Hi 13.11.13 Killarney Race Report by Dennis Lamminga Another Wednesday. Another Killarney. With most of the PRO teams now back in Joburg preparing for the weekend’s 94.7 race, and the South Easter not so “in-your-face” as normal, we in Scratch + 1 grabbed the opportunity to possibly finish with the Elites for once! Half the Outriders lined up at the start, together with World X-Terra athlete Douglas Burger and the Cycles Direct Crew. It looked like it was going to be red against blue team again! ;) We were all happy to do a bit of work in front. There was very little guttering in the wind and everyone was mindful of each other. The going was tough, and everyone went quiet for a bit. About 2 laps in, Steven Hayes (Aurecon), Douglas and myself tried a break-away, but we were quickly swallowed up by the Scratch + 1 bunch. Clive Seebregts (Felt) did an amazing job again showing us: 1. where to ride, 2. how to do “through-and-off” and 3. where to sit in the corners. Robin (Cycles Direct) together with a few Outriders did nice long stints in front, but our imminent fusion with the Elite Scratch bunch seemed inevitable.. I went to the rear of the group and saw 3 ghostly figures appearing from the rear. Theuns vd Bank, Evan Carstens (both NuWater) and Matthew Merrington (Swift) broke away from the Elite bunch and was approaching our bunch with the speed of light! I shouted words of encouragement as they flew past, not wanting to interfere with their break-away dynamics. A few from our bunch did hang onto them however, and, as it was anyone’s race, the mini break-way of 3 turned into about a dozen riders. Robin and Outriders Reinhardt, Mario and Angelo were in the mix and managed a gap working together with the lads. Now it was Elite bunch’s time to catch up. They swarmed through us like riders possessed. By this time Theuns, Evan and Matthew were alone in the mini-breakaway up front, the rest of the guys just in awe with their speed. I tried to make myself as low as possible on the bike and my eyes were glued to the time. I could hear myself screaming “Just one more lap, just hang on for one more lap!!”, and luckily there it was: the bell signalling the last lap. By this time only Angelo and myself were together from the Outriders, and we tried to follow strong wheels from the Yellow Team Dane and Darren Perring as we screeched around the final corners. I knew Moolman would be good in the sprint so tried to attach myself to his wheel, but in the end traded his wheel for Neville Cragg’s wheel (Aurecon). I just have to remind everyone that Neville still has the Strava KOM around Killarney at a blistering average speed of 50.3 kmph, the only (Strava) rider to have broken the 4 minute barrier at 3.3 km Killarney Race Track! In the end his wheel was great to secure my first top 10 position at Killarney, so thanks Neville! Outrider Angelo sprinted amazingly well to earn a provisional 7th place with Killarney Jersey Leader Alex Heward winning the bunch sprint just behind the Killarney Threesome. Well done all!, that was fun, in a funny sort of way.. -- My Killarney Stats: · Distance: 41.6km · Time: 58 min · Average Speed: 42.4 kmph (Elites managed 44+ kmph!) · Max Speed: 58.3 kmph (towards the Finish Line) Killarney Accolades go to: 3-man breakaway Theuns, Evan and Matthew, who, even after their Night Time Crits in Stellenbosch and Engen Dynamic Race on Sunday, stole the show by riding away from everyone. Well done boys!, what a stellar performance. Rgds, Denny
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 19:43:22 +0000
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