a wheel race when you start so far forward?!) and with less than a lap to go 4 guys flew past me. I counted them, and there was only four so i kept riding and took 5th
Turns out i led out one of the Law men, who is another one of the roadrunner dads along with Gil carver, so I guess give or take a bit, i owed them any way But yeah I’m stoked with 5th place in a wheel race
The next race of the night was a missing out, which they forced me and matt into the actual elite class, which had no vets, they had their own races?! Our heat had not only Simon Llewellyn and David Brown, but also the second seeded match sprint champion Andrew Taylor (one of the riders that rode a 10.7 flying 200) as well as one of the top road runner lads?!
But yes, despite this Matt our missing out hero hung on for third!!
The last race of the night was a scratch race, which matt sat in well, doing allot of time at the front, but didn’t end up with a top three.
All in all an amazingly good night for me
A great day for Simon,and first shout for matt, as it turns out his spot was the only one that actually earnt any money?! (they didn’t pay for the heats, and only to 4th for the final?!)