27 July 2013 Combined Clubs Criterium

A small roll-up again of only 20 riders, but great weather by time the racing got under way. An early south easterly wind met a tail wind sprint. By the time B grade started it was almost still. The short track was again used for C & D, but switched to the big track for the A graders.

D Grade

In D grade there was only a small field including junior Nicholas Markey. Nicholas was given a handicap and the three chasers took some time to reel Nicholas in. The workhorse in the group Dave Flohr tried to shake his two younger tailgaters but was unable to. Dave worked the whole race saving little for the sprint and Ben Lingard outsprinting Thomas Markey for the win.
1st Ben Lingard
2nd Thomas Markey
3rd Dave Flohr
1st junior Nicholas Markey

C Grade

A field of 8 rode strongly together sticking together most of the race. Nick Vroomans stepped up a grade and handled the pace well. With 2 to go the field was together. Michael (sharp dog) Sharpe was obviously saving something up and went with 2 to go putting a big gap into the field initially. But the field was saving too, chased hard and ran Sharpy down with ½ a lap to
go! Riding conservatively was Nathan Sander saving the best for last. With the lead going right out of the final corner Nathan jumped left at the gully and picked up the win by approx. 5 bike lengths. 2nd was Heath Mengel who continues his good form. Rod Lingard picked up third after doing a lot of early work. Tori Watson snuck home for 4th.
1st Nathan Sander
2nd Heath Mengel
3rd Rod Lingard

A&B Grade combined

With the NRTS on at Kingaroy a large number of the A graders were away, leaving only 2 to line up with the B graders. To the B graders credit they kept the A graders at bay until the 2 final laps. Early in the race many attacks happened by different riders but most short lived. All were together for the first 15 mins or so then James Orchard made his mark with 3-4 short attacks over the 2nd half of the race. Dropping a rider or 2 with each surge, there were only 5 going into the final 3 laps. James put down the hammer with 2 go and left the rest to sprint for 2nd. James won by the length of the straight. Mal Kranenbring beat Peter Pellicaan over the line for 2nd. Kent Bauer faded just to be 4th.
1st James Orchard
2nd Mal Kranenbring
3rd Peter Pellicaan