Brunswick Cycling Club

It was more like being on the Gold Coast – beautiful one-day, perfect the next. A string of stunning days made for a very pleasant Tassie Christmas Carnivals experience for two Brunswick juniors in Bryce Holloway and Riley Hart. Both boys come from good Tassie stock with their respective fathers hailing from downunder downunder, so there was much local support for the boys when they lined up at the Silverdome for the Launceston Carnival. 16 seats two-back from the fence and on the finishing line were filled with Holloway/Hart fans while I was wearing a pushers shirt looking after the boys and generally schmoozing in the infield.

The boys missed Latrobe and the lead-in Tassie carnivals and all the talk was about a ‘big fella’ who was dominating the under-13s – winning all the scratch and wheelraces; while the under-15s where being shared between a nice young local boy named Andrew Hinkley and two girls (Macey Stewart and Lauren Perry) who were giving the boys more than a run for their money.

Riley was up first in a 7-lap scratchy of the 285m 47-degree Silverdome track and he hit out hard from the start when, together with his second-cousin, Ben Sherriff, they opened up an early gap. The ‘big fella’ – who more than lived up to his name (he’s about the same size as Bryce’s dad Mark) – closed down the break and then kept going with three-to-go. Harty jumped on his wheel and eased past down the back straight of the final lap to win by 5m.

Next up, Bryce in his scratchy. A biggish field of some 18 riders made positioning important and Bryce kept himself in the front third. With four to go he, and ex-Brunswick rider Thomas Verleys-Donk moved forward before TVD had a gap close on him and found himself sliding along the boards with the bike spectacularly cartwheeling through the air. TVD ended up with six-stitches, the bike with some badly bent wheels. Bryce managed to avoid the carnage and hit out hard with two and bit to go (and these are 285m laps not 250m). He opened up a bit of a break and tried with all his might to hold on only to be pipped on the line by young Andrew Hinkey with the girls a close-up third and forth.

So to the lead-in handicaps before the prestigious Wheelraces: in the under-13s the ‘big fella’ was on scratch with Riley on 15m. Riley’s plan, to kill the first lap to make the ‘big fella’ chase hard, then recover for two laps to have something left for the final lap. The ‘big fella’ did chase hard and while Riley was resting on a wheel came storming past to open up an imposing 10m gap with a lap and a half to go. Riley sensed the danger, closed the gap and the two of them picked up the remaining front markers to have it between them with Riley winning the sprint and making it two-out-of-two.

Bryce was on 25m with the girls on 20m and Hinkley off 10m. With the best pusher going around Bryce got a turbo start with the three behind him having to spend some bikkies to get on. Then the four of them worked well to close down the front markers before Bryce was first to hit out inside two-to-go. The canny and surprising powerful girls found Bryce’s wheel to ease around him with young Andrew Hinkley storming home for win number two; Bryce a close-up forth.

The afternoon session ended with two more scratchies for the boys: another win for Riley, another forth for Bryce who was not much liking being beaten by girls! A gap before the evening session got underway and both boys went for a swim and some R&R to return refreshed for their respective junior Launceston Wheelraces. If they were looking for some inspiration then seeing the likes of Perko, Kersten, Awang and the Law brothers doing their thing should have provided plenty. Riley, the defending champion after a win off 95m last year, got another monster push to start the chase to the front-markers who all got given some extra metres after the earlier handicap. Unfortunately the ‘big fella’ pulled a foot and while he quickly recovered he was never able to figure in the race. This left Riley chasing down the front-markers by himself and after three-laps there was only one still out there – a local boy named Harry Baker who had been given 140m. Harty was hurting but closing the gap with every pedal stroke. The crowd went wild cheering for Harry to hold on and for Riley to get up in equal measures… Harry held on by a wheel, with Riley second and another front-marker in Tom Galpin third.

Thankfully, Bryce was again able to get the services of the pusher that VIS Head Coach Dave Sanders said “was worth 10m”. Another warp speed start and he was away: his instructions to stay low and ride smart (oh, and as Dave Morgan wasn’t there, also to ‘have fun’). The big push meant Bryce quickly joined a trio of mid-markers with the three behind working hard to bridge the gap. As they passed, Bryce jumped on their wheel; he never saw any wind until again hitting out with two to go. This time it looked more promising as his big move saw him open a gap to the girls and as Hinkley was five or six back at the time he had a power of work to do. It was another nail-biter with the 16 two rows from the fence on the finishing line lifting the roof to try and get Bryce home. The girls tried hard but couldn’t close the gap, they did however drag Hinkley into the picture, who with half-a-lap to go hit the turbos and was reeling in Bryce, now pedalling mash potato (locally grown of course) and trying desperately to ‘have fun’. The line was coming but so was Hinkley and he managed to get over Bryce by just inches. Very exciting… The boy’s two second-placings saw them driven around the track on the back of a sponsor ute to the rapturous roars of the crowd. Good stuff.

For Riley a trip to the Gardens on the East Coast of Tassie (you can’t believe Tassie waters this crystal clear) and for Bryce, on to the Devonport carnival. With only two races for the U15s and a fair gap between them, it was a long day, but a worthwhile one! First the scratchy and the big flat track of Devonport suited Bryce’s riding style as he looked to stay out of trouble till the business end. He rode a smart race and hit out hard with 200m to go opening up a gap he had enough to hold on and went on to win by 5m to pick up a very decent cheque from what is the richest carnival in Australia.

For the wheelrace, Bryce had been pulled back to 20m with the girls, with Hinkley off 10m. With no mega-pusher in action Bryce sat in and the four of them rolled turns to reel in first the mid-markers and then the front-markers to have it between them; but that’s when things turned nasty… When Bryce hit out (as is his way), the girls fanned up the track only to close a gap that Hinkley was looking at, forcing him into the fence and onto the track… The three fought out the finish with Bryce, having seen his mum get the better of his dad for years, again losing out to a couple of girls (at least there was two of them, something I think Mark can only be envious of). Hinkley lay on the track for some time, being removed by stretcher and in a neck brace. Later reports gave the all clear to any serious injury.

After a New Year’s Eve that included a BBQ, swimming, cricket and home fireworks (you can still do this in Tassie!) it was off to bed for the big New Year’s Day Burnie Carnival. Three races for both boys, all programmed in the first couple of hours – the other carnivals could learn a thing of two from this. The handicapper had got wise to Riley and the ‘big fella’, who we’d since learnt was one-day off being an under-15 (I reckon next year he’ll be bigger than Mark), not so much by pulling them back, but by letting everyone else out! With the handicaps being just two laps of what looked to be around a 450m track and the front-markers off 190m, the boys had their work cut out. And so it turned out with a mid-field finish in the first and a 6th in the second of the handicaps for Riley. There was still the scratchy to clean-sweep, two laps from the start, 1 3/4 by the time the gun went and the ‘big fella’, stung by his defeats in Launceston shot out to a 50m lead while the other boys where still enjoying the water views. Riley tried valiantly to close him down, but with the finish being into a strong headwind and uphill he failed by some 5m to peg him back, 2nd.

Bryce, who got some last minute track advice from young Andrew Hinkley, sporting a great black-eye with accompanying stitches, headed out for his races. To repay Hinkley’s kindness, Bryce’s dad Mark, offered him some advice on how to use the black-eye to pick-up the girls… not sure where his experience in this area comes from, nor what the advice was, but don’t be surprised if he’s sporting a black-eye of his own when Bryce’s mum reads this! Back to the racing…

Bryce had been pulled back to 10m and with young Hinkley not racing, this was the back mark. The first of the handicaps was a 1000m and the Bryce rode it to perfection, never feeling the breeze, he just failed to pull back young Braydon Bennet, who off 120m, held on for the win; Bryce, second. In the 2000m handicap, again the backies, Bryce and the girls, worked well together – they knew they had to to close down the front-markers. This time Bryce benefited from a great lead-out from Macey, but so to did Lauren, who just got over him on the line. The scratch – the last race of the carnival series – came down to the two girls vs. two boys; Bryce and TVD (back sporting his stitches). It was a quickly ridden race with the girls getting the better of the boys; TVD 3rd, Bryce 4th.

Both boys, and their fathers, enjoyed some terrific racing with some big fields. Junior cycling is very much alive and well in Northern Tassie and it pays well too! Both boys returned with found memories and new friendships, not to mention bulging pockets!! Bryce is saving for a new wheelset, while Riley is keen to buy a 700c frame for the road season. Both boys are planning a return in 2010/11 now with greater knowledge of the tracks and the local competition.

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This entry was posted by H. Hart on Sunday, January 10th, 2010 at 4:11 pm and is filed under Reports, Track.