May 2017
May 28th 2017
The Colac Vets had a field of 78 starters for their May Open race.
The field was split into two races with Division A heading off first with Division B starting straight after.
Riders raced with reasonably strong south westerly winds with many riders dropping off the pace after being caught by riders behind them and a total of 15 riders failing to finish.
In Division A the handicaps proved too short with the three scratchmen catching the next three bunches by about the half way mark.
Scratchman Stephen Lane from the Northern Vets then broken clear with 18Km to go and caught the next two bunches with 13Km remaining.
Lane went on to finish one minute and ten seconds clear of the remaining scratch and second scratch riders.
Eureka’s Tony Mirabella was second with Geelong’s Josh Williams in third.
Grant Oates was Colac’s best placed rider coming in eighth.
In Division B the 2 minute bunch rode one minute faster than the scratch bunch and took the first three places with Eureka’s Jeremy Humber coming in first ahead of James Gretton also from Eureka and Geelong’s David Lambourn in third.
Noel Symons was Colac’s best place rider coming in tenth.
Result: 59Km May Open
Division A
First: Stephen Lane (scratch) Northern
Second: Tony Mirabella (3.00) Eureka
Third: Josh Williams (5.30) Geelong
Fourth: Stuart Cameron (scratch) Eureka
Fifth: Trevor Coulter (3.00) Northern
Sixth: David Tozer (scratch) Warrnambool
Seventh: Peter McClelland (9.00) Goulburn Valley
Eighth: Grant Oates (3.00) Colac
Ninth: Andrew Goodwin (3.00) Colac
Tenth: Ricky Calvert (9.00) Eureka
Fastest Time: Stephen Lane (scratch)
Division B
First: Jeremy Humber (2.00) Eureka
Second: James Gretton (2.00) Eureka
Third: David Lambourn (2.00) Geelong
Fourth: Tamara Riddell (5.00) Northern
Fifth: Steve McLachlan (5.00) Geelong
Sixth: James Burzacott (5.00) Eureka
Seventh: Paul Ogilvie (2.00) Geelong
Eighth: Brian Ure (5.00) Eureka
Ninth: Barry Robinson (5.00) Eureka
Tenth: Noel Symons (8.00) Colac
Fastest Time: Jeremy Humber (2.00)
May 21st 2017
The Colac Vets had a good field of 22 riders for their last hit out before this week’s May Open race.
Riders were sent over part of the new course for the open, still finishing coming over the Alvie hill to the Coragulac corner before the finish at the Cororooke hall.
The second scratch bunch had strength in numbers with six riders.
They caught the third scratch foursome on the Ballarat road heading to Beeac at the 17Km mark.
Meanwhile the 9-minute bunch of the four had splintered with only two of them left to try and catch the front markers and hold off the chasing pack of ten riders behind them.
Coming in to Alvie these two riders were caught, with the front markers from the first three bunches being caught on the Alvie hill with 5Km to go.
At this point, Mark Purdie attacked and held a slight lead until half way down to the Coragulac corner.
Coming around the corner David Coventry, who had already put in a couple of strong turns late in the race, had the field strung out single file on the edge of the road up to the church corner.
Coming down the home straight the experienced Chris Kane lay in waiting to make his move and put in a good sprint to take the win to hold off David Coventry, who was coming fast a bit too late, and Ralph Iselt in third.
The two scratchmen rode well against the odds to come in just under 2 minutes behind the winner and take fastest time by just over a minute with Tony Luppino leading in Nick Brown.
Result: 48Km Club Race
Scratch
1 Tony Luppino Fastest Time
2 Nick Brown
3 Minutes
3 Ralph Iselt 3rd
4 Mark Purdie 4th
5 Heather Hamling 5th
6 Steve Hamling 6th
7 Arno van der Schans 7th
8 Damian Luppino
5 Minutes
9 Chris Kane 1st
10 David Coventry 2nd
11 Gavin O’Brien 9th
12 Rebecca Luppino 10th
9 Minutes
13 Gerard Hickey 8th
14 Len Murfitt
15 Peter Theodore
16 Tom McBroom
15 Minutes
17 Noel Symons
18 Bruce Roberts
19 Peter Neal
18 Minutes
20 Terry Robinson
21 Murray Matthews
30 Minutes
22 Des Read
May 14th 2017
The Colac Vets had a choice of two races over the weekend.
On Saturday afternoon five Colac members were among a field of 34 riders competing in the 45Km Boydle Memorial at Terang with three of them finishing in the top ten.
Peter Theodore was in a dead heat for second place with Len Murfitt and Gerard Hickey coming in fifth and eighth place respectively.
On Sunday morning, the club race at Cororooke had a field of eighteen riders doing a shorter 35Km race seeing it was Mother’s Day.
Scratchman Tony Luppino was again made to chase the second scratch foursome but this time was only giving a one minute start.
He quickly made ground catching them by the 10Km mark.
Meanwhile the 2.30-minute bunch had caught the 4.30 and 10 minute bunches but were all soon reeled in by Tony Luppino and co.
The two front markers off the 18-minute mark were then caught with 6Km to go.
Coming into Cororooke, Rebecca Luppino made the bold move of going to the front.
Coming past the shop, Husband Tony surged to the front to give Rebecca a lead out enabling her to take the win ahead of Tony at the hall finish.
Gavin O’Brien finished well for the third place.
Result: 35Km Club Race
Scratch
1 Tony Luppino 2nd & Fastest Time
1 Minute
2 Steve Hamling 4th
3 Heather Hamling 5th
4 Ralph Iselt 8th
5 Arno van der Schans
2 Minutes 30Seconds
6 Rebecca Luppino 1st
7 Gavin O’Brien 3rd
8 Ben Culton 7th
9 David Coventry 9th
4 Minutes 30 Seconds
10 Len Murfitt 6th
11 Peter Theodore 10th
12 Tom McBroom
13 Paul Allen
10 Minutes
14 Noel Symons
15 Terry Robinson
16 Murray Matthews
18 Minutes
17 Des Read
18 Sue Theodore
May 7th 2017
The Colac Vets had a field of twenty riders for their monthly medal.
Riders rode in cold conditions copping a couple of showers of rain during the race.
Scratchman Tony Luppino was made to ride off on his own for a second time after winning last week’s race.
However, once the 2-minute foursome caught the five riders from the 3-and-a-half-minute bunch to form 9 riders, Luppino’s chances of getting fastest time dropped away.
Meanwhile Murray Matthews had ridden away from limit co-marker Sue Theodore and was out it front with a good lead.
The group of nine riders reeled in the 7 and 13 minute bunches with 7Km to go with Matthews being caught with 4Km to go.
Heading up and over Lineen’s hill before the finish, six riders cleared away to contest the sprint for the line.
In a very close finish with Darren Allan having looked like he was going to win the sprint comfortably, Chris Kane made a late dash at Allan but missed by just a few widths of a tyre on the finish line.
Heather Hamling put in a good finish for a third place.
Having ridden on and off with the Colac Vets for over ten years, this was Darren Allan’s first ever monthly medal win.
Allan also took fastest time with Tony Luppino losing one minute forty seconds to the group of nine riders.
Result: 52Km Monthly Medal
Scratch
1 Tony Luppino
2 Minutes
2 Darren Allan 1st & Fastest Time
3 Heather Hamling 3rd
4 Damian Luppino 4th
5 Steve Hamling 5th
3 Minutes 30Seconds
6 Chris Kane 2nd
7 Rebecca Luppino 6th
8 Gavin O’Brien 9th
9 John Lee 10th
10 Ben Culton
7 Minutes
11 Gerard Hickey 7th
12 Len Murfitt 8th
13 Peter Theodore
14 Jane Clifton
13 Minutes
15 Peter Neal
16 Noel Symons
17 Terry Robinson
18 Bruce Roberts
25 Minutes
19 Murray Matthews
20 Sue Theodore