Good weekend

Nundah:
The team raced the local club crit at Nundah on Saturday morning, with an eye on doing well on Sundays crit at Crestmead. We had a plan to practice our leadouts and to also be aggressive. We did both, however the results although good, weren't what we wanted. The team wants it's first win of the season and we hoped Saturday would bring that.

Everything was looking good until late in the race a solo rider caught the peleton by surprise and was strong enough to hold on for more than a lap to win. Our leadout was miss timed and as a result we were riding for second. Condy did well to get third, while Andy held on for fourth after a good leadout. The win can't be far off.

Crestmead:
Round two at Crestmead was all about getting Condy back into the points to improve on his overall position. The race averaged almost 47kph, so it was clear a bunch sprint would result.

It was planned to wait until the end for any moves, where Matt got into a late break. Despite a hard working group, the break didn't last and things were all together with 10 minutes to go. The race remained fast as teams got ready for a sprint, until a small crash with one lap to go broke the momentum of many teams.

Condy was near the front and avoided the mayhem, however the sprint had little organisation, which made it hard to judge. Condy dug in and manged to take 8th and get some more points for the overall.

Next week we hope to move him up a place or two.

Round 1 - Sizzling Summer Series

Condy has continued the teams great start to the season with 5th at Crestmead. The race was really fast as usual, with an average speed of over 46kph. The race was punctuated by several early attacks, however with such a high speed, it was clear a bunch sprint was going to decide things.

Once again Condy displayed great patience to save his energy for when it mattered and managed to position himself well to get 5th. With a hectic finale, it meant Condy's run at the line was impeded by some crazy riding by others. Who knows what he could have done otherwise.

Unfortunately Steve and Mick both crashed in the finale as some lesser experienced riders took unnecessary risks to improve position. Thankfully their injuries were not serious other than 4 stitches in Micks elbow and plenty of skin off Steve.

The next two rounds will be fun.

Condy 3rd at Nundah

The weekend was busy with the boys racing at Murarrie, Tyalgum and Nundah. Condy and Aidan represented at Nundah and managed to get some great results after a crash ridden race. Thankfully the boys missed the carnage.

The race was status quo for much of the race until the finale. With 20 minutes to go Aidan found himself in a hard working breakaway. This break looked to be going the whole way, where Aidan was looking to be in with a great shot for a result. However, with 5 minutes to go there was a big crash in the chasing group, which meant the race had to be neutralised to ensure those who crashed were alright. Once the race recomensed, the break didn't have it's same advantage and were quickly brought back.


Once the break came back, Condy was waiting for the bunch sprint where he managed to take 3rd place.

Toowoomba Two Day Open

This years Toowoomba Two Day Open (formally the Oakey Two Day) was held at the new cycle facility at Glenvale, Toowoomba, and what an awesome venue it is for bike racing.

Criterium

Saturday was a one hour criterium, and was the first official open race of the year in Queensland. Almost 40 riders were in the A Grade event and the team was looking forward to a good result after the last few weeks of good outcomes for the team. The only concern was the weather, which did prove to impact the race.

As was expected, the first 10 minutes of the race was fast, with Aidan immediately getting into a small break. He remained aggressive early, however it was Matt who followed a counter attack, which saw a group of 6 or 7 riders establish a good gap. Matt worked hard in the group, however his lack of early season form meant he couldn't hold the pace and dropped back to the chasing group to help the chase.

It was at this point that the bad weather rolled in and a large storm brought heavy rain and strong wind, which caused many to abandon the race.

Dispite this, Condy and Andy struggled through the conditions to contest a top ten finish.
Peter Thompson won with ease.

Kermis

Sundays 90km Kermis race was what everyone was looking forward to. With a points race format, there was no doubt the pace would be high from the start. Matt and Mick Hill were both looking for the early break, and managed to sneak away on the first lap to form a 4 man break away.

The first points were decided after 8 laps and on the 7th lap, a group of 4 riders were trying to bridge across. Knowing this Matt got to the front of the break and drove the pace hard to ensure Mick was in with a chase for full points. Despite this, Mick was only able to take 2nd, with Matt 3rd in the first sprint. From that point on, the race was to become very different.

The two QAS riders that managed to bridge to the front group then attacked the breakaway and formed a large gap on the rest of the break away. At about half way, the break was caught, while the two leaders forged ahead. They were never seen again and managed to even lap the field which saw all other riders effectively out of the race.

Despite this, Condy was able to claim 6th place, while Jordan Kerby and Dave Edwards shared the prize.

Results at Nundah

The team managed to get a great result today at Nundah by taking 2nd and 4th. With over 60 riders in A Grade, the contest was fierce. Sunny weather after so much rain was sure to draw a crowd, and so the team put in to ensure a result ensued.

The race was fast to begin with, which meant that no real breaks went until Andy got himself into a two man break that stayed away for several kilometres. Once this was reeled in, the counter attacks began, with Jimmy, Matt, Aidan and Steve all having ago in the breaks. Condy played it smart and waited for the finale.

It was apparent that a bunch sprint would decide the race, however in the last few kilometres of the race, Steve, Matt and Aidan continued to attack to soften up the bunch so that Andy and Condy could wait for the sprint.

The chaotic finish meant that Andy couldn't get position, however Condy was on the right wheels and was in a great position for the sprint. Unfortunately Condy's back tyre was going flat so his sprint wasn't the best and he couldn't do better than second. Without the flat no doubt he would've won. Still a great result. Andy did well to get up for 4th.

It was all round a good team effort. More results to come for sure

Team Presentation

The weekend gone saw the team presented to all of the supporters of the team, including friends, family and of course our great sponsors.

The afternoon included some great food and drink kindly provided by Campos, and finished with the eight riders for the 2012 season showing off the new team kit.

The team would like to thank all those who attended and we appreciate your ongoing support for this season.

Andy opens the season with third

The first Murarrie club crit of the year saw the team turn up in force. It was the first hit out for the new guys as a team and it proved to be a great mornings effort. With Jimmy, Mike and Matt being active for the first third of the race, it was great to see these boys contribiting to and bringing back the breaks. Unfortunately one break did get away to take the prime, but the team worked well to bring it all back together for the second half of the race.
Once the prime was done, Steve stepped up and helped with driving the bunch, while Mick, Condy and Andy had a patient race, sensing a bunch sprint might decide the race.

With three laps to go, Matt brought Andy to the front, where Mick and Condy expertly guided him through the final lap, dropping him off with 250m to go, where Andy opened up his sprint with awesome power to almost come past resident pro Pete Thompson to take third.It was a great piece of team work and a great start to the year.

Team Update

This time of year is always busy with sponsors and team riders. Allot has happened on both fronts, with plenty of positive steps being taken over the last few weeks.

On the sponsor front Campos Coffee Queensland have kindly continued to support the team for 2012. Campos are showing just how much they value the ever expanding cycling scene in SEQ and the team is very appreciative of their ongoing support.

Meridian Minerals are a new sponsor who are also very valued by the team. We hope we can ensure Meridian's first involvement with a cycling team is very positive and that an ongoing relationship can be established.

Ashgrove Cycles will continue to provide great technical support. We can't get the bikes out on the road without them.

Promotion Products are also new sponsors to the team and again we hope we can represent Promotion Products well for 2012.

Champion System once again will be providing top quality support to the team. We will no doubt be the best looking squad on the circuit in our great Champion System kit.

The Mill Pharmacy again support the team. Their award winning barista's always turn out a great coffee.

Maxxis Tyres again will provide some of the best tyres around to train and race on. Their on going support of the team is appreciated.

Ronde will also ensure our feet and hands have the best socks and gloves around.

Negotiations are ongoing to finalise the team, but the following riders are confirmed so far:

• Darren Condon


• Matt Murray


• James Miller


• Michael Hill


• Stephen Handreck


• Andy McAfee


• Aidan McKenzie