Club Races
Monaghan Shakes off Winter ills
Natimuk Noradjuha Handicap, Sunday 15th June 2008

	Danny Monaghan

Having shaken off his recent spell of winter colds, Danny Monaghan was back in form this week, sprinting to victory in the Grampians Vets 52km Horsham handicap, held last Sunday.

After struggling on the hilly Quarry Road circuit the week before, the mostly flat course and almost calm conditions were ideal for Monaghan, who helped propel the second scratch bunch of riders to the lead two thirds of the way into race.

Limit riders Meg Parnaby, Tom Eldridge and Les Power led off with a 9 min 30sec start, chased by Daryl Elliott and Harvey Lang, riding off 4 min 45 sec. These two didn’t make much of an impression on the limit riders, and were caught by the hard working second scratch riders Monaghan, Tony Lloyd and Leon Gibson soon after Natimuk.

This combined bunch of five then upped the pace, and pulled away from the scratch riders Alan Barnett, Gerard O’Brien, Drew Heard and Tim Schneider.

In the stretch between Natimuk and Noradjuha, the second scratch riders took over 2 minutes away from the limit riders, and at the Noradjuha turn were only 40 seconds behind, a gap they soon bridged shortly after. Picking up Meg Parnaby and Tom Eldridge as they went past, this large bunch then headed for home, with the scratch riders now effectively out of the race.

In a hotly contested sprint to the finish, Leon Gibson lead out with Harvey Lang and Danny Monaghan close by. This quickly became a battle between Gibson and Monaghan until Monaghan pulled away to cross the line a clear winner, also taking the fastest time for the day of 1 hour 27 minutes.

Gibson was second with Lang third.

Tom, Meg & Les Daryl & Harvey Leon, Danny & Tony Drew, Alan, Gerard & Tim Les, Meg & Tom Drew, Alan, Gerard & Tim Daryl leads the combined middle bunches ... .. and Daryl still leads Tony takes a turn