MIVA ARBUTUS MEADOWS (MOTION PARK) EVENTS 120814

ARBUTUS MEADOWS EVENTS 120814

 The second week at Arbutus Meadows Equestrian Centre, south of Parksville, Vancouver Island, saw five juniors and fourteen seniors contest two events each. First on the schedule was a flying lap for the youths. Times on the 625 meter circuit were surprisingly close, with James Grant just edging Brodie Hay by 0.3 seconds and newcomer Alec Stapff placing third, a further 0.7 seconds back.

In the following twenty-five lap criterium, Alec showed his strength by easily winning, riding away from the other riders with fourteen laps to go.James Grant chased furiously, never giving up, but was 27 seconds down on Alec at the finish. Brodie Hay took third, a further 27seconds in arrears. The two girls rode well with Jessica Reynolds only three seconds behind Brodie and Mykelti Berg, who lost time coming out of the corners, riding most of the race solo, only giving up a couple of seconds a lap.

The first event for the seniors was an elimination race. This was a new experience for some of thestarters and there were soon two bunches rather than the usual one. Mark Wieler, who looked very apprehensive, was the first to go and was followed in short order by five more of the original fourteen. Now we were down to a fast moving pack of eight. Five more missed the cut and were out, leaving Ian Smith, Warren Muir and Paul Thompson just two laps to go until the final sprint. At the line, they finished in that order.

The last event of the evening was the senior points criterium. Since this was a new experience for some of the riders,

Peter McC took great pains to explain the rules and how points would be awarded . As the

pack rolled away from the start,there were still some puzzled expressions on a few faces but the more

experienced riders attempted to clarify things before the first sprint at five laps. Even before this point, four riders were off the back, leaving a lead pack of nine, Matt Allardyce having started late. The initial points went to Ian Smith (5), Warren Muir (3), and Rob Russell (2). These three shared the points for the next two sprints, except when Kyle Waring snagged a second place on the third sprint.

With ten laps remaining, first category Ian Smith rode of the front of the pack and about the same time Warren and Rob crashed, retiring a few laps later. Ian continued to ride strongly and eventually lapped the remnants of the field. Kyle Waring, the last to be lapped, stayed away from the rest and took second place points for the last two sprints, securing a solid second place. With none of the other remaining riders having won any points, the next finisher, Paul thompson, was third overall.

With two more opportunities to ride points criteriums before the end of the series, the “newbies” will have a better idea how to approach this type of race.

Thanks to the Steve Grant and Harry Reynolds for bringing the Courtenay juniors down and to various spectators for helping with set up and tear down.