Road: Liam White ascends at Taltarni

Updated with a few more details, and official results:

In one of the top rides we've seen in a BSCC club road race this year, Liam White confirmed his ascent to a new level with a dominant win in the season-ending Taltarni handicap at Moonambel today. Scott Townsend took fastest time.

The race was run in near-perfect conditions.  The course is sheltered from the gusty winds that were buffeting Ballarat, and rain threatened but did not eventuate.  Peter Kyatt, one of the revelations of last year's Taltarni race, national-level junior star Victoria Snibson and Michael Colville set off first, followed after a seven-minute gap by Don Stewart, Roger Bade and Gerard White.  A further four minutes back was a powerful bunch consisting of young gun Aaron Blomley, the ever-consistent Peter "Engine" Walker, in-form Craig Lightfoot, Phil Cartledge, and Michael Veal, in a welcome return to road racing after a year on the dirt.  After this the starters came thick and fast: 6 minutes, 4, 2 and scratch. 

The 6-minute bunch of Jeremy Doolan, Stuart Brien, Liam White, Sam Turley and Jonathan Lacey started fast, despite Lacey having a "day without" and contributing very little all day.  By the hamlet of Barkly, with hard work from Brien, White and Turley, the gap to Lightfoot's bunch was down to a minute, and then to 30 seconds at Navarre.  The road from Navarre to the KOM with 7 km to go is almost dead straight, so White's bunch had the race spread out in front of them: Snibson and Colville dropping back, Kyatt holding on solo but doomed, with the combined forces of the Lightfoot and Stewart bunches bearing down.  The road behind was clear.  The four-minute group - Thayne Turley, king of Cape Clear Jon McLachlan, Fred Icke star Shannon Gration, MTB and motocross gun Warren Faneco, and 1983 Melbourne to Ballarat winner Stuart Sanders - lost Gration and Sanders, and with them the chance to cross to White's bunch.  Adam Smith drove his fellow scratchmen Scott Townsend, Tony Mirabella and Ciaran Conaughton across to the 2-minute bunch of John Polkinghorne, Doug Garley and Peter Kiel, but this was not enough reinforcement to catch the front riders.  In fact the scratch bunch started a minute behind scratch, 20:30 behind the leaders and three minutes behind Garley's group, thanks to the last-minute appearance of pursuit machine Conaughton. 

White, by now clearly the strongest of the contenders, held himself back and kept his bunch together as they inched across the gap to Lightfoot's group.  As the road sloped upwards, his patience ran out and he simply rode away from his co-markers.  White has plenty of raw physiological ability, but what really sets him apart is his ferocious will, and today he would not be stopped.  Sam Turley hung on for a while, but was dislodged near the top of the climb as White reached the leaders.  Stuart Brien got his huge engine running on the descent towards the finish, and with occasional help from stragglers, he reeled Turley in within sight of the finish, and got to within a dozen seconds of the leaders, but not close enough.  Craig Lightfoot pushed White all the way in the sprint, to the delight of the spectators, but White made no mistake.  Peter Walker and Michael Veal filled out the places.  A short time later, Scott Townsend, who, like White, has had an outstanding road season and is raring to go on the track, took out the sprint for fastest time. 

BSCC Taltarni senior handicap, Moonambel: official results:

1.  Liam White (6:00)

2.  Craig Lightfoot (8:30)

3.  Peter Walker (8:30)

4.  Michael Veal (8:30)

5.  Aaron Blomeley (8:30)

6.  Peter Kyatt (19:30)

Fastest time: Scott Townsend (-1:00)

King of the Mountain: Peter Walker (8:30)

First woman: Victoria Snibson (19:30)

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