Josh Thomson (front) took out a competitive A-grade race in round 10. Photos: Richard Bailey.
Welch Builders EMCC Summer Crit Series - Round 10
With lots of competition from festive season activities, we were down to 15 riders for round 10 with riders grouped into A, B and C-grades for the last official EMCC Crit for 2024.
A-grade
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With the biggest group in the field, A-grade was a mixture of enthusiasm from Bryce Denham, to have a crack at regular A-graders (Lenny Griffiths etc), as well as some nervous Riley Wilkinson energy with the step-up in level.
By A-grade standards, the early part of the race was quite conservative until Lenny first put the foot down.
Interestingly, it was ‘Reluctant Riley’ leading the charge to bridge the gap and bring the bunch together.
As the race progressed, the group seemed destined to finish together, with a sprint finish on the cards.
Nearing the final laps, Matt Sherman showed the strain of a 50km afternoon warm-up as he drifted off the pace.
With the bell for the final lap, it was Bryce who exploded down the back straight, with Josh Thomson and Lenny in close pursuit.
In the stretch for the line, it was Josh over Lenny, with Bryce in third.
B-grade
The five-rider B-grade pack bunch up.
Regular B-grader Cam Smith was joined by Claire Goodman, Neil Thomson, Matt Dobeli, Will Kettle and Mel Smolenaars for racing.
First to boil, as usual, was Will Kettle with an early attack that was covered by Cam Smith in a sign of strength, while Claire continued to put in hot laps, well into the low 40s, even riding off the front for a few laps mid-race.
Unfortunately, Mel found the surges a little fast.
As the strong man of the group, Cam took it upon himself to drive the pace as time and laps counted down.
His plan was clearly to prevent attacks, keeping Will simmering at the back.
Into the final lap, all five riders were in contention, but on the back bend, things got a little messy.
Behind a strong lead-out from Cam, Neil went left and Claire went right, the resultant wobble creating the gap for Will Kettle to boil again and cross the line first, ahead of Neil in second and Claire in third.
C-grade
Just the two riders, Paul Oman and Kaz Griffiths, set off in C-grade; quite a difficult proposition.
Any breakaway would need to be responded to, there was a bunch to drag you back across.
It was clear before the start that there wouldn't be an inch given by either, with Paul keen to keep the race length despite the small group, while Kaz reminisced with a steely resolve about the intensity of the so-called ‘come and try’ crit race in Bright recently.
After an unremarkable sharing of duties on the front, before we knew it the bell rang and the race was on, and in the throw to the line, the crowd was unable to pick the winner.
The photo finish was likewise unable to split them, well done to Paul and Kaz - our second dead heat of the season.
Thanks to race director H, we'll see you all next week for our Christmas Gravel race on the big loop at the crit track - more details through the week.
