Brunswick Cycling Club

On Sunday April 26th, the first Masters Omnium championships were held at DISC. Even though initially the event was to be staged as a trial event, entries were strong enough and CycleSport Victoria made it into a championship event. The Omnium is the pentathalon of track cycling – five different track event disciplines which must be completed in order to achieve a finish and best overall is decided via a points system (lowest points after the five events wins). The five events of the omnium are, the flying 200m, scratch race, individual pursuit, point score and time trial.

Some 50+ entries across the categories were received for the championships and Brunswick CC fielded 12 riders, those being;

WMAS3+	Sophie Patten
WMAS1&2	Claire Campbell
WMAS1&2	Leah Paterson
WMAS1&2	Sue McCarthy
MMAS6&7	Robert DeBernadi
MMAS6&7	Peter Ganss
MMAS5	Alan Comte
MMAS4	Phillip Boelen
MMAS4	Phil Bushell
MMAS4	Walter Dapcich
MMAS3	Ian Nolan
MMAS1&2	David Kneen

We should mention that both Sophie Patten and Phillip Boelen haven’t raced much and both have been recently attending the Sunday morning track sessions at DISC run by Phil Bushell or at BCC Tuesday night track racing – so great effort to Sophie and Phillip to contest the championships.

The day wasn’t too conducive to quick times as it was cold when we started at 10am, and it just seemed to get colder throughout the day!

First event was the flying 200m. Peter Ganss rode away with the best time in the MMAS6&7 category and most of the other BCC riders were up near the top of the respectivecatogory tables. Results were;

WMAS3+	Sophie Patten		14.957	Rank 4	Prog Pts 4
WMAS1&2	Claire Campbell		15.099	Rank 5	Prog Pts 5
WMAS1&2	Leah Paterson		13.398	Rank 2	Prog Pts 2
WMAS1&2	Sue McCarthy		13.616	Rank 3	Prog Pts 3
MMAS6&7	Robert DeBernadi	14.198	Rank 4	Prog Pts 4
MMAS6&7	Peter Ganss		12.825	Rank 1	Prog Pts 1
MMAS5	Alan Comte		13.118	Rank 3	Prog Pts 3
MMAS4	Phillip Boelen		14.809	Rank 8	Prog Pts 8
MMAS4	Phil Bushell		13.252	Rank 4	Prog Pts 4
MMAS4	Walter Dapcich		13.257	Rank 5	Prog Pts 5
MMAS3	Ian Nolan		12.157	Rank 3	Prog Pts 3
MMAS1&2	David Kneen		13.031	Rank 10	Prog Pts 10

A highlight of the F200 was when Lou Pascuzzi (Carnegie-Caulfield) attempted to ride up the vertical section at the top of turn 3/4 on his F200 coming to the bell – interesting move!!!

Next up was the scratch races and here all the divisions contested a 5km (20 lap event). Here we (BCC) didn’t score any wins, but again we filled many of the minor placings.

WMAS3+	Sophie Patten		6th	Prog Pts 10
WMAS1&2	Claire Campbell		5th	Prog Pts 10
WMAS1&2	Leah Paterson		4th	Prog Pts 6
WMAS1&2	Sue McCarthy		3rd	Prog Pts 6
MMAS6&7	Robert DeBernadi	4th	Prog Pts 8
MMAS6&7	Peter Ganss		3rd	Prog Pts 4
MMAS5	Alan Comte		4th	Prog Pts 7
MMAS4	Phillip Boelen		7th	Prog Pts 15
MMAS4	Phil Bushell		5th	Prog Pts 9
MMAS4	Walter Dapcich		4th	Prog Pts 9
MMAS3	Ian Nolan		4th	Prog Pts 7
MMAS1&2	David Kneen		9th	Prog Pts 19

Following the scratch race a short break was called, and then everyone had to face the challenge of the individual pursuit – the distances cut from the normal so MMAS4 who normally do 3000m did 2000m, etc… Here Alan Comte came up trumps, winning the MMAS5 category. Resplendent in the BCC colours, Alan decked out his bike with the Carbon disc rear wheel and carbon pursuit bars (courtesy of Oliver Phillips) and looked a picture of pursuiting. Other notable results were Phil Bushell who achieved 4th in MMAS4 – impressive given Phil tends to stick to the sprinting events as his mainstay.

WMAS3+	Sophie Patten		1500m	2:18.02	Rank 5	Prog Pts 15
WMAS1&2	Claire Campbell		1500m	2:16.06`Rank 5	Prog Pts 15
WMAS1&2	Leah Paterson		1500m	2:06.16	Rank 3	Prog Pts 7
WMAS1&2	Sue McCarthy		1500m	2:06.80	Rank 4	Prog Pts 10
MMAS6&7	Robert DeBernadi	1500m	2:00.06	Rank 4	Prog Pts 12
MMAS6&7	Peter Ganss		1500m	1:59.21	Rank 2	Prog Pts 6
MMAS5	Alan Comte		1500m	1:58.73	Rank 1	Prog Pts 8
MMAS4	Phillip Boelen		2000m	3:01.26	Rank 7	Prog Pts 22
MMAS4	Phil Bushell		2000m	2:43.62	Rank 4	Prog Pts 13
MMAS4	Walter Dapcich		2000m	2:37.80	Rank 3	Prog Pts 12
MMAS3	Ian Nolan		2000m	2:51.79	Rank 5	Prog Pts 12
MMAS1&2	David Kneen		2000m	DNS	Rank -	Out of event

Following the lunch break we faced up to the point score and the time trial events. The distances for the points scores varied from 30 to 60 laps with the sprints for points every ten laps. In the womens, Sue McCarthy was able to turn the tables on Leah Paterson and finish in third position. Even though Sophie Patten (WMAS3+) has only been riding for a short time her excellent tactics in the point score saw her in the points at two of the three sprints to come away with a fourth place finish. Peter Ganss and Robert DeBernadi ran 2nd and 3rd in their category with Robert breaking away solo in the last six laps to to gain maximum points on the last sprint. Alan Comte knowing he had to protect his third place standing used clever ‘boxing in’ tactics to ensure he claimed 3rd place for the race. In the MMAS4 the group split early into the 60 lap race, following the sprint at twenty to go Walter Dapcich and Carl Harris (Castlemaine) got dropped, but valiantly worked together to regain the break and participate in the remaining sprints and to the finish. Walter even dared his own solo break with four to go, but that lasted only for a lap before he was rejoined by the three other remaining riders.

WMAS3+	Sophie Patten		4th	Prog Pts 19
WMAS1&2	Claire Campbell		5th	Prog Pts 20
WMAS1&2	Leah Paterson		4th	Prog Pts 13
WMAS1&2	Sue McCarthy		3rd	Prog Pts 13
MMAS6&7	Robert DeBernadi	3rd	Prog Pts 15
MMAS6&7	Peter Ganss		2nd	Prog Pts 8
MMAS5	Alan Comte		3rd	Prog Pts 11
MMAS4	Phillip Boelen		6th	Prog Pts 28
MMAS4	Phil Bushell		5th	Prog Pts 18
MMAS4	Walter Dapcich		4th	Prog Pts 16
MMAS3	Ian Nolan		4th	Prog Pts 17

So the final event loomed, Leah and Sue were dead locked on 13 points each, so whoever finished ahead in the time trial would claim the bronze medal. Peter Ganss was in for a shot at gold if he could pull off a good time and some other results falling his way. In the end Leah finished 0.4s ahead of Sue to claim the bronze medal (by one point), Peter rode great time to top the table in MMAS6&7 and with results falling in his favour, he claimed the gold medal for the event. Alan Comte and Walter Dapcich finished strongly to claim the bronze medal in their respective categories (Walter just edging Phil Bushell out). Phil after a long day pulled out a terrific ride, posting a time of 57.469s which would have placed him third in the MMAS3 category.

WMAS3+	Sophie Patten		500m	46.148	Rank 7	Prog Pts 26	5th
WMAS1&2	Claire Campbell		500m	45.209	Rank 5	Prog Pts 25	5th
WMAS1&2	Leah Paterson		500m	41.659	Rank 3	Prog Pts 16	Bronze medal
WMAS1&2	Sue McCarthy		500m	42.031	Rank 4	Prog Pts 17	4th
MMAS6&7	Robert DeBernadi	500m	41.923	Rank 4	Prog Pts 19	4th
MMAS6&7	Peter Ganss		500m	39.262	Rank 1	Prog Pts 9	Gold medal
MMAS5	Alan Comte		500m	41.552	Rank 3	Prog Pts 14	Bronze medal
MMAS4	Phillip Boelen		750m	1:06.41	Rank 6	Prog Pts 34	6th
MMAS4	Phil Bushell		750m	57.469	Rank 3	Prog Pts 21	4th
MMAS4	Walter Dapcich		750m	58.652	Rank 4	Prog Pts 20	Bronze medal
MMAS3	Ian Nolan		750m	58.961	Rank 3	Prog Pts 20	4th

Congratulations to all who participated and to those who won medals.

All in all it was a long (and cold) day, but really a great event – a true test of stamina, strategy and skill. Apparently there are moves to include the omnium for masters at future Australian championships – so to all the BCC masters – start your training now!!!

Many thanks to CycleSport Victoria for conducting the Masters Omnium Championships and special thanks to all the officials and voluteers on the day (as you can imagine with so many events an full list of officials and volunteers is needed).

Full results are available on the CycleSport Victoria website.

This entry was posted by W. Dapcich on Monday, April 27th, 2009 at 1:08 pm and is filed under Reports, Track.