| 20 December 2009
Saturday was scrutineering and a practice day which I'm told went well plus there was a dinner provided in the clubrooms which I'd forgotten about. Imogen and I were instead entertained by some locals in one of the pubs who were at a 21st birthday party, short skirts and tall footwear is probably all that needs to be said.
The Sunday started by working out who was there to run the day, how we were to split the bikes up and what races were to be run. At riders briefing we told the riders what was happening plus as this was the first of this event I said we'd probably be making it up as we go and would welcome feedback as to what was good or bad about the event.
Dave Atkinson became the steward, which was good as it meant I didn't have to do the paperwork, he also ran the pit office. I was clerk of course, created the grids and helped on the grid. Darren Trotter learned how to run the start line,this was his first time in that position. Our lap scorers were Imogen Smith, Marg Trotter and Milan Hodak who said something like he couldn't read the numbers on the bikes! Now there's a surprising comment from a new lap scorer. Imogen was also the starter. There was a bit of a delay starting one of the races, Darren had walked clear with the red flag and then Imogen thought it’d be a good idea to be inside the start line hut to start the race.We split the 29 entries into two groups, 600's/1000's and "little/slower" bikes/riders. The days schedule was a practice/warm up each, 2x 4 lap races each, a 3x3x3 race each which became two 3x3x3's each then a 10 lap race for the "little" bikes and a 15 lap race for the "big". On track the day started at about 9:20, we had a 45 min lunch between the 3x3’s and finished around 3:15 which meant those going home got a nice early start.
The 3x3x3 races were an interesting format. Dave had originally proposed they be 2x2x2's but I preferred longer races to avoid riders trying to win on the first corner! A few riders in the big bike group didn't go out in their second 3x3x3 saying things like they'd switched off in the cool down laps and didn't switch on again in the next heat. No comments from the "little" bike field so I assume they didn't mind these races.
We had some good races with a number of battles in each race and not just for the lead. There were no major incidents through the day, a few quickish run wides accompanied by the usual puckering in such circumstances and there was a small amount of light rain during the final 15 lap race that made a few riders slow a little and Chris Ognenis shake his head going past the start line. Not sure if that was due to the spots in front of his eyes or how many laps to go on his pit board. For results of the race meeting you need to visit the news page on the Mt Gambier club website at www.macpark.org.
This race meeting will become a regular event most likely on the Melbourne Cup long weekend. There will be a perpetual trophy which this year goes to SA, 1868 points to our 1222. Next year I expect the days schedule to be similar to what we ran this time with only one 3x3x3 each and maybe another longer race each, but this would depend on how many competitors we get and what their bikes are.
Till next year,
Heinz Schluter
Event results can be found here http://www.macpark.org/pics/events/Race%20Results01_11_09.pdf
