Club Races
Limit Riders Hold On.
Horsham - Sunday 25th November 2007

	Meg Parnaby

A warm sunny morning and light winds greeted the field of 13 Grampians Vets riders as they lined up for the 46km Rifle Butts Short Course handicap, starting near the Wool Factory at Horsham.

A relatively strong limit bunch of Meg Parnaby, Leon Gibson, John McIntyre and Merv Thompson led the field away, riding off 11 minutes. This bunch combined well to hold on to a very good lead for most of the race. Danny Monaghan, Tom Eldridge and Gerard O’Brien set off in pursuit from the 6 minute mark, but had their work cut out trying to pull in the leading bunch. Alan Barnett, Peter Parnaby and Ian Johnston rode from the 3 minute mark, and although they averaged close to 37kph, still did not catch the bunches in front.

Scratch riders Richard Clarke, Tim Schneider and Drew Heard put in a very solid performance, and were gaining on the leading bunches at the half way mark, until Clarke caught the wheel of a rider in front and fell heavily at high speed, destroying a new and very expensive racing wheel in the process. Fortunately he escaped with remarkably few cuts and minor bruising, but this put the scratch bunch out of contention for the rest of the race.

Click to enlarge

John McIntyre, Meg Parnaby and Leon Gibson

Coming into the final straight, the limit riders still had a good minute lead over the hard working Monaghan and Eldridge, with Meg Parnaby powering to the line to claim first place ahead of John McIntyre. Leon Gibson was close behind in third place.

Ian Johnson liked the relatively flat conditions and rode a very strong race, recording the fastest time for the day.