Victorian State Title

[Bryn]

Oxford's Travis McGowan attempts to retain his Victorian State Solo Championship at Olympic Park Mildura this Saturday.

 

The line up, in riding order, is:

 

Ashley Jones, Tom Hedley, Cory Gathercole, Kevin Doolan, Adam Allott, Chris Ferguson, Tyron Procter, Cameron Woodward, Paul Bogdanowicz, Travis McGowan, Karlis Ezergailis, Brock Gates, Jason Stewart, Matt Jones, Nathan Hedley, Sam Dore. Reserve: Matt Windsor.

[Ozyace]

Moose should retain his title, not a bad line up though.

[Main Man]

good luck to Adam Allott --an adopted Aussie for the winter!!

[GxJxN]

Good Luck to Kevin & Adam & Cam

[Guest Sir Lunchalot]

Looks like a weaker field than last year with no Lyons or Lemon this time around. Looks to me like a predictable 1st / 2nd of McGowan / Doolan and throw in any one of three or four others for third.

 

No Mark Jones I see, is he injured from his spill in Tassie ? Nice to see Jason Stewart back on a bike too.

[Guest zoo]

Bryn, could you please email me asap on info@norfolkarena.co.uk, would be much appreciated and good luck to the lynn boys!

[Bryn]

Yes it's congratulations to Travis McGowan who won his fifth Victorian State title here at Mildura tonight (or rather last night as it's currently 2.45am here!) and successfully defended the title he won last year. He dropped his only point to Kevin Doolan in the heats and the latter finished with 13 points, the same as Adam Allott who beat this King's Lynn team mate of last year when they met as ex-Newport Wasp Ash Jones (who's VERY keen to return to GB this coming season!).

 

The latter defeated Cameron Woodward in a run off for the fourth and final place in the final after both had amassed 12 points. McGowan thus had first choice of gates in the final where he faced Doolan, Adam Allott and Ashley Jones who defeated Cameron Woodward in a run off for the fourth and final place in the grand final.

 

Travis opted for gate 1 in the final, Adam Allott was off two, Kev Doolan chose 3 leaving Ash Jones off the outside.

 

At the first time of asking Doolan & Jones collided at the first bend and both fell, a restart being ordered with all 4.

 

In that re-start Travis led from start to finish with Kev Doolan second, Ash Jones third and Adam Allott fourth.

 

Must admit I celebrated in the clubhouse afterwards naturally sinking a few bundy & cokes so apologies for any typing errors as it's currently 2.50am now !!!

and it's time for beddibyes methinks...or shall I just have ONE more Bundy?

 

I blame Sir Lunchalot for leading me astray....fuller report will be filed in the morn and I believe that Lunchy will be doing a heat by heat breakdown in due course.

[Guest Sir Lunchalot]

Seeing Bryn asked so nicely !!

 

And would I lead anyone astray ?

 

Final scores (in riding order)

 

A Jones 3,3,2,3,1 = 12

T Hedley 1,1,2,2,3 = 9

C Gathercole 0,3,1,1,0 = 5

K Doolan 2,3,3,3,2 = 13

A Allott 3,2,3,2,3 = 13

C Ferguson 0,2,3,2,2 = 9

T Proctor 1,1,0,2,2 = 6

C Woodward 2,2,3,3,2 = 12

P Bogdanowicz 0,0,2,1,1 = 4

T McGowan 3,3,2,3,3 = 14

K Ezergalis 1,2,0,1,0 = 4

B Gates 2,1,1,1,1 = 6

J Stewart 3,1,1,0,3 = 8

Matt Jones 2,0,0,0,1 = 3

N Hedley DNR (replaced by R Farr)

S Dore 0,0,1,0,0 = 1

R Farr 0,0,1,0,0 = 1

 

Heat 1 A Jones, Doolan, Hedley, Gathercole 64.42

Jones popped out of the inside gate and Doolan from the extreme outside was forced wide nearly to the fence on turn 1 and that was effectively race over. By the end of the race Tom Hedley was nipping at Doolans heels but I suspect Doolan was taking it easy. Gathercole had tailed off on what may have been an ill bike.

 

Heat 2 Allott, Woodward, Proctor, Ferguson. No time given

Nearly a carbon copy of heat 1. Allott shot from the inside gate with Woodward from gate 4 having to settle for second going into turn 1 and that's how they finished. This time it was Ferguson tailed right off over half a lap behind the others.

 

Heat 3 McGowan, Gates, Ezergalis, Bogdanowicz 61.30

Despite riding with stitches in his left thumb from a track mishap the week earlier this was easy for McGowan in a canter. I was a bit surprised Ezergalis couldn't make more of an impression on Gates for 2nd.

 

Heat 4 Stewart, M Jones, R Farr, S Dore (F excl) 62.81

A heat that was rerun after Dore came off by himself on turn two with his bike making some alerations to the fence which needed to be repaired before the heat could be rerun. Before that happened the action was on lap 1 with Jones making the start and Stewart passing him round the outside on lap 1. In the rerun it was Stewart looking totally at ease who waltzed away with it.

 

Heat 5 A Jones, Allott, Stewart, Bogdanowicz 61.71

Jones from inside Allott beat him to the first turn and after that it was follow the leader.

 

Heat 6 McGowan, Ferguson, Hedley, M Jones 62.81

The class of McGowan stood out in this company. Ferguson had a much better ride this time around claiming an easy second.

 

Heat 7 Gathercole, Ezergalis, Proctor, Farr 64.49

This heat had a slowish time but was remarkably entertaining. Ezergalis was an easy leader from the tapes with Gathercole from out wide finding himself in fourth once they settled. By the end of lap two Gathercole was third, on the next lap he had sneaked into second and with a great final bend and lunge on the line just nicked it from under Ezergalis's nose. I'm not sure Karlis knew he was there or not.

 

Heat 8 Doolan, Woodward, Gates, Dore 61.66

The two favourites McGowan and Doolan were finding the early heats easy and this was no exception. Woodward stuck close to Doolan but you sensed Doolan had that bit in reserve all along.

 

Heat 9 Ferguson, A Jones, Dore, Ezergalis 63.70

Ferguson was in danger of being swabbed after this one !! He jumped out of gate 1 and was never troubled after that. Ezergalis was having a night to forget as he fell towards the end of the race while in third.

 

Heat 10 Allott, Hedley, Gates, Farr 61.21

A "write the positions in after turn 1 and go and get another burger / beer while everyone else is watching the race" affair. Allott easily.

 

Heat 11 Woodward, Bogdanowicz, Gathercole (F rem) M Jones (ef) 62.12

After a very tight turn one with three locked together they soon were strung out like Browns cows. Gathercole fell and remounted on lap 2 and Jones while second had mechanical gremlins set in on the final bend to gift Bogdanowicz and Gathercole an extra point each.

 

Heat 12 Doolan, McGowan, Stewart, Proctor 60.94

The most entertaining race of the night. Doolan from inside McGowan got the jump into turn 1 with McGowan pinching the lead coming out of turn 2 and Doolan returning the favour before lap 1 was out. McGowan was all over Doolan like an old fashioned nightshirt for the rest of the race but couldn't find a way past. Meanwhile at the back Stewart and Proctor had a private war happening as they seemed to have swapped places every time I looked back from the leading pair.

 

Heat 13 A Jones, Proctor, Gates, M Jones 62.10

How come every exciting race seems to be followed by a boring one ?

 

Heat 14 Woodward, Hedley, Ezergalis, Stewart 62.68

Brilliant gate by Woodward but by the finish Hedley was sensing he had a chance to claim a name scalp and was closing in. Again a ride Ezergalis would not be happy with and I'm not sure what happened to Stewart out the back as he had been better than that previously.

 

Heat 15 McGowan, Allott, Gathercole, Dore (ret) 61.35

McGowan from gate three in front of Allott (gate four) and again showing why he was a warm favourite for the meeting.

 

Heat 16 Doolan, Ferguson, Bogdanowicz, Farr (ret) 61.78

Heat 15 all over again.

 

Heat 17 McGowan, Woodward, A Jones, Farr 61.78

Woodward again made a terrific start and McGowan from the "gate of death" out wide found himself in third after they sorted themselves out. McGowan was in no mood for mucking about and got by Jones on lap 1 and Woodward on lap 2 to be untroubled by the finish. By finishing 3rd Jones was forced into a run off with Woodward for the last berth in the final.

 

Heat 18 Hedley, Proctor, Bogdanowicz, Dore (ret) 62.26

Hedley was maintaining his excellent form from his previous ride and rode a smooth controlled race to duly salute the judge. A nice ride for a lad in his first year in senior ranks.

 

Heat 19 Stewart, Ferguson, Gates, Gathercole (f rem) 63.60

What ever Stewart had wrong in his last ride he had sorted out and cruised round for the win. No chance of anyone makong the final so rather academic anyway.

 

Heat 20 Allott, Doolan, M Jones, Ezergalis 61.29

Two races in one here with Doolan from his second gate 4 of the night unable to make any impression on a quick starting Allott. Jones and Ezergalis had their own private battle out the back with Jones prevailing in the end.

 

Run off for last place in final A Jones, Woodward 64.07

Jones had the pick of gate positions and chose the inside. The only excitement in the race was when Woodward tried to go up the inside of Jones going into turn 3 but ran into a dead end and had to back off and almost immediately after Jones getting rather untidy coming out of turn 4. Woodward had lost momentum though and was unable to capitalise on the Jones mistake and that was it.

 

Final McGowan, Doolan, A Jones, Allott 61.34

The heat was rerun because at the fist time of asking Doolan lifted a wee bit coming off the line and ran that little bit wide leaving Jones who was trying to go around him limited room with the result they both finished on the floor. In the rerun McGowan jumped out in front and rode sensibly round to claim his fifth Vic State title.

 

Nice as always to meet up with Bryn but I was shattered to learn he had no choice but to buy Japanese duty free ciggies on the flight over. The things people do for a heap flight !!

[GxJxN]

thanx for the news