Victorian Race Results

Apparently the track was under water earlier in the week and it took a big effort from the track staff to get the track into shape to run the meeting. Early on the track was a little soft but it got better as the meeting wore on. Unlucky rider of the day award went to Simon Hartley who looked very impressive in winning his first heat but retiring while leading his second heat after his bike caught fire and he was out for the day. Can't say I've seen that happen too often. In a later heat there was a chair axle that broke too and that I haven't seen before either. It was one of those kinds of days.

Some lengthy delays for falls, the ambulance attending fallen riders, trackwork, and malfunctioning tapes early on caused the meeting to fall behind schedule. From the rerun of heat nine races were reduced to three laps to try to make up for lost time, Both finals run over four laps. The meeting eventually finished around 6pm.

Monson/Gates combination a worthy winner and unbeaten all day although Gates pushed Monson to the limit in the final. Identical whimsical comments from both the other two finalists when interviewed of "gee I wish I was fitter". Four accidents needing the ambulance on track with the tally one broken collarbone and broken arm, one case of damaged vertebrae, and the rest very sore, bruised and limping and they will hurt like hell tomorrow when the adrenalin has worn off.

B Final Hudson, Mayes, German, Stephens (Excl)
Heat rerun. Mayes and Stephens had come together coming out of turn two at the exact moment Stephens had been filled in and had one hand off the handlebar clearing his vision. Stephens had minimal control and his bike half climbed the fence before coming down rather untidily. It was a 50/50 call with Stephens the unlucky one. Having said that I doubt Stephens was in a fit state to take his place in any rerun so the decision may have been an academic one anyway.

A Final Monson, Gates, Patterson, Hudson
Two races in one. Gates threw everything he knew at Monson up the front but Monson was too good, out the back Patterson and Hudson were arguing over third. In the presentations both Patterson and Hudson generously offered the view that they could have been a bit fitter !!

Scorechart

Warren Monson/ Devon Gates 3,3,3,3,3 = 15+3 = 1st
Byron Gates/Mick O'Loughlin 1,3,2,3,3 = 12+2 = 2nd
Rob Patterson/Craig Fordham 2,2,2,3,3 = 12+1 = 3rd
Phil Hudson/Jack Summerling 3,1,1,0,3 = 8+3+0 = 4th
Clinton Mayes/Andrew Summerhayes 2,2,3,2,2 = 11+2 = 5th
Malcolm German/Sean Coleby 3,3,1,2,2 = 11+1 = 6th
Rick Stephens/Dean Hobbs 2,3,1,1,2 = 9+0 = 7th
Dylan Blain/Aaron Stewart 0,1,3,3,1 = 8
Lindsay McGregor/Mitch Duncan 1,2,3,1,0 = 7
Dale Milner/Brock Gates 2,1,0,2,2 = 7
Mark Radford/Steve Stagg 0,1,2,1,1 = 5
Jake Flood/Faulkner 1,0,0,2,1 = 4
Simon Hartley/Nathan Chisholm 3,0,-,-,- = 3
Ron Curran/Ezra Blizzard-Allan 1,2,0,-,- = 3
Ash Wynn/Gavin Smith 0,0,2,0,0 = 2
Rick Curran/Chris Walker 0,-,-,-,- = 0

The sidecars really did make the day. Some ripper races in all four sidecar divisions and you would be hard to please if you didn't finish up with a smile on your face. First cab off the rank I should mention we have a new three lap track record holder for the big sidecars, Rob Patterson and Craig Fordham. The club is examining the fine print to see if a passengers daughter can be the timekeeper for a new track record but I'm sure it will be ok :o) It was a super ride from the fruitbat, from second going into turn one on lap two he just nailed it on a perfect line through turns one & two, hit the back straight at full bore and went past the leader like he was standing still. Looked really impressive from where I sat.

Really nice to see Phil Hudson and Mark Griffiths down from NSW, hope they enjoyed their day and got some good homework done for the Vic titles in three weeks time. Also great to see Malcolm German back on track, he has been sorely missed and will provide some much needed depth to the local sidecar division. Malcolm got better and better as the day went on. Simon Hartley was the stand out though, four wins from four and he will be a dark horse for the Vic title with his local knowledge.

Senior sidecars (some were 3 rider races)

Simon Hartley
Malcolm German
Phil Hudson
Rob Patterson 
Rick Curran
Tim McGreggor
Ron Curran
Mark Griffiths
Ash Winn
Mark Radford
Jake Flood

In the 250cc sidecars Steve Radford was the pick of the crop with a clean sweep. He didn't just do it from the front, he also passed from the back with an impressive inside pass on Andrew Timmerman with the gentlest of nudges as he went by being the highlight. Timmerman had an unusually poor day for him, no wins but he had some mechanical gremlins along the way that didn't help.

Two five rider races included in the below

Steve Radford
Andrew Timmerman
Matt Crudwell
Shane Benbow
Simon Hartley

Grasstrack sidecars featured Chris Barton and Mick Evans and even though Barton won all four that doesn't indicate the closeness of the racing. Often side by side going down the straights it was great entertainment and it's really interesting watching the different technique needed to get these things around the track.

Classic sidecars were also great. It was an epic Ian Treloar / Clint Curran battle all day with Doug Cotrell usually close behind in third waiting for any mistake by the top two. The "sweet move of the meeting" award was won by Curran when he went wide into turn one and foxed Treloar into thinking he was going to go around the outside and when Treloar moved out to cover that move Curran dived up the inside instead. Very pretty to watch indeed.

Clint Curran
Ian Treloar
Doug Cottrell
Peter Tolley
John Putkunz

There were a total of 12 solos nominated so they were made into one big division. One did not show so we were down to eleven and after one round of heats we were down to ten. Because of the mixture of divisions there were some strung out races. Dakota North ran away and hid in all his heats, the best race of the day was Jody Mason chasing Nick Rowe but coming unstuck on the pits bend trying his hardest to catch Rowe and line him up for a pass. All Mason got for his trouble was a bent bike and a sore wrist.

If Sundays sidecars were anything to go by roll on the State Titles !!

Cheers

Howard
 

Broadford Round 1 - Oct 2010