Road: Shaw hits the gas at Miners Rest

Patrick Shaw stomped on the A-grade field in wintery conditions at Miners Rest this morning. Jarroyd Boyd and Craig Lightfoot took their first-ever BSCC wins in B and C. 

Fields were reduced due to the continuing success of the Rec TTT rides, the dismal weather conditions, a Eureka Veterans race, and an unfortunate clash with BSCC's hugely successful InterWinter MTB race.  The road race was the first event in recent years on the circuit that will be used for Cycling Australia's national Masters' Road Championships in September, the week before the world championships in Geelong.  A grade rode three laps, and B and C each did two.  On the second lap, Pat Shaw split the A-grade field, with himself, Damien Keirl and James Crafter in the front group, and Grant Gilbert, Jay Bourke and Stuart Grigg chasing hard.  The last time over the Blowhard rise, the most selective feature of the course, Shaw gunned it again and rode solo to the win.  Damien Keirl continued his steady upward progression this season with a strong second place.  James Crafter fought hard to hold off a charging Gilbert for third - some consolation after the mechanical incident that ejected James from the winning bunch in the Fred Icke race two weeks ago.  Stuart Grigg and Jay Bourke, in his first race for the season, rounded out the A-grade finishers.

In B grade, Jarrod Boyd also used the Blowhard climb as a launching pad, and splintered the field to set up a solo finish, and his first BSCC win.  Scott Bilney, another rider in his first race for the season, took second, with Thane Turley third and Aaron Bromley fourth.  Three of the top four places went to riders with less than a year of road racing with BSCC - Jarrod, Thane and Aaron: more testament to the strong new talent in the club today. 

In C grade, Craig Lightfoot stormed through the door he opened with his breakthrough ride in last November's Taltarni race, under very different weather conditions.  Only Roger Bade was with him with 500m to go, and Craig made no mistakes, with a long, powerful sprint to take his first BSCC win.  Melissa Keirl continued her run of good form to take third from club vice-president Don Stewart. 

The race was made possible by corner marshals Ian Nunn, Sam Edwards, Michael Colville, and Ron Crafter, lead car driver Kylie Zelley, tail car driver Ben Clark, and chief marshal Jonathan Lacey.  Michael is having knee surgery this week: we wish him a speedy recovery.  Special thanks to Ian and Kylie for jumping in at the last minute, and to Ben for doing it all one-handed.  The good news is that Ben's shoulder surgery, following his crash in the finale of the Fred Icke, has been pronounced successful, so he'll be in fighting shape for the big race on this circuit in September.  And finally a big thank you to Peter Canny, who actually did most of the chief marshal's job in setting up the course. 

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