Alan Robinson must have been the most popular person on Facebook judging by the numbers that turned up for the memorial race day yesterday at West Head. A record field in nearly all grades had every club in Sydney represented throughout the grades and no doubt Alan would have had a big smile on his face as people were ready to sign on, well before sign on even opened. With so many turning up to the best and only regular road race in Sydney, MWCC expanded the grades and there was even talk of splitting D grade into two fields due to their large numbers. Some long time club members were left wondering whether they were in a scene in ‘Inception’ and wondering whether it was all a dream? Such was the turn out that even Ryan Terry came out of hibernation to take in the atmosphere but decided against pinning on a number.

By the time everyone had signed in, grabbed a number and heard some touching words by Norbert Gerold about our club mate Alan – we had a fairly full A Grade, 2 B Grades, 2 C Grades and a bulging D Grade not just at the waist line but peloton size as well. With the large fields, break aways were always going to find it tough going as there were plenty of legs to close down any threatening attacks. In A Grade – we had 3 National Road Series teams represented in GPM Wilson Racing, Plan B and Drapac Porsche along with local team KMD Racing which ensured that the standard of racing was going to be high – later they moaned that the racing was fairly pedestrian with ‘only’ an average of 40km/hr for the two laps – their helmets then popped off with their egos exploding. Combined with riders from Sydney, East Sydney, Randwick and of course Manly all riders there was going to be plenty of riders looking around and wondering who was going to make the first move. With so many potential options, the first lap was taken at a fairly steady pace, a few riders attempted some early fireworks but were brought back into the fold. In the end it was a bunch sprint of about 10 riders coming into the final straight, the crowd was on hand to see West Head sprint king Jake Kauffman be dethroned as he settled for third after he was over powered by Plan B rider Alex Malone who snuck in for second, however in first by a few bike lengths was Ross Chaffer of KMD, who cruised over the line after sprinting sitting down – his teammates were very happy that they were taking home the cookies in this race. The video of the finish is about to go viral.

Two full fields in B had the Bananas in Pyjamas excited – as B1 and B2 battled each of their races out. In B2 it wasn’t a banana but rather a flying carrot who took first across the line as Jake Millington of Central Coast took the honours just in front of recent club convert Bob Mohan who was making his debut for the club and Rob Maliki showed that he didn’t lose much after his overseas holiday and he will soon be back in A grade, along with Jake Millington earning himself the promotion to the majors. In the other grade we had another fast finish with Lachlan Edwards of NSCC? taking the glory. Dave Ruben of MWCC looked like he had second place wrapped up, only to be pipped on the line by UNSW rider Andrew Schotte who threw his bike over the line and was very happy when he was announced as second place, giving the officials the double fist pump on the line ruling.

C Grade was another full field and in one race it was the black armada of Curtis Miller, Gavin Maloney and Grahame de Carvalho, with another friend Peter Livanes taking 5th who controlled the field at the finish and they will now get to look forward to rubbing shoulders with the B grade riders next race. In the other C Grade race, Andrew Begley was crowned champion followed by Keith Gray in second and Simon Lempiere happy to be on the podium in third. Both races stayed together with riders having plenty of places to hide within the groups.

D Grade was a monster field of riders who were going to tear the one lap screamer apart. Most impressive was the fact that riders had seeded themselves accordingly and there were no burglars in D, with no rider being able to dismantle the field single handedly. Instead all of the riders stayed in the bunch until the final berg, where 5 riders managed to dislodge themselves from the rest of the field. As they headed towards the finish line Steve Newman of NSCC made the early charge to the line and it looked like he had gone to early as he started to fade with about 200 metres still to go and 3 riders just sitting on his wheel. However no rider was able to come round in a decisive manner and Steve was able to resurrect himself and hold off a large charge and take the glory of a D grade victory. In second place was Chris Broad and third Elliot Newman – I am guessing one of those surnames is incorrect – so apologies to that rider.

Even with such a large field, there were no incidents reported and safe riding by all. Such was the popularity of the race, I don’t think a club in Sydney wasn’t represented – MWCC, NSCC, Central Coast, Sydney, East Sydney, Randwick, Waratahs, Peloton Sports all had riders testing themselves. We had a number of riders signing up for the ever popular day licences who will now have no choice but to sign up as members after such great racing. Thanks to the marshals on the day Col Carrigan, Brad Ward, Richard Saunders and commissaire Antoni Mikac who gave up their racing and mornings. The race also had the support van from Fixed Wheel on hand which assisted with a few running repairs, Fixed Wheel also provides vouchers for the winners of each grade and also some water bottles, this was combined with the usual cash for each of the podium getters – with many riders now having to contact their accountants and get additional advice now they have gone semi pro. The next race is 11 March.

A Grade
1- Ross Chaffer
2- Alex Malone
3- Jake kauffmann

B Grade 1
1- Lachlan Edwards
2- Andrew Schotte
3- David Ruben

B Grade 2
1- Justin Millington
2- Bob Mohan
3- Rob Malicki

C Grade 1
1- Curtis Miller
2- Gavin Maloney
3- Grahame de Carvalho

C Grade 2
1-Andrew Begley
2- Simon Lempiere
3- Keith Gray

D Grade
1- Steve Newman
2- Chris Broad
3- Elliot Dawson

This Sunday the Club remembers our former Club Secretary Alan Robinson who passed away from cancer late last year. Come along to Sydneys best and only road racing course. Racing starts at 8am, with sign on from 7:30am. Sign on in the Elvina Walking Track Car Park, West Head from 7:30am. Grades A-C do 2 laps and D Grade do 1 lap. All entries are $10 with a current 2012 CA licence. One day licences are available for $30 plus normal entry. All clubs and riders welcome.

Race on the smoothest circuit, the testing hills and remember our good friend and our club mate – Alan Robinson.

Dave Watkinson may not yet have grand children, but when he does they will hear this story many times. Fresh from his stint in Japan where he must have been honing his skills as a samurai – Dave Watkinson turned up to Round 4 of the Cycle Nation Series at Heffron Park and promptly beat Chris Sutton – Tour of Spain Stage Winner and Team Sky sprinter in the final straight. Only Graeme Brown of Team Rabobank and some mug from Uni of NSW was able to out kick Dave ‘Neo Pro’ Watkinson.

As they came into the straight with 400 metres to go the UNSW ‘lad’ as Watto referred to him as – was clear in a late attack, with the bunch of sprinters rapidly closing in and most of the crowd looking on felt confident that Watto could take the cash and glory. After Rabobank super domestique Thomas Leezer had dragged most of the A graders around for a good turn, Sutton and Brown attacked with a little over a lap to go. With time remaining as they hit the straight, Graeme Brown of Rabobank decided that he would head to the left and kick off early with a few hundred remaining which can often be the fatal mistake at Heffron. Neo Pro Watkinson of MWCC knew that he would prefer to sit behind someone with a bit more hair on his head and decided to go with CJ Sutton of Team Sky on the right.

Now for the uninitiated it may have looked like Sutton sat up once Brown went clear, however as Dave told us at the finishing line – “it was only as I put the hammer down and came around CJ that he realised I was over powering him and hence he sat up dejected, knowing I was too strong.” For his efforts Dave stood on the podium and cracked open the champagne bottle and in turn earned himself a photo that will be taking front row centre on the mantel piece in front of the wedding photo. He also picked up a handy cheque for his work which dwarfed his usual teachers salary.

The photo shows it all – Watkinson on the podium only beaten by another lucky escapee and one of the biggest cycling teams in the world. Behind him was another cycling behemoth in Team Sky looking on dejected knowing that they were beaten by the stronger man.

Photos courtesy of Gilbert Romane

Some great tight racing, although we had our first accident with a
broken collar bone (in the Open race).

Took out the mud hole, put in the BMX rollers and a steep step up on
the berm. The course came flying up along side the road then straight
up the bank over a triple set of barriers, U-turn back down the bank,
off camber grassy corner, then a hairpin and up the stairs (even the
guys on mtbs found they couldn’t ride it in that config)

Sport grade was full of the usual sand baggers. Sean Couley easily
won, from Jim Buda with Simon Nauvton coming in in 3rd.

Open was a cracker with 4 or 5 guys racing together for the first few
laps, then three before coming down to 2. Mike Sumner was leading out
of the final corner, but dropped his wheel of the tarmac allowing Mike
Israel to pounce. I think some of the boys are going to take Mike S
aside and give him some tips on how to lead out a sprint. Fabian
Guerrero came in 3rd.

For Prestige, the heavens opened up and the racing was electric
(literally). Due to the electrical storm the race was shortened
(spectators were getting shocks off umbrellas). Mike Blewitt was
leading early before a crash saw Scott Wines cruise in for the win,
with Carl Fokkema 3rd. Gaz was in and out of the pits with a slow
puncture so was unable to contest for the 2nd place in the series.

There’s a preview of Gil’s photos here, Not sure when he’ll get the rest up as
he was heading of camping for a couple of days.

Series finished up

Prestige
1st Nick Both
2nd Carl Fokkema
3rd Gary Harwood
4th David Watkinson
5th Rob Parbery

Open
1st Fabian Guerrero

Sport
1st Simon Nauvton

Rob

CLUB KIT 2012
Champion System will again be providing the outfits for the club, so sizing will remain the same as last time. A little change to the ordering this time round and that is you will be ordering directly with Champion System and not through the club. To do this you will do the following:

STEPS TO PLACING AN ORDER WITH CS DIRECT AS A TEAM MEMBER

CLUB NAME: MWCC
USERNAME: mwcc
PASSWORD: mwcc

ORDER CLOSES: 30 JAN 2012

IMPORTANT NOTE: You can order ANY ITEMS from our range. Even if a proof is not visible or has not been approved by your team administrator, you can still order. The design will be created and approved by your team administrator prior to production. This goes for items such as Wind Vests that will look like sleeveless jerseys. The Elite Jersey will be as per the normal jersey. The socks shown are actually coloured in reverse – so where it is navy it will be white and where it is white it will be in navy.

1. Go to www.champ-sys.com.au
2. Click on ORANGE on the top left of the home page. DESIGN AND ORDER PORTAL LOGIN. Then click the GREEN CS direct login box.
3. Fill in your username and password as provided by your team administrator listed above.
4. Fill in your email address, your OWN password and the other details.
5. Read terms and conditions and agree.
6. A series of drop down menus will appear. This Is the order form. If you want to look at the proofs you can move to the right hand side of the page – the items are in BLUE and UNDERLINED. Click on any of these to check out the proofs.
7. Select any of the drop down menus to select what items and the size and the quantity you are after. If the proof for what you want to order is not there it is ok this will be designed at a later stage. Once finished click the green SUBMIT button
8. What you just ordered will appear on the screen – check it. If you need to adjust click BACK at the bottom of the page and make adjustments, If you are happy click CONFIRM
9. At this stage your order is SAVED.
10. The next step is to make payment. Your order will not be produced unless the goods are paid for. Fill in the details as per any other online store. Credit Cards are the only method of payment acceptable.
11. Once paid your order is confirmed and will be made.

IF IT IS EASIER, FOLLOW THESE STEPS ON YOU TUBE AT http://youtu.be/jsrtNV-uLC4 OR CALL CHAMPION SYSTEM ON 9525 2533.

Ordering will remain open until 30 January 2012. So you will have plenty of time to decide on your requirements.

This weekend MWCC brings Round 4 of 4 for our HED Cyclocross race series.

With HED providing wheels for the series champion, there are plenty of riders lining up for glory. There are also others just racing to get some idea about cross racing, or perhaps they like running through mud and jumping over obstacles before running up some stairs?

The cross series is open to all types of bikes, there are separate races for those with cross bikes and those who are on their bmx, mountain bike or fixie. It is only $10 race entry to race on the best Cross course in Sydney.

Racing as always is at 8:30am at the JJ Melbourne Hills Memorial Reserve, Terrey Hills; right next to the Equestrian Centre and behind the volunteer fire brigade.

Come along and get dirty.

SUMMER PRESTIGE – 8 Laps

Place Name Race Number Time
1 Nick Both (Redshift Racing) 29 0:46:31
2 Graeme Arnott (Marathon MTB) 6 0:47:18
3 Troy Glennan (Rockstar Racing) 39 0:48:40
4 Tim Bateman (SORCC) 28 0:49:32
5 Carl Fokkema (MWMTB) 27 0:50:30
6 Gary Harwood (CCMTB) 8 0:50:52
7 Steven Hutchison (SSCC) 33 0:51:00
8 Mick Hernan (ADFCC) 30 0:52:04
9 John Miller (MWCC) 25 0:53:10
10 Dave Watkinson (MWCC) 5 – 1 lap

11 Danny Hennessy (ICC) 15 – 1 lap
12 Mike Foster (MWCC) 22 – 1 lap
13 William Lehman 38 – 1 lap
14 Ray Giddins (SSCC) 32 – 1 lap
15 Scott Wines (CORC) 14 – 1 lap
16 Rob Parbery (MWMTB) 35 – 1 lap
17 Arran Pearson (SCC) 34 – 1 lap
DNF Michael Foster (PCC) 21
DNF Gary Theiss 1

OPEN – 5 Laps

Place Name Race Number Time
1 Troy Glennan 39 0:30:02
2 Dave Carter 2 0:30:50
3 Fabian Guerrero 18 0:32:00
4 Mike Sumner 7 0:32:14
5 Mike Wood 9 0:32:47
6 Glen Pleffer 17 0:33:00
7 Luke Haworth-Booth 8 0:34:20
8 Henry Baird 15 0:34:23
9 Jason Head 3 0:34:43
10 Lindsay Gorrell 14 0:34:59
11 Samuel Burston 10 0:35:33
12 Elliot Dawson 26 0:36:12
13 Colin Cook 11 0:37:23
14 Didier Suzor 16 0:37:56
15 Kelly Mapleson 6 -1 lap
16 Matt Roberts 12 -1 lap
17 Paul Toohey 1 -1 lap

SPORT – 5 Laps

Place Name Race Number Time
1 Ben Pines 25 0:36:30
2 Roger Shackleton 23 -1 lap
3 Simon Naughton 20 -1 lap
4 Matt Whitmore 21 -1 lap
5 Peter Heywood 27 -1 lap
6 Una Curry 4 -1 lap

Well it is that time of year where everyone wants to shed a few kilos and look good whilst they are doing it. Below is the first cut of the new kit design, ETA on the final delivery date is yet to be confirmed but it is worth waiting for! If you are desperately looking for kit in the meantime and would like to snap up some of the older designs contact Alexis to see what is left over.

Have your say what do you think? Euro pro or no go? Leave your thoughts in the comments…!

73 riders rejected the opportunity to race at the Nationals in Buninyong and instead chose the West Head course to test their legs for the year ahead. Obviously a number of riders had made it a resolution to race this year, including an impressive 19 riders in D grade, certainly our largest turn out in memory for the first timers in D. As is now custom the ‘Flying Carrots’ of the Central Coast were well represented and this included an Australian Champion amongst the group. Here is the report of the racing as viewed from the car park.

In D Grade, it was a large bunch roll out which gave everyone the chance to get a real race under their belts with a good size allowing plenty of room to move around, the bunch stayed together for most of the one lap, while a few were shelled out the back at the wall, including one of our international riders Arthur from Alabama – the rest of the group stuck together and battled it out. When they came by the finishing line the group was still about 10-12 strong with the other riders just a short distance behind, it was then just two nasty climbs to go before we would see them again. By the time they returned, one rider had ridden clear and everyone else looked they had just faced death and rolled over the line – the best moment was when the race officials were marking down the finish places in D and a rider rolls towards the finishing line pointing out he was second, not realising that there was a rider sneaking up on his inside at a speed of about 15km/hr and as a result that second became a third.

Back in C Grade we had one large bunch fighting it out over 2 laps. It was on the first lap that the perfect record of crash free racing was broken, when a touch of hills going up hill brought down a number of riders. At first it appeared that an ambulance would be required, before all riders had a drink of some harden up and made their way back to the finish line on their own accord. Similar to one of Doctor Evils Henchmen being crushed to death by a slow moving steam roller, it was later explained that the initial rider was a triathlete and hence no further explanation was required. Thankfully there were no major injuries or damage beyond some egos and a broken seat. Such is the winning mentality in C Grade, the bunch had continued on and the racing had remained competitive. However ever present burglar Paul Evangelinides had managed to sneak into C Grade again and he pulled off another win, which was met with a frown and a stern – time to move up to B which was sheepishly acknowledged.

B Grade was another large peloton of 23 riders and everyone had obviously been reading Robbie McEwen’s book, because from all accounts there were plenty of riders just happy to sit in and take their chances with a sprint finish. The big exception was Mike Foster – now Mike will probably tell everyone how he has the strength on the bike of two men – however today it was literally true. Fozzie had teamed up with Matt from the Central Coast who is a visually impaired rider and thus competes on a tandem – normally with his pilot Phil Thaux. Matt is an Australian Champion on the tandem and in this race he had to put up with the guidance of former Club President Fozzie. Now racing on a tandem is a little different to a normal bike, on the straights and downhills you can be sitting on 75km/hr but when it comes to hills you are lucky to go 5km/hr. Which isn’t very helpful on a course like West Head. So when the bunch thought Matt and Mike were attacking because they were winding it up to 50km/hr, it was actually them just trying to get up enough momentum to get up the hill. There were a few attempted breaks outside of Matt and Mike trying to get over some hills that were either shut down or pulled back in, often by an ever present and vocal Italian chef and a rather well dressed group in their Lavazza kit. After two laps the group was still together in a rather large bunch and it was hard to pick a winner, in the end Jeremy Hopson showed that you don’t have to be Euro Pro to win a race. Sporting hairy legs, a visor on his helmet and mismatching kit – Jeremy showed a clean pair of heels to win by a few bike lengths, ahead of his well dressed compatriots from Lavazza in second and Henry Baird in third.

A Grade was an open field with the elite Manly riders off at Nationals, even young Dan Scheiner decided to step up to A Grade to test his legs against the best – imagine stepping up a grade without being forced! Quite a few racers could learn from young Dan. The bookies had money on two riders in the race Mick Curran from CCCC (riding in his Waki Lexus kit) or the silent assassin Cam Dinnie of MWCC. After the first lap the group was all still together and we saw Mick Curran sending some of the flying carrots up the road in an attempt to make other riders work and give him an easy ride to the finish. As they came towards the finish Cam Dinnie decided to show off his time trialing strength and he hit out from home with a few kilometres to go and he quickly established a healthy lead, as Mick Curran looked at his teammates and wanted to know who was going to do the work? As they came back into view – it became evident that Cam Dinnie had run out of diesel and had conked out a few hundred from home, Nick Yallouris of the CCCC had pulled it back in and set it up perfectly for the man who must have some of the best looking legs in cycling – Mick Curran to coast over the finish for another victory to add to his palmares. Mick Curran first, the unheralded James Swadling from Northern Sydney second and Nick Yallouris in third.

All round a solid day of racing well at least that is what it looked like standing in the car park. Next West Head is on the 12 February. Please ensure that you have an Australian Standards sticker on the inside of your helmet, because spot checks will be occurring. Apologies for not having every podium getter listed, unfortunately my Sherlock Holmes type memory doesn’t recall every place getter, it was too busy working out the logistics of crashing up hill. Full place getters will be up once a results sheet comes to hand.

Ride Safe,

Alexis
Club Secretary

RESULTS

A GRADE
1 Mick Curren
2- James Swadling
3- Nick Yalburis

B GRADE
1- Jeremy Hopson
2- Stefan North
3- Henry Baird

C GRADE
1- Paul Evangelihides
2- Ian Blaiklock
3- Evan Snow

D GRADE
1- Jonathon Herb
2- Craig Wotherspoon
3- John Dalzell

The first weekend of January sees the return of the popular West Head Road Series on the Sunday with the Cyclocross prologue on the Saturday. Now in its third race of the series the Cyclo Cross scene is growing in numbers and popularity, a really good course for spectators and riders alike – at only $10 for a race – it is the perfect way to bring in 2012. A great way to spend your Saturday morning and see why this course is the best outside of Belgium.

If need to burn off some extra Christmas pudding or have taken the extra holidays to get in extra training over the New Year, well Sunday brings the first West Head road race of the year. Perfect chance to show off any new Christmas bling and work on some tan lines. 8am roll out for Grades – A through to D and again a bargain price of $10. A new year means new race licences – so please bring either your new 2012 card, or receipt showing that you have updated your membership. If you haven’t renewed you will be required to purchase a one day road licence at the price of $30.

Saturday and Sunday MWCC Racing – a big start to 2012. Make your new year’s resolution to race more become a reality.

Ride Safe,

Alexis