A SERIES of hard fast races provided the Optus Nowra Velo Club with two wins at the Nowra Interclub criteriums on Sunday.
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Aaron Coghlan and Rob Pickard won separate grade events on the Albatross Aviation Tech Park circuit, while other wins went to Adam Kiss of Goulburn and Josie Talbot of the Macarthur Cycle Club.
This was round three of the 2015 Southern Region Interclub series.
Coghlan won the B grade 40 plus minute race around the 800 metre circuit in a close finish from Clint Mears (Illawarra CC) and NVC’s Aaron Lauder.
These three riders lapped the field with six minutes remaining after Lauder initiated the break after 15 minutes of racing.
Mears and Coghlan chased across the gap while other Nowra Velo riders in the field held back from the chase.
Mears led into the finish straight and gave Lauder a tight margin on the kerb but Coghlan was quick enough the take the outside run and took the win by a length from the Illawarra rider.
Other Nowra riders in this grade were Mark Astley who featured in an early solo break, Jade Colligan and Ian Kielly.
Rob Pickard was the elder statesman of D grade but after just 10 minutes was in a lone lead and going away from this field.
Despite some spirited chasing from the Goulburn, Illawarra and Southern Highlands riders, Pickard drove himself hard to finish well ahead of the field after 30 minutes of racing.
Zac Hulm (Southern Highlands) was the best of the rest and crossed the line in second position by half a length from Michael Gleeson (Macarthur), Kylie Brooker (Goulburn) and Steve Daley (Nowra Velo).
The A grade field raced over 45 minutes plus two laps of the 800 metre circuit and the speed was high from the start.
Numerous attacks forced breaks in the line but these were all closed down until Goulburn’s Adam Kiss went faster through the corners and established a solo break with 15 minutes remaining.
Kiss still had 13 seconds lead as he crossed the line, while Toby Orchard (Southern Highlands CC) edged Andy Cartwright (Goulburn CC) out of second position.
Close behind was Brodie Talbot (Macarthur CC) and Luke Meers (Illawarra CC).
Ricky Brooker (Goulburn) was sixth ahead of Richard Vollebregt (Southern Highlands), Jimmy Kourembes (Macarthur) and Wayne White (Southern Highlands).
Nowra’s Mitch Cunningham was in this field and experiencing a new form of high speed competition.
Mitch handled this well and crossed the line intact in the chase bunch and in 10th position.
C grade provided the biggest field and surprised with the speed and aggression displayed throughout the 30 minutes and two laps of racing.
Former world women’s junior team pursuit champion, Josie Talbot was in this field on a return to racing after long break from competition to recharge the enthusiasm and was on the attack early.
Talbot raced clear of the field after five minutes but the chasing field had the bunch together again three laps later.
Talbot attacked again through the fastest corner with just over five minutes remaining and was clear again but this time the chase did not bridge the gap.
Talbot was 100 metres clear over the line when Glenn Apps (Goulburn CC) finished second and just in advance of Steve Gendek and Phil Jones, both Nowra Velo riders.
Andrew Burrows (Southern Highlands) was fifth followed by Jacob Emmerton (Goulburn), Lee Webb (Southern Highlands), Tim Devlin (Nowra Velo), Andy Jackson (Southern Highlands), Greg Scott (Macarthur) and Daryl Bird (Southern Highlands).
A crash on a fast corner had reduced this field but injuries were slight.
This Nowra Velo Club round of the Southern Regions Interclub series was the first event on the history of the series to move away from handicap racing and following the success of Sunday’s program, the club will stay with this format in the future.
The program attracted 86 entries and the next event on the interclub program is the Macarthur CC round at Oakdale in three weeks, where the program will be graded scratch races.
The Nowra Velo Club will return to the 2015 Ultimate Challenge series next Sunday with a 53 kilometre handicap on Braidwood Road.
The event will start from Wugan Street at 9am and the Hanlon Windows team will host the program.