Club Races
Bales
Wins, Daylight Second!
Quarry Road
- Sunday 22nd July 07
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Larry
Bales |
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A field of 14 riders braved the frosty,
still morning to tackle the 47km handicap held at Quarry
Road.
Front markers Roger Williams, David Cariss and Larry
Bales set off with a 19 and a half minute advantage.
Not far into the race, it became clear to Cariss and
Williams just how much Bales had improved over the
last 12 months. Bales seemed to be effortlessly free-wheeling
in front of them. The polite Bales stayed with Cariss
and Williams until the Stawell/Halls Gap Road. That
was the last anyone saw of him until after the race.
A
much improved Michael Jensen rode with Tania Walter
and Wayne Cox off 9 and a half minutes. It was Cox’s
first race for a long time, and he was testing his
fitness level. His strength helped the bunch make
up time until he ran out of legs at the Sandbar Hill.
Jenson and Walter combined well to round up Cariss
and Williams further around Lake Londsdale.
Starting
off 2 and a half minutes, Jamie Bennett, Peter Parnaby,
Stuart King and Peter Carter flew up the first hills.
Carter was setting a mean pace until he experienced
wheel problems early and withdrew from that group
of riders. The
three remaining second scratchmen put in a mighty
effort to catch Walter and Jenson at the Quarry Road
corner, 7 kilometres from home.
Bennett,
King and Parnaby combined with Walter to attack the
final hills to catch Bales. Bales handled the hills
by himself well and crossed the line easily in first
place. He was enjoying a drink at the finish line
while he watched this group jostle for minor placings. Walter
lead out in the sprint and just made it across the
line by a whisker to place second, with Parnaby just
nudging a tiring Bennett for third by not much more
than a tyre width.
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Click
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Left
to right - Peter Parnaby, Tania Walter, and Larry
Bales |
While Walter was surprised she won
the sprint, Parnaby was even more surprised to find
that he had the fastest time of the day. Even after
the result was double checked, he was still shaking
his head in disbelief.
The scratch riders, Allan Barnett,
Daryl Elliott and Gerard O'Brien could not close the
gap in the perfect, calm conditions and Parnaby's time
was 11seconds better than theirs.
Thanks as always go to Gayle Barnett
for time keeping, sorting out the riders and providing
some refreshments after the race.
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