The sun has be chased and caught
Today marked the final round of the Chase the Sun series, and Felt Racing can happily say they took home the first and the last places on the box, as well as a 3rd and 5th on the day. And a tough day it turned out to be. (Photos here and here)
From initial inspections on the first lap, it was a screamingly fast course, with no respite. At every point on the course, you were going flat out either up or down. There was little place to drink, and plenty of places to squander time. But I'll say that it was my favourite course for the series as it used the best bits of the park, so I really loved it. Many other people whinged that there was too much climbing, but to do flowy descents like that, I'm happy to climb!
An early start greeted us, being on site at 7am, and we waited for the van to arrive, graciously driven (thank you!!!) by Jarrod of Felt Australia. Rolling out the grass to the jelous glares of our neighbours, we quickly had Felt Central set up for the day, then Jack and Jason geared up to take on the start. Felt Racing elected to take full advantage of the Pro Teams catagory, and swithced the teams around for the final race. By the numbers, Felt 1 was almost unbeatable, and so the (marginally) faster team was put into Felt 2 in an attempt to get them into 2nd place overall. Sadly, we were pipped by 1 lousy point in the end, denying us a 1/2 finish in the series, but thats racing and we all tried out little hearts out!
Back to the action, and the boys came through for a 2nd and 3rd finish to the first lap, with Giant's John Claxton out front setting the pace, which he kept the same all day, even after snapping a deraillieur and locking it in big ring for the last 2 laps.... Animal! Anyway, Felt 1 and 2 circulated as fast as we could until about 1pm when the wheels started to fall off Ben and Ash. A less than ideal lead up is certainly to blame, but it became a very had day for these two, compounded by Jarrod Moroni (Cannondale/ Moroni's bikes) going past them both like they were standing still. Ash managed to get on the back of Jarrod until the bottom of the Comm Games climb, but the engine light flashed loud and proud about 1/3 the way up, and it was all over.
Jack buried himself and managed to get on terms again during his next lap, but Ash wasn't able to respond when Jarrod kicked again up the long soggy fireroad grass climb, and lumped with 2 legs full of cramp, and a dashboard full of colour, Jarrod rode away not to be seen again. That left Ash and Ben to battle it out for the minor places, ably assisted by their team mates who continued to thump out consistent laps, all day long. The battle for the minors was more a war of attrition, with cramp and fatigue being obnoxious cell mates to both riders, as they worked to decorate the inside of the box they both found themselves in.
In the end, with a belly full of Red bull and Endura products on board, it was Ash and Jack who held on for third, and Ben and teammate Jason were pipped on the last downhill by Erin (Thylacine), but it was still enough to get us both onto the series podium and collect the cold hard cash!!!
Jack and John duking it out over the first lap (photo: Tim Rowe) The course still had a cross over point in it to make a figure 8, but it was far better managed than last race, and there was no dramas crossing over each lap.
Benny Randall awaiting the start, comfortable to watch the others slog it out for the first lap heart starter.
Possibly come confusion with race management? The instruction seems pretty clear, but maybe there is something lost in the interpretation...
Jason, doing it for the 'guns'.
Collection time for the ca$h money :) Over 300 hundred riders for the day make that pretty damm successful, with about the same amount at each event. Close to melbourne, ready made facility, sounds good to us!
From initial inspections on the first lap, it was a screamingly fast course, with no respite. At every point on the course, you were going flat out either up or down. There was little place to drink, and plenty of places to squander time. But I'll say that it was my favourite course for the series as it used the best bits of the park, so I really loved it. Many other people whinged that there was too much climbing, but to do flowy descents like that, I'm happy to climb!
An early start greeted us, being on site at 7am, and we waited for the van to arrive, graciously driven (thank you!!!) by Jarrod of Felt Australia. Rolling out the grass to the jelous glares of our neighbours, we quickly had Felt Central set up for the day, then Jack and Jason geared up to take on the start. Felt Racing elected to take full advantage of the Pro Teams catagory, and swithced the teams around for the final race. By the numbers, Felt 1 was almost unbeatable, and so the (marginally) faster team was put into Felt 2 in an attempt to get them into 2nd place overall. Sadly, we were pipped by 1 lousy point in the end, denying us a 1/2 finish in the series, but thats racing and we all tried out little hearts out!
Back to the action, and the boys came through for a 2nd and 3rd finish to the first lap, with Giant's John Claxton out front setting the pace, which he kept the same all day, even after snapping a deraillieur and locking it in big ring for the last 2 laps.... Animal! Anyway, Felt 1 and 2 circulated as fast as we could until about 1pm when the wheels started to fall off Ben and Ash. A less than ideal lead up is certainly to blame, but it became a very had day for these two, compounded by Jarrod Moroni (Cannondale/ Moroni's bikes) going past them both like they were standing still. Ash managed to get on the back of Jarrod until the bottom of the Comm Games climb, but the engine light flashed loud and proud about 1/3 the way up, and it was all over.
Jack buried himself and managed to get on terms again during his next lap, but Ash wasn't able to respond when Jarrod kicked again up the long soggy fireroad grass climb, and lumped with 2 legs full of cramp, and a dashboard full of colour, Jarrod rode away not to be seen again. That left Ash and Ben to battle it out for the minor places, ably assisted by their team mates who continued to thump out consistent laps, all day long. The battle for the minors was more a war of attrition, with cramp and fatigue being obnoxious cell mates to both riders, as they worked to decorate the inside of the box they both found themselves in.
In the end, with a belly full of Red bull and Endura products on board, it was Ash and Jack who held on for third, and Ben and teammate Jason were pipped on the last downhill by Erin (Thylacine), but it was still enough to get us both onto the series podium and collect the cold hard cash!!!
Jack and John duking it out over the first lap (photo: Tim Rowe) The course still had a cross over point in it to make a figure 8, but it was far better managed than last race, and there was no dramas crossing over each lap.
Benny Randall awaiting the start, comfortable to watch the others slog it out for the first lap heart starter.
Possibly come confusion with race management? The instruction seems pretty clear, but maybe there is something lost in the interpretation...
Jason, doing it for the 'guns'.
Collection time for the ca$h money :) Over 300 hundred riders for the day make that pretty damm successful, with about the same amount at each event. Close to melbourne, ready made facility, sounds good to us!
So that was the Chase the Sun series. I know we enjoyed it, and we must thank the folk at FGP for their efforts, as well as the event sponsors for putting up the monies to make it happen. And finally, Ben Randall came on board at the start of the series, and proved himself to be a totally solid rider that we could always rely on for hot laps and a good laugh, so thanks for being part of the team- we really do appreciate it!
Thanks all folks, thanks for dropping by, more updates are likely as we start to ramp up again for summer and all that involves, and we expect the Werribee 12 hour is next on the hit list! See ya there.
Thanks all folks, thanks for dropping by, more updates are likely as we start to ramp up again for summer and all that involves, and we expect the Werribee 12 hour is next on the hit list! See ya there.
posted by Ash Thomas at 9:07 pm
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