Thankfully the cyclonic wind from Saturday was replaced with just a stiff breeze from the South. Temperatures were still cold at the start but soon warmed up once racing started. Being a handicap race there will always be riders trying to bribe the handicappers for a better start time but it didn’t seem to work with Jon and Brad, (personally their prices were too high).
Phil Leyden and Harvey Silk were given 32 minutes to make it to the finish before the scratch riders. Twelve minutes from scratch saw Adam, Errol, Tori and Charlie start, 7 minutes from scratch had a larger group of eight riders start and from scratch 9 riders started.
After the first lap the scratch riders were still 4 minutes behind the group in front with Phil and Harvey still holding their own with a handy lead. During the second lap riders started to pop from all the groups as the pace was holding steady even though the wind was increasing.
It was just after the second last corner on the final lap when the scratch riders caught the groups in front and as they went past a few of the front riders were able to jump on. In the end Phil had an easy run into the line, finishing ahead of the bunch sprint by a couple of minutes. Seb was able to out sprint Phil Muller for second with Rob Free fourth and Graham Day fifth. All the other riders were on the main straight by that time so it turned out to be good handicapping by Jon and Brad.
Phil finished with a time of 2hrs 8min but Seb finished with the fastest time of 1 hour 37min.
Thank you to the commissaries, TCC for putting out all the signage, the ladies on the rego table and to the riders for attending.
Thank you to Seb as well for donating his winnings to the Platinum Health Junior Development Squad.