Race Results
Footscray CC Graded Scratch Series (2012) - Footscray CC Graded Scratch Races @ Little River
Round 17 of the Footscray Cycling Club’s Winter Road Season held around the Flinders Avenue circuit in the shadow of the You Yangs, saw racers greeted sun, wind, rain and hail in a tough and gritty day’s racing.
Dom Dudkiewicz took a hard fought win in the A-Grade race today; with many riders from the Northern combine coming down to try their luck at Footscray it was going to be a very unpredictable and exciting race. With a strong north / north westerly blowing and the sky threatening to rain at any moment the attacks started from lap one. After a few riders jammed it in the gutter from the first corner in the tail crosswind Dom Dudkiewicz put in a decent effort in the gutter which split the bunch a little and this was followed by an aggressive attack from Liam Dove, Ben Johnson and Dudkiewicz, who formed a break of three. The trio worked hard but never made more than a minute on a strong and hardworking bunch and were brought back into the fold after two laps and after Ben Johnson unluckily pulled out with a flat. The next three laps saw a few half-hearted attacks and eventually a group of three, subsequently becoming five, got away from the bunch. This group never looked like staying away and in the last straight were swallowed up after a few accelerations and then some limited cooperation by the bunch, and foxing by the breakaway riders. The finish was a bunch sprint. As the bunch approached the line James love put it in the gutter and when he faded Liam Dove began to sprint with 100-150m to go. Dudkiewicz responded immediately, went around Dove and finished a few bike lengths clear of dove.
B-Grade raced in a state of constant aggression, in that the pace was unusually high but steady for the whole race, with limited attacks being mounted as the bunch were only too willing to chase anything down. With half a lap to go, 16 year old Pt Fairy rider Sam Lane broke away from the bunch and before long he was joined by Peter McQuade and Paul Kenny. The three built up a lead and Lane piled the pressure on, dropping McQuade and then Kenny 100 meters before the line; Kenny admitting that ‘I had used everything I had, I surrendered to this very powerful and fit young rider’ Lane took a confidence boosting win that should see him in A-Grade next time, with Kenny taking second and Mark Micallef just getting past Les Kennett to take the bunch sprint.
C-Grade winner Delphine Astier broke through for a confidence boosting win after having a year filled with crashes and injury; the Geelong Francophile using her gun sprint to get well clear of Shane McGuirk in second; with Nonie Carr making it a dominating day for the girls in C-Grade. Gerald Zammit took the win from veteran David Lane in today’s D-Grade, with youngster Geordan Bombos taking a well deserved third place.
A: 1st Dom Dudkiewicz, 2nd Liam Dove, 3rd Jason Costin, 4th Adam Murchie & 5th Tim Kirkham.
B: 1st Sam Lane, 2nd Paul Kenny, 3rd Mark Micallef, 4th Les Kennett.
C: 1st Delphine Astier, 2nd Shane McGuirk, 3rd Nonie Carr, 4th Frank Crifo.
D: 1st Gerard Zammit, 2nd David Lane, 3rd Geordan Bombos.
