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Club Races
Three in a Row for Wemyss
Stawell Racecourse Handicap
Sunday 12th February 2012
Peter Wemyss made it three wins in a row when he took out the Grampians Vets 55 kilometre Stawell Racecourse handicap last Sunday.
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Peter Wemyss |
In a repeat of the previous weeks placings, Wemyss just held Glenn Ford at bay in the final sprint, after the scratch riders put in a superhuman effort to catch the second scratch riders half way through the race.
With the superbly fit Steve Monks leading the scratch markers charge, ably supported by Wemyss and Sean Prins, they made up forty-five seconds over the hills at the start to be only thirty seconds behind the second scratch bunch of Danny Monaghan, Rod Hetherington, Gary Brumby, Glenn Ford and Dean Hayward.
However, once over the hills, the second scratch riders lost no more time on the leg out to the Pomonal turn, but with the tail wind across to Mokepilly, the superior strength of the scratch riders once again came into play, with them catching the second scratch riders before the turn at Mokepilly.
With most of the return journey back to Stawell either a head or side wind, the five and a quarter minute riders Tom Eldridge, Stuart King, Drew Heard, Tony Rathgeber and Les Dunn found the going tough, and no match for the combined chasing bunch, who were now being dominated by the scratch riders.
With these bunches all combining on the Pomonal Road on the return journey to Stawell, the chase was on to catch the 15 minute riders John McIntyre, Meg Parnaby and Peter Mayo, who had combined with the 17 minute riders Trevor McDonald and Shirley Hetherington earlier in the race.
With 6 kilometres to go, the whole field had come together, but at the cost of a trail of dropped riders along the way.
In the lead up to the sprint, nobody wanted to make the first move, until finally Shaun Prins and Peter Wemyss took off, with the other riders scrambling to tag on. In a very close finish, Wemyss just held off Glenn Ford by a quarter of a wheel, with Sean Prins a close third.
Wemyss recorded the fastest race time of 1 hour and 28 minutes.
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