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Lovely evening - dry track with dust and the odd puddle.
The Gorter brother's raced tonight - great to see them back at the track. They've been incredibly busy with cycling all over the place, for example Matt was fresh from totally dominating the Lion Foundation 7 Day Wellington to Auckland Cycle Challenge, where he won most stages as well as winning overall. Matt was the fastest rider in the elite men in this week's race, though he is not in the points race so the other guys don't have to worry about him. (The sighs of relief are almost audible!)
Tonight was special also in that we were honoured by the attendance of David Bennett, National MP for Hamilton East who showed up to watch the racing. Great to see a politician taking interest.
The photographer witnessed Mike Calver twice dealing incredibly patiently with frustrating situations involving slower riders blocking the track. He deserves a medal for that alone. These top riders so often set excellent examples with this kind of thing. (Hope you all heard how he won the prestigious REV120 road race last weekend.)
Close as we are now to the end of the season, it is timely to review the points situation in each category.
In the elite men, Scott Thorne is currently leading on points with Mike Calver close behind in 2nd. Young rider Jack Chapman has performed consistently well all season and is now nipping at their heels in spite of his youth and comparative inexperience.
The top three in the senior men (B grade) are Ian Henderson, closely followed by Joel Bayley and Antony Snodgrass.
Vet men 40 - 49 has been one of the most hard-fought contests with the competition sizzling between Dave Hudson, Ian Thomas, Doug Hope and Ross Cochran, but by this late stage of the season, Cookie looks to have it "in the bag". These four have pushed each other to herculean efforts over the year enabling them to clean up their category at the Black Stump as though it was just another club race, and the rest of the world didn't get a look-in.
Clare Mc Dermid seems a certainty to take out the open women, having raced consistently well all season.
Marguerite Ritchie, in contesting the club champs for the first time, has hit women's racing in the club like a thunderbolt showing the rest of us how it can be done and she is in line to easily become club champion in the 40+ women's category. Kay Wolfe has put in a consistent effort and big improvements over the year to get herself clearly in the running for 2nd in this category with Wendy Brown, another consistent strong performer not far back.
Russell Coleman looks set to take the 50+ men's category with Dave Blanchett pushing him for 2nd but we must mention the fast-improving Ray Edwards who is finishing the season strongly having won the last two races.
In the very competitive junior men's category, Gavin Wolfe has Simon Blanchett breathing closely down his neck only 3 points behind so anything could happen there. Josh Parkin lying 3rd is one of our most improved young riders and is obviously one to watch in future as he charges up the club rankings.
The keen competition all season between Emma Hope and Ashleigh McWhannell has placed these two at the top of the junior women's category, though Sasha Philburn (now lying 3rd) will be one to watch next year as she has risen in the rankings very quickly recently.
Full results on the results page.
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