2011 Victorian Masters Track Championships (MMAS1 Pursuit/TT)

15cm into the pursuit. Only 299,985cm to go!

I could be more honest with the titles of these entries... this should read "My experience at the 2011 Victorian Masters Track Championships, racing the MMAS1 pursuit and TT/kilo, plus few tales from the days racing"... but this post will be long enough without an extended title. Days like Saturday are the reason I love the sport, the competition, and the people involved. "What, even CSV?"... well, maybe those guys too.

The day got off to an interesting start. While lugging two bikes up the stairs at DISC, I was about to take the final step onto the infield as I was greeted by CA official David Morgan (aka Mr Pink). "Shane, before you step on here I have to have a chat to you about that sponsored kit, again. You know that....". Yeah, I know the rules for this event so I cut him off right away with a respectful "OH GET F.....", but before I could get it out he cracked a huge smile, put his arm around me, and said "hah, got ya! Of course you can wear that today." Bastard! He had a good laugh at my expense and told me to get on with the day having got the nerves out of my system with that rev up!

Walking over to the warm up area to dump all my gear I was stopped by Andrew Moffat who had read my latest post which contained an opinion or two about CSV. I know Andrew as a fellow competitor from Blackburn CC, but he also wears another hat, "Development and Coaching Commisson - Chair" for CSV. Thankfully my comments were somewhat constructive and he'd forwarded them on to Kipp Kaufmann (General Manager of CSV) to read. Andrew introduced me to Kipp later in the day and I brought up a few brief topics that I believed need addressing. I'm only a rider, and a roadie at that, but it was reassuring to know they will listen to what I have to say, and to the suggestions I put forward. Kipp, with stopwatch in hand, then went back to his duty of backup timer for the events running that day. The GM on the front line? Respect! Over the next week or two I'll put together a few things for discussion with both Kipp and Andrew. There is more than enough material fired their way from their membership base to collate, review, and address. I've been on firing end for a while now, and still am, but lets see if I can be a small part of making at least one aspect of this sport better.

Time for stories about the racing? Not yet... more stories of man-love... I've still not worked out where to set up all my crap needed for warm up at track events, all the regular trackies have their favourite spots which they guard with plastic chairs. Lou Pascuzzi (CCCC's smiling rocket on wheels) saw me looking for a spot and welcomed me over towards their camp. As an irregular 'visitor' to the track I'm always surprised at how welcoming everyone is, from the officials knowing my name (and knowing my weak spots to jab at!), to the seasoned hard-arse trackies welcoming me into their area! (and by hard-arse I really mean hard-arse, you could sharpen knives on some of those guys).

Now to the racing..

MMAS1 3000m Pursuit

Only three entries, but still a great opportunity to defend the win last year, and to see where I was at with very little time on the track.

Qualifying:
1. Shane Miller 3:28.756
2. Brett Rollinson 3:45.357
3. Daniel Dilger 4:00.284 (Bronze)

I broke the MMAS1 Pursuit 'All Comers' record last year at the Masters Nationals with a 3:30.625 (previous was Steve Sansoneti with 3:31.999), but it was never officially ratified - even when other records that were broken at that event were, so I wasn't in the record books. Maybe that was good enough to earn the record? Well maybe not, even though this is a state level championship, the strict rules were not in place for any official time to be recorded as a record. So another unofficial record....?

The battle for best times of the day across all grades was on! David Stevens (MMAS3) set a 3:28.484 in his gold medal final to better my time by 0.272 seconds. Bugger! I wasn't confident of going any faster than my qualifier, but I'd give it a shot if I was feeling up to it.

Final:
I was given the front/main straight. There were a few more people in the stands watching, supporting, cheering as the gates opened. 1:10.18 first kilo, fast, but ouch. I didn't have anyone on the infield pacing me or walking the line, but I was checking my progress against Brett on the main straights. On lap 6 or 7 I'd caught and passed him, whistle blown, race over, but I had echos of Stuart Vaughan's pre race comments in my head "Set a time, you have to put yourself under stress, c'mon, think Yarra St repeats, you can do it easy". I pushed through the last 1500m - looking up to see 3:27.989. State title won. Record broken again. Time of the day set. Arm raised at the scoreboard and some swears of happiness (I should hold back on the swears, but they just come out...).

The CA officials confirmed they had two hand timers and the electronic timing results, and would do their best to have that time ratified. I hope it is, what good is a record book when official times good enough to be awarded a state title are 'void' in the eyes of the record keepers? In a sport with little incentives, the least they can do is lock this time in, and any others set during this championships across all grades.

MMAS1 1000m TT (Kilo).

The kilo is usually held before the pursuit, not today. I've always entered the kilo just to get a gate start and a few quick laps under race conditions. I'd already done two full pursuits, so was looking forward to getting this over and done with. Brett Rollinson was on the other side of the track and firing to go. In true track form Brett had a great start, 0.30 up on me by lap 1. He was 0.46 up on me by lap 2. I pegged my cadence and fought not to let it drop below what it was on lap 2. At the bell, Wayne Gebert was yelling at me to lift for the final lap. It must have been close! I had nothing to lift with but having Wayne yell gave me enough motivation to fight to hold the pace and not let it drop.

Gold - Shane Miller 1:08.220
Silver - Brett Rollinson 1:09.303
Bronze - Daniel Dilger 1:18.572

Manged to snag time of the day for the kilo too from MMAS2 rider Chris Ray who set a 1:09.173. It's a pity MMAS3 only do 750m, a few of those nuggets would smoke the kilo for sure.

So now I'll head up to Sydney in four weeks for the Masters Nationals to represent Victoria/CSV, Hawthorn CC, and Team Kosdown. Fingers crossed I can keep these legs spinning at speed until then!

Links:
CSV Pics and Results
Official pics from Leanne Cole Photography

More pics from the local paparazzi:

Aerobics OzStyle action with 14 seconds to go.

Zooooooooom

Gold x2 - Both labeled :)