Published: 14 July 2010
On this beautiful summer's evening, season's numbers reached a peak with youth riders turning the infield into a sea of Palmer Park Velo green and yellow.
Firing off in rapid succession each rider started with a flying 200 metre time trial. These shorter time trials are often an indication of improvement and this evening saw some super times. Under 12 Cameron Thompson raised a few eyebrows in taking 5th overall with a time that many Under 16s would have settled for. Jason Pitt again powered to the quickest time of the evening but by a very small margin from both Daniel Lansley and Joseph Crolla, the top three being separated by under quarter of a second.
The youths always seem to love riding behind the Derny. Tonight was no exception with the Derny being employed to pace the Keirin events.
Heat 1 saw three very evenly matched Under 8s, Emily Conn, Connor Hindman and Euan Macleod being set against Under 10s Callum Macleod, Anna Linehan, Kitty Pilgrim-Morris and Max Reed for a seven-up heat. As the motor pulled off Callum Macleod sat confidently on the front attacking hard to gap the field by a considerable margin with the riders behind fighting for places. Of the Under 8s, Euan matched his brother Callum's Under 10 first, with Emily Conn in second and Connor Hindman in third. Anna Linehan took a feisty second in the Under 10s with Max Reed in third.
Heat 2 was an Under 12 affair between; Luis Hindman, Emma Pitt, Max Rigby, Slipstreamer Carl Jolly, Cameron Thompson, Sam Oliver and Danny Griffiths. Taking station behind the Derny, Danny Griffiths made the early move pulling those on his wheel towards the finish. Coming from the back, Cameron showed his 200 time was no fluke as he stormed into an unassailable lead. Superior leg-speed saw Emma pip Carl for second.
Heat 3 was cluttered affair between eight riders with barley enough room for the Derny to pass at the start. Under 14s Daniel & Matthew Lansley, Max Steadman, David Barnes & Joseph Linehan riding up from the Under 12s, Toni Griffiths, Rachel Ansell and Reg Pay squeezed across the start line. Toni Griffiths took position behind the motor and attacked hard as it left the track and held station into the final straight as Daniel Lansley stretched his legs for the win from Max Steadman with David Barnes in a very good third. Toni brought the girls home followed by Rachel Ansell.
Heat 4, the Under 16 boys, ran true to form with series points leader Jason Pitt taking a comfortable win from relative newcomers Joseph Crolla in an excellent second and Josh Ansell in third.
In the Devil that followed Toni Griffiths took the win in the Under 14 girls with Daniel Lansley, Max Steadman and David Barnes the one, two, three in the boys. David Barnes had a particularly good evening riding up with the Under 14s and showing what excellent potential he has. It would be good to see him and his sister, Emily, racing the Track League a little more often as they help animate races but I understand commitments elsewhere often prevent this. The Under 16 race was a close affair with Jason bossing the field winning from Duncan Lawrence in second and Josh Ansell in third.
The final 10 lap scratch saw the usual protagonists taking wins across the age groups but with a well earned win for Max Reed in the Under 10s from Anna Lenihan in second as Callum Macleod faded late on.
My report this week is somewhat lacking in detail, as I was distracted being the Derny Pacer for the evening. My apologies to those of you I failed to mention or for the attacks and efforts I missed.
Another busy, yet rewarding, evening at the Palmer Park velodrome.