Victorian Christmas Carnivals

Bendigo Carnival

In contrast to Tuesday’s Ararat Carnival, the weather on Thursday was warm and sunny, although at times there was a stiff headwind on the finishing straight. The breeze died down after dusk, providing a warm evening.

Under 15 B Grade Scratch – 5 laps

  1 Monica Glowacki                 3’32.90

  3  Shelly Flood

Under 15 A Grade Scratch – 5 laps

1         Carly McCoombe 3’29.80

2         Jessica McKay

3         Samantha Wood

Under 17 B Grade Scratch 5 laps

1         Stacey Kromer

2         Ellen Marks

3         Chey Howard

 Under 17 A Grade Scratch 5 laps

1         Lisa Friend                3’06.58

2         Courtney LeLay

3         Chloe Hosking

  Under 13 Scratch Race 4 laps

1         Natasha Langedyk                2’59.54

2         Antonia Abbisoghi

3         Imogen Jelbart

Women’s B Grade Scratch

This race was taken easily by Hannah Bush. She kicked with about 200m to go and was well-away by the end. A photo for second and third revealed Erin Peoples beat Louise Bourke.

1         Hannah Bush                4’52.77

2         Erin Peoples

3         Louise Bourke

 Women’s A Grade Scratch 8 laps

With 2 laps to go, Tiffany Cromwell tried her luck off the front, but was quickly pulled back by the bunch which was still together. Heading towards the bell, there was a slight touch of wheels and Tiffany Cromwell drifted out of the back. The sprint for the line started from here – 414m out. Bianca Rogers was active at the front, but Kerrie Meares made her effort with 200m to go. Rogers went with her, noone else was able to stay with them. Tiffany Godfrey was third.

      1  Kerrie Meares                 4’45.30

2         Bianca Rogers

3         Tiffany Godfrey

Under 13 600m Wheelrace

This junior girl’s race was taken by another member of the Bush family – Sophie, with a clear victory over Sophie Waldron and Imogen Jelbart

      1         Sophie Bush                      49.74

2         Sophie Waldron

3         Bianca McKenzie        

  Under 15 1000m Wheelrace

Stephanie Young took the race to the others, but tired dramatically on the final bend. She had led for much of the race, but was unable to stay away.

1 Monica Glowacki

2 Rebecca Hooper

3 Samantha Jerlin

 Under 13 600m Wheelrace

Sophie Bush continued her successful day with a win over Bianca McKenzie and Sophie Waldron

1  Sophie Bush

2  Bianca McKenzie

3  Sophie Waldron

 Under 15 1000m Wheelrace

Monica Glowacki also continued with winning ways at Bendigo by winning the prizemoney and sash from Rebecca Hooper.

Women’s 1000m Wheelrace

Heat 1

With a lap to go, the three longmarkers were still away, but Tess Downing raced hard and caught them on the back straight. Bianca Rogers wound up her sprint with just over 200m to go and took her fellow backmarkers through too.

    1 Bianca Rogers

2         Tiffany Godfrey

3         Tess Downing

4         Peta Mullins

Heat 2

The Jessicas – Berry and Tanner worked together to catch the straggled field in front of them. Frontmarkers Emma Waldron was caught on the line at the bell and Hannah Bush took the front on the back straight. Jessica Berry was high above the others and went over the top but was unable to take the lead, she did qualify for the final though.

      1  Aimee Howlett

2         Melissa White

3         Hannah Bush

4         Jessica Berry

 Heat 3

There was a problem at the start of this race for Briana James – possibly a pulled foot and her Wheelrace was effectively over. Kerrie Meares jumped straight onto the wheel of Skye-Lee Armstrong, who had 10m start over the scratch rider. They quickly picked up Liz Georgouras, but it wasn’t until a lap to go that Kerrie Meares crossed the gap to the front group, followed by Skye-Le Armstrong. These two continued through to the finish line and qualified easily.

      1  Skye-Lee Armstrong

2         Kerrie Meares

3         Livia Glucholoska

4         Liz Georgouras

 Final

Liz White briefly took the front, starting second longest at 80m (Aimee Howlett was longmarker with 85m), but everyone was quickly in the same line. Starting from scratch, Kerrie Meares made her way around the rest of the line and took no prisoners as she followed Bianca Roger’s wheel all the way round the final lap. Skye-Lee Armstrong was third, having sat-in behind these two.

1  Kerrie Meares

2  Bianca Rogers

3  Skye-Lee Armstrong

Under 15 6 lap Scratch

Brodie Stewart rode this race from the front – she was 100m in front of the chasers for much of the race. With 4 to go, she was out there whilst her Brisbane Broncos club-mates Tamara Josepski and Jessica McKay were having a bit of a physical scrap at the back of the bunch. They sorted themselves out and were the main chasers to Stewart with 2 laps to go. Even an effort by Carly McCoombe was unsuccessful and Stewart managed to finish ahead of the rapidly descending pack.

1         Brodie Stewart

2         Sinead Cosgrove

3         Carly McCoombe

4         Tamara Josepski

 Women’s Omnium – Round 4 Keirin

This week-long series has a different discipline at each event through the week. The winner on cumulative points at the end of the week is Omnium Champion. Honours on this Thursday evening at Bendigo went to Kerrie Meares. She comfortably took the Keirin from Jessica Berry with a final 200m time of 12.14seconds.

1         Kerrie Meares

2         Jessica Berry

3         Bianca Rogers

4         Tess Downing

Women’s 2000m Wheelrace

Aimee Howlett was frontmarker for this race, on 180m. Skye-Lee Armstrong and Bianca Rogers were the backmarkers, with Kerrie Meares having failed to qualify for this final. With 2 laps to go, Nicole Holt was still at the front, with Jessica Tanner having drifted out of the back after a spirited chase by Bianca Rogers, which closed the gap to the frontmarkers with 1½ laps to go, taking the second bunch with her. Rogers and Tess Downing continued, with Skye-Lee Armstrong also in the running. At the 200m mark, it was Armstrong who had a seemingly unassailable gap, but Rogers was chasing hard. In a brilliantly timed sprint, Rogers took the line just ahead of Armstrong.

      1  Bianca Rogers                               2’28.35

2         Skye-Lee Armstrong

3         Tiffany Cromwell

4         Hannah Bush

 Afterwards, Bianca Rogers was presented with the Vittoria “Rider of the Series” award of the Bendigo Carnival for her performance in the 2000m wheelrace. Speaking to WomensCycling.net, she said it had been “a hard race”. She had towed the others across the gap with 2 laps to go because “I thought with $300 prize up for grabs everyone would have been going for it. But everyone was obviously tired and I wanted to try for it, so I had to try to go across.”  About the sprint, she told WomensCycling.net “I put the pressure down and Skye-Lee came over me, but I didn’t want to go to fast too soon. So I left it until the final bend and it came out good”, she smiled.

The Bendigo Carnival is fourth out of six consecutive long days of racing. Asked if she was tired, Bianca said “Yesterday I raced Maryborough, I hadn’t planned to but I decided to. Then I rode from Maryborough to Bendigo last night. But I was up all night, kind of delirious due to lack of food and dehydration. But I pulled round all right and I’ve done alright tonight.”  It may be a late decision to ride Euchucha on Friday because Rogers wants “to keep the Omnium going – I need the points, so I might ride Euchucha even though I’m supposed to be resting. But I am definitely riding Shepparton.”

Under 17 B Grade Scratch

1         Ellen Marks                     3’54.65

2         Chey Howard

3         Stacey Kramer

 Under 17 A Grade 6 lap Scratch

1         Sarah Edwards   3’50.33

2         Courtney LeLay

3         Jessica Ellis

Women’s B Grade Scratch 8 laps

With everything all together, the riders were happy to take ½ -lap turns on the front until 11.2 laps from the finish. Kira Mason tried her luck at this point, but was quickly discouraged from making a serious effort by the bunch, which brought her back swiftly. As they took the bell, all were still together and Kira Mason briefly tried again. Mellisa White also went, but Kate Finegan’s effort was most serious as she was followed over the top by Hannah Bush and Erin Peoples. With 200m to go, it was Bush White and Peoples who took off. They finished in that order.

     1  Hannah Bush    5’00.5

2         Mellisa White

3         Erin Peoples

Photos of the Bendigo Carnival to follow soon

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