Club Races
A Keen Kean Shows Aggression
Fyans Creek Scratch Races, Sunday 29th June 2008

	Frank Kean was the most aggressive rider on the day.

A fairly good field for this time of year turned out for the 44km scratch races over the popular Fyans Creek circuit, near Halls Gap.

Riders were divided into two groups, with Drew Heard, Gerard O’Brien, Dean Hayward, Tony Lloyd, Alan Barnett, Peter Parnaby, Frank Kean and Daryl Elliott setting off first.

After a couple of kilometres to warm up, Frank Kean got a little excited, and tried to split the field up on a stretch before Mount Dryden, a feat he repeated again soon after the turn past Mount Dryden. However, although some riders were stretched, everyone managed to hang on.

When the bunch hit the first of the Sandbar Road hills, Kean once again put the foot down, resulting in 4 riders getting a break, but they were soon reeled in again by the rest of the field. After another effort on the Sandbar Hill with 3 riders getting away, only to be caught again shortly after, Kean went quiet until the final 5 kilometers of the race.

Once again Kean tried several times to split the field, but all efforts were soon neutralised, and so it came down to the final sprint. With 800 metres to go, Gerard O’Brien made a break hoping someone would go with him, but nobody responded.

With 300m to go, Drew Heard made a charge for the line, with Daryl Elliott on his wheel, followed by Frank Kean and Peter Parnaby. Heard managed to just hold out Kean, with Elliot and Parnaby both very close behind.

After the race, Handicapper Alan Barnett informed us that he had divided us into A and B grade, and not told us, so the official placings were:

A Grade – 1st Frank Kean, 2nd Daryl Elliott, 3rd Peter Parnaby

B Grade – 1st Drew Heard, 2nd Tony Lloyd, 3rd Dean Hayward

The other bunch of riders were Stuart King, Peter Mayo, Tom Eldridge, Sean Prins, and Les Power. This bunch of riders rode together for most of the way, without any breakaways or other excessive amounts of excitement, until McCrackens Hill, which proved the downfall of Les Power, who dropped off.

The race finally came down to the sprint, with Sean Prins leading out early, to be overtaken by Stuart King. However, Peter Mayo burst past King, who grabbed his wheel, and these two went to the line with Mayo just holding out King. Tom Eldridge came in third.

This bunch was also advised post race that they were actually two grades, with the following placings:

C Grade 1st Peter Mayo, 2nd Stuart King, and Tom Eldridge 3rd.

D Grade 1st Sean Prins, 2nd Les Power