The Tuesday night was called off due to rain with the weather forecast tipping Thursday as a suitable replacement. Fortunately the forecast was correct and we had a great night with a light westerly that died off as the night went on to provide near perfect conditions for one lap record attempts later in the evening.

The nights programme included age graded 5 lap scratch races followed by 2 lap handicap races then in a departure from the routine we had all of the riders take part in team sprints. The wind eased and the light was plentiful so the riders were invited to have a go at breaking track records for the 1 lap standing start and then the evening concluded with longer age graded handicap races.

 

race assembly photo Kirsty Kaihau The last club race in 2011 was held at the mild undulating 9 km Tutaki circuit. A Small group of riders dropped the preparations for the festive season and came to race in windy conditions. Beacause of the low numbers A and B grade was combined to one field of 8 riders. They put on a good race. With attacks and break aways what finally resulted in a group of 4 riders sprinting for line honours. In this group it was Max Annaer just beating Steve Glasgow second and Eric Max Annaer Photo Kirsty Kaihau d’Arbois 3rd. During the race one rider decided to place an attack at the wrong side of the road what led to his disqualification. (We have to remember the playing field of our club races is the left hand side of the road)

Final night and unfortunately a lot of people were away as it clashed with school prizegivings.

At the end of the racing we all headed back to the Kairanga hall for nibbles and the series prizegiving.

People had commented that the results from the previuos week had not been posted on the web but that was a ploy so that the riders did not know the final standings as the points for those people that had attended every night were very close.

Overall there was only 4points between 1st place and 13th place. And a total of 13 people received prizemoney.

Click here for results

 

The weather forecast said rain and the heavy sky was not offering much hope that we could complete the race programme without having to stop because of rain. Wind was not an issue and the temperature was warm. Despite the poor forecast 33 optimistic cyclists made the trip to Feilding and 8 of them from the Levin club. The programme was made up of short scratch races followed by short handicap races then finished off with a longer handicap race. In between this 5 selected riders had a mini sprint competition.

The racing provided the usual tight contests and some extra ordinary racing as seen in the under 17 boys and girls 4 lap scratch race where Mark Finlay toyed with the opposition when he went from the gun and established a 50 metre gap in what seemed to be the first 100 metres. The chasing bunch did not panic or perhaps could not do much else but apply a solid effort to close the gap. Mark eased the effort and the bunch had caught him again after the first lap, at which point Mark again changed gear and opened a 20 metre gap in next to no time then eased off and the bunch caught again after lap two. Mark repeated the earlier exercise and opened up another 20 metre gap and still had it when the bell rang for the final lap. The bunch applied pressure through George Roberts and Jordan Castle and began to catch the struggling Finlay with 200 metres to go the under 15 Levin rider Connel Leahy rose from his seat and began his sprint for the line by taking a path around the outside of the chasing bunch , by the time he hit the home straight he only had the wavering Finlay in front of him but with a grimace and the outside lane he was able to catch and pass to take the win from the sheepish race leader.

Carnival results were as follows:

Under 19 Men and Senior Men miss and out

1st Angus Finlay

2nd Matiu Kaihau

3rd Luuk van Wantendonk

Under 19 women and Senior Women 4 lap scratch race

1st Kate Dudley

2nd Sharon Hollenstein

3rd Kelsi Eccles

4th Catherine Young

Under 17 Boys and Girls 4 lap scratch race

1st Connel Leahy

2nd Mark Finlay

3rd Jordan Castle

4th Cameron Gibbons

Under 15 Girls 4 lap scratch race

1st Michaela Drummond

2nd Renee George

3rd Lishona McKay

4th Britteny Baker

Under 15 Boys 4 lap scratch race

1st Josh Kendall

2nd Campbell Stewart

3rd James Cuff

4th Cody Simpson

200 Metre sprint first in series

Matiu Kaihau 18.01

Josh Chard 14.06

Gareth Warnock 14.68

Angus Finlay 13.83

Cameron Gibbons 14.08

Masters Men 4 lap scratch race

1st Peter Jenkins

2nd Marcel Hollenstein

3rd Ross Castle

4th Alex Jones

Under 15 Girls 3 lap handicap race

1st Michaela Drummond

2nd Emily Shearman

3rd Renee George

4th Lishona McKay

Under 15 Boys 3 lap handicap race

1st Cody Simpson

2nd Hayden Washington-Smith

3rd Chris Denholm

4th Jake van Leinen

Under 17 Boys 3 lap handicap race

1st Mark Finlay

2nd Kyle Davie

3rd Jordan Castle

4th Cameron Gibbons

Under 19 Women and Masters Women and Masters Men 3 lap handicap race

1st Ross Casstle

2nd Peter Jenkins

3rd Kate Dudley

4th Marcel Hollenstein

Under 15 Girls 6 lap handicap race

1st Simone Davie

2nd Michaela Drummond

3rd Lishona McKay

4th Renee George

Under 15 Boys 6 lap handicap race

1st Jake van Leinen

2nd Campbell Stewart

3rd Chris Denholm

4th Cody Simpson

Sprint series race 2- 1 versus 5

Angus Finlay 13.17

Matiu Kaihau DQ

Sprint series race 3- ride off 2,3 and 4

1st Josh Chard 13.82

2nd Cameron Gibbons

3rd Gareth Warnock

Under 17 Boys 10 lap points race

1st Mark Finlay 10 points

2nd Connel Leahy 6 points

3rd Jordan Castle 4 points

4th George Roberts 2 points

Sprint series final

1st Josh Chard

2nd Angus Finlay

U19 Women, Women, Masters Women, Masters Men, Senior Men and U19 Men 1st Matiu Kaihau

2nd Kate Dudley

3rd Sharon Hollenstein

4th Angus Finlay

Racing is held on Tuesday nights at Johnston Park Feilding with racing to start at 6.10pm. As the track is too slippery for the bikes if wet racing will be cancelled if it is raining.