Road: Learmonth Wall handicap

Don Stewart wrote this race report some days ago.  The delay in posting is is down to the editor.  Finally, here it is.

BSCC's senior road race on October 9 was a 53 km handicap around the Windmill Circuit with the finish atop the Wall. The weather was warm and sunny, with a moderate north-westerly wind hitting the bunches on the left side along the Quarry Rd and head-on along Coghill's Creek Rd.  23 riders faced the handicapper, with Jenni White and Victoria Snibson first away. Phil Orr joined this pair during the first of 3 laps to give them a few tips on where to sit and how best to rotate through.  Their lead over the semi-professional scratch bunch of Pat Shaw, Rhys Gillett and Jay Bourke was 26 minutes.  Second limit (9:30), Vince Mader , Paul Crack, Peter Kyatt and Don Stewart, were next away, and set off at a cracking pace with the goal of mowing down the limit riders. They worked well together, and heading down Donovan's Lane on lap one were hitting 50 km/h. The next group, a smaller bunch consisting of Craig Lightfoot , Shane Butler and Jon McLachlan, had their work cut out to bridge the gap of 3 minutes to the bunch ahead.  Meanwhile, the middle group of Liam White, Andrew Rushton , Stuart Brien and the Turley men, Sam and Thayne, had a bit more fire power to keep their average speed up. 

Once the scratch bunch got going, the impressive recent showing from Pat and Rhys in the Herald-Sun Classic continued, as they were clocking well over 60 km/h down the wind assisted Donovan's Lane section. This helped them catch the 2nd scratch bunch of club champion Scott Keating, Tony Mirabella, Scott Townsend, Stuart Grigg, Shane Cody and Jeremy Doolan by the end of the 2nd lap. Only Keating and Grigg ultimately stayed with the flying Fly V scratchmen (and Jay! - ed.).

Heading up Coghill's Creek Rd for the last time, the second limit bunch caught their first sight of Snibson and White away in the distance. The Lightfoot bunch was gaining on second limit ever so slowly, but eventually made the catch with 4 km to go. This combined bunch worked well together but at the intersection at the top of Donovan's Lane with about 3 km to go, limit still had a one minute lead. Some hard work by Crack and Stewart reduced the deficit, but at a price: they blew up. At the bottom of the Wall, Jon McLachlan decided to put his head down. Shane Butler followed, and the two caught the ladies within sight of the line. McLachlan's strength helped him take the win from Butler, with Snibson 3rd and White 4th. Vince Mader took out 5th.  The scratch men flew up the Wall, with Pat Shaw continuing his season-long fine form a week from the Melbourne to Warrnambool to take out fastest time and 6th place, less than a minute from the winner.

Presentations were done at The Stag Hotel in Learmonth, with food supplied and about 45 RecTTT riders on hand, to finish a great day's racing.

As the on-line calendar shows, there are only 3 more road races for the season, all handicaps: a 40km handicap at Wallace on October 16; our equivalent of Liege-Bastogne-Liege, the Swiss- Italia race, from The Old Hepburn Hotel on Sunday October 24; and the season-ending Taltarni handicap at Moonambel on Sunday November 7. 

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Last weekend's BSCC road racing was held at Learmonth, with the finish on top of the "Learmonth Wall." Here are the results. John McLachlan won from co-marker Shane Butler - no surprise after McLachlan dismembered the B-grade Tri Series field at Cape Clear in late July.  Reports will follow soon.

BSCC Senior Handicap, Learmonth (Wall finish), Sunday October 10.  53 km

1st Jon McLachlan 13:30
2nd Shane Butler 13:30
3rd Vic. Snibson 26:00 (limit)
4th Jenni White 26:00 (limit)
5th Vince Mader 16:30
6th Pat Shaw (scratch), fastest time.

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