Dubbo Cycle Club is Master of the Track
AFTER dominating at the Open Wheel Race Carnival the weekend before, Dubbo sent a powerful contingent to the Dunc Gray Olympic Velodrome at Bass Hill and swept the floor.
Club President Matthew Gilbert was ecstatic.
“We won an unprecedented 28 medals – 11 of which were gold – at the NSW State Masters. It was a dominant display over four days of racing against the best riders in the state. The classifications reflect the age groups of the riders. We had them from Men’s and Women’s 1 to Darrell at Masters 9,” Gilbert said.
Dubbo’s domination on the track has been forged by a wonderful coaching team.
“Under the careful guidance of awarded national level coach Gus Dawson and NSW Junior Track squad assistant coach, Vaughn Eather, Jason Farr (MMAS3), Tim Hines (MMAS3), Darrell Wheeler (MMAS9), Catherine Fuller (WMAS3), Simone Grounds (WMAS3), Heather Ticehurst (WMAS3), Graeme Peadon (MMAS6) and Jennifer Raines (WMAS1) combined for a total of 28 medals – 11 gold, 12 silver and five bronze.”
Jason Farr topped the podium in the sprint and scratch races as well finishing second in the 750m individual time trial and third in the points race.
Tim Hines reaped a medal harvest at his first crack at State level competition. He finished second in the sprint and points races, 3000m individual pursuit and scratch race and third in 750m individual time trial.
“Tim and Jason had some great battles over the weekend but nothing could top their incredible come-frombehind dual assault on the highly-credentialed Ben Neppl from the Hunter. The power surge over the last 200m of the 40 lap Scratch Race sent shivers down the spine of everyone at the track, and the devoted Dubbo Club members watching Simone Grounds’ live stream,” Matt bubbled.
Dubbo’s iron man, Darrell Wheeler, who is a current National champion on the track, finished with two gold medals and one silver medal.
“The evergreen Ol’ Darrell, took the 500m individual time trial and points race and finished a narrow second in the 2000m individual pursuit.”
Dubbo Sportsperson of the Year Simone Grounds kept her dreams of an Open berth alive, taking almost everything on offer in the WM3 (40+) events.
“Simone, who is already a multiple national champion on the road, was the stand-out rider in her division. She has such an amazing work ethic and the rewards were richly deserved,” Matt said.
Simone finished the championships with gold in the scratch race, points race, 500m individual time trial and 2000m individual pursuit.
“But one of the most pleasing for everyone was when she combined with Heather Ticehurst to clean sweep Women’s Team Sprint. The same pair joined forces with Catherine Fuller in an unbelievable G-force Women’s Pursuit victory. The trio set a new team personal best time of 2 minutes 36.246 seconds, which will place them in prime position for the Masters National Championships.”
Heather stepped up to WMAS3 and took out silver in the 2000m individual pursuit, 500m individual time trial and scratch race as well as finishing third in the points race, while Catherine added an individual bronze in the 2000m individual time trial as well as silver when combining with Jennifer Raines in the Women’s Team Sprint.
“Jennifer was the lone rider in the WMAS1 division, meaning she would have to ride to a time percentage in the individual events to claim a medal. In an tremendous carnival riding without competition, she was awarded gold for her ride in the combined WMAS1/2 scratch race as the best placed WMAS1 rider, she took silver in the 2000m individual pursuit and finished in the bronze medal position in the 500m individual time trial”, an obviously proud club president added.
The Cycling Australia 2018 Masters Track Nationals will be held at Melbourne’s DISC Velodrome from February 28 to March 3, with several of the Dubbo riders heading south to aim for national champions titles.