Brunswick Cycling Club

15 enthusiastic rollers joined us in the East Brunswick Club’s function room for another round of roller racing fun. After flying 200m times were set by everyone we kicked off the racing with matched sprints. Riders were matched very closely in each round and this lead to some of the closest racing we’ve seen yet.

Match sprints were followed by the roller Madison, in which pairs of riders completed 3 laps of the dial swapping ‘turns’ each time their needles crossed over. Jibber Jabber Bailey and Benji Leaderman made use of some great coaching from their holders to get each change spot-on and take out the round well ahead of all other pairings. Some teams had very fast times, but sloppy changes cost them seconds at crucial points and put them well down in the standings.

Following the madison, 1 lap handicaps were held with the advantages being based on qualifying and performance in the match sprints. Tight racing was again the feature including a nailbitingly close finish between Stu Weir and Jason Malcolm that required the collective force of all present to resolve.

Chooka was on hand to officially recognise any Chooka Challenge attempts, and even offered to give any rider who beats the 1:02 for four laps $100. Penny Robinson was the only rider game enough to take on the mammoth challenge, but on her low gearing was unable to go under 2 minutes.

The finals were for the first-timers this round. All four of our finalists having their first night on the rollers, very quickly mastering the balance and having a huge go at each race. In the bronze ride off Cam established a comfortable lead and rode out the final lap into the medal position. In the race for gold, Benji (leaderman) was unable to bridge the 120m advantage given to his opponent Ben Wilke and they both covered the two laps at almost right angles.

We raised $246 on the night which has been donated along with the $135 from January’s event to the Red Cross Victorian Fire Appeal. Thanks to all our helpers on the night: Dave Morgan, Sheryl Vicino, Ian & Vanessa Beattie, Brendan “Jibber Jabber” Bailey and Phil Bushell. Thanks also to our wonderful event sponsors Cycle Underground, Padre Coffee, boogiboy designer clothing and of course The East Brunswick Club.

See you again in May!

• Full round 12 results
• Photos from Sarah and Omar
• Series information

This entry was posted by N. Fraser on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 2:48 pm and is filed under Reports, Social.