Conditions at Menangle were a carbon copy of the Illawarra Race - sunny, windy & cool, with the wind abating as the race ended.
Numbers were down on the program, and with winter flus and other reasons, packs were down in numbers with absentees.
ICC were represented in large numbers in both divisions. Division 2 had a gap of 18 minutes from limit to scratch, while Division 1 had 8 minutes.
The results and the racing in the two divisions were eerily similar. Both scratch groups started with only 5 and caught their block group on the last lap.
In Division 2, Juan Ruiz was at home recovering, so a sole rider set off on limit. He was quickly caught by the small group behind and by Terry Welsh (5 minutes), who then took off with 2 others and were never caught by anyone. Terry took the sprint as well as the first over 45 home.
Further back, the large 8min bunch a had picked up stragglers and then rode home without being caught. Meanwhile, 2nd block were caught by Alex Verdi who had absconded from the block bunch which had crumbled.
The scratch bunch were down to 4 but picked up Justin Coulson at the end of the second lap who then stayed on until the final turn of lap 3. Further on, Tim Losco and 3 other block riders joined the bunch and then saw Terry heading back with an unassailable lead. From then on it was always going to be a sprint for fastest time. Tim came in handy at the end, leading Glenn and Wally into the uphill sprint. Alas, it wasn’t enough as two Macarthur riders had conspired to come from behind. Wally took 2nd and Glenn 3rd fastest, remarkable considering he was suffering from flu!
As mentioned, Division 1 had a very similar race, with scratch catching block only. The limit group containing Jeff Vaughn-Floyd had quickly been caught by 2 groups behind and it was this big combined group who took out the places. Jeff took 2nd place in a hotly contested sprint. Meanwhile, Craig Paul in the scratch group of 5 had caught their block group and were sprinting for fastest time. Craig took the sprint which gave ICC excellent results in both divisions.
