RAW Track History

History

The Dunc Grey Velodrome was purpose built for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. It was a state of the art facility designed by Ron Web a permanent legacy of the Sydney Games for the sport of cycling. Cyclist all over Australia and especially Sydney-sider's rejoiced in the marvel of having the worlds best Velodrome on there door step.

However the facility was basically un-used by cyclists between the months of April till November. This was dually noted by NSWCF executive Kevin Young who introduced FNWTR in May 2002. The Idea was to utilise the DGV for cycling purposes during the dead months. Friday was chosen so as not to significantly clash with club weekend and open racing.

The First year was an instant success. The track cyclist were delighted, as FNWTR allowed them do what they love best through the winter and the road specialist were given an opportunity to hone their speed. The series was won by the always explosive Shaun Hopkins.

In 2003 Kevin had cycling commitments in Europe and was unable to continue the organizing and promotion of FNWTR. Paul Craft of the Central Coast Cycling Club took over for the role and ownership of FNWTR. Paul added his own flare and introduced many unique and dynamic types of racing. 2003 was again well received by the cycling community.

Testimony of the success of the racing was the FNWTR riders who ventured to the Australian and World Titles. FNWTR riders won 17 Gold at the Aussie titles and an amazing 8 medals at the World Master Titles in Manchester, including two Gold. Again the series was won by the always explosive Shaun Hopkins.

In 2004 FNWTR continued to grow in both popularity and reputation. Once again the value of FNWTR was proven when a number of regular riders preformed at Australian and World Titles including two world records. Shaun Hopkins completed his hat trick by winning the 2004 series.

In 2005 CNSW elected a new president Mr Kerry Ruffles who embraced FNWTR as an important component of CNSW. The Program lifted to a new level and the racing was hotter than ever. 2005 was the scene of the closest battle for the series win ever. Bicisport's Patrick Bolan and Southern Highland's Justin Tomlinson went head to head for the whole season exchanging the lead on several occasions. The two national level U19's where riders with different abilities. Justin had it all over Patrick in the endurance events whilst Patrick totally dominated the sprint events.

On the final night the Bicisport train was determined to deliver Patrick to a season ending victory. In what could only be described as a brilliant piece of team work the Bicisport riders were successful. The Club challenge was also decided on the final night. The Waratah Vets came into the final night with a significant lead, however the Central Coast CC had a convoy of riders come down F3. Over the Three years of the club challenge and three different winning clubs.

In 2006 FNWTR continued to grow and expand. Most nights had around 80 entrants. The Division 5 became a true breading ground for new track converts. Again the Division 1 series came down to the final night. Patrick Bolan was defending his title against Marconi CC's big man Jason Roberts. The series came down to the final race (Mystery Lapper)

The whistle blew for the sprint on lap 15 and the two warriors burst out of the bunch sprinting side by side for the series, it was like the other 20 racers did not exist. On the line Patrick won it by half a wheel.

The series Pointscore was totally dominated by Bicisport who took the lead in week 4 from Waratah vets and never relinquished it

2007 was the battle of friends, Jason Roberts an Gavin White finished the series on equal points. The FNWTR constitution indicated that the highest placing on the final event would determine the champion hence Gavin White prevailed as 2007 champion.

Lidcome/Auborne won the team classification with numbers rather than champions

2008 Marked a significant change in FNWTR. The Name was changed to RAW Track (Race All Winter Track) this allowed for a more user friendly name when referring to the event in conversation. For the most part of the year Gavin White battled with Illawarra’s Chris Brown, however towards the end of the season Gavin stamped his authority on the 2008 season. On his way to RAW Track victory, Gavin also clean swept the two other major prizes, winning the mid season TWE Wheels Wheel-Race and the Hillbrick Series Wheel-Race. Only one month later Gavin White would become World Champion Masters 2.
In the Team Challenge Illawarra were unstoppable, leading from start to finish. The Team Challenge in 2008 welcomed a new sponsor in the form of cycling clothing manufacturer ~~Tineli who supplied the top three clubs with over $3000 worth of new club clothing.~~ This sponsor reneged on their agreement, I would advise not dealing with this company and likewise with BONT

2009 RAW went global with live streaming thanks to Viocorp. People from all around Australia and the world tuned in to watch the action and comment on the attached forum. On one occasion, series winner 2009 Gavin White, received an SMS from a friend in Tasmania, to get off his butt and ride the Time blaster. The friend was watching Gavin packing up his gear on the internet.
RAW also invested in skin suits and gloves. The gloves were a big hit with the riders as they could not be bought, they had to be won. Hence they became a treasured prize of a select few.
The TWE point series once again came down to the final race of the series to determine the winner. Defending champion Gavin White had been ousted from the final race (Point’a’Lap) and sat on the infield biting his nails as Ben Harvey went on the rampage in a bid to steal the series. In the end the fairytale ending never eventuated and Gavin won the series for the third time in a row.
The dream story of RAW 2009 was the win in the teams challenge by Dulwich Hill Bicycling Club. DHBC have steadily grown in stature as a club to be reckoned with and they have produced a number of riders who have pushed their way into div1. They turned up in numbers that could only be described as plague like and showing particularly great strength in their numbers of women racing, DHBC won the series and are still grinning about it today.

2010 was a difficult start to the season with negotiations breaking down between DGV venue management and RAW Track. An agreement was established and RAW track was underway for 2010 albeit a few weeks late. Super Master David Stevens started the year as the dominant rider although, after a slow start Gavin White finally hit some form and regain the lead mid season. By the end of the season Gavin White had secured his fourth consecutive title by his largest winning margin. Stevens and White would continue on after the conclusion of the winter series to win no less than 5 world titles in Portugal including a world record. In the Hillbrick Club challenge DHBC became the first ever club to go back to back, dominating the event from week one. The sheer number of red clad DHBC riders has now become a fixture at RAW Track.

Once again 2011 came down to the final race of the series between Gavin White and Tirian McManus. Both riders had employed the support and services of fellow riders. The final night resembled two mighty empires going to battle with each force determined to make the racing suit there selected leaders strengths and exploit the opponent’s weakness.
In the end it was the “boy wonder” Tirian McManus who reigned supreme. Gavin was gracious in defeat knowing that 2012 Junior world duties will prevent him from challenging for the Double.
Of course DHBC took the lead in week 1 and almost doubled 2nd place points.

2012 The defending champion Tirian McManus was unable to make a serious challenge for back to back victories due to his commitments for the Junior World championships. He instead turned his attention to his good friend and constant support rider Josh Cornish. Despite numerous challenges Josh successfully took the series lead towards the end of the season and defended it to the last race where he managed to tactically (read Team) beat Ben Harvey.
DHBC again showed how much depth they posses in winning the Hillbrick team challenge despite a (mostly on-line) challenge by LACC. The end of season presentation marked 10 years of RAW/ FNWTR, thus all the previous winners were re-united for a Blue's Brothers style presentation.

2013 Ben Harvey had twice been runner up and once third in the RAW Track series. So it was truly fitting that this hard working cyclist make the top spot for 2013. Ben secured a mid season lead and consistently increased the margin over an ever changing second place position. By the final night Ben had a massive 40 point lead, so the only battle was for second place. The 2012 Div 2 winner Bradley Heap won the skirmish for second after defending a serious and vigorous barrage from a committed St George squadra.
Both Ben and Brad came off the back of RAW to secure great results at the NSW State titles and followed this up with very impressive medals at the National Championships. Ben won the Bronze in the Individual Pursuit and a Silver in the Team Pursuit. Whilst Bradley won Bronze in the U19 Kierin and Silver in the Team Sprint.

The Hillbrick Team Challenge took a massive and exciting change in 2013. For the first time the top two clubs would ride off on the final night in a 10 person Italian Pursuit. This created enormous interest and internet banter, mostly from LACC's Big Friendly Vegan. On the final night it came down to the expected match up of LACC V's DHBC. Despite LACC having a stronger team on paper DHBC had been training for this event for many weeks and proved to be well drilled and far superior on the night.

2014 Again this year it came down the final race of the series to determine the 2014 champions Josh Cornish (2011 winner) had a 2 point lead over Tirian McManus (2010 winner) coming into the final night. In the Keirin Tirian placed 3rd centimetres ahead of Josh in 4th this tied up the series and ensured that the final race would be the decider. Tirian’s 2nd place in the point’a’lap was enough to secure the series win for the young Australian representative

The introduction of the Keirin Kup was an exciting boost to NSW fast twitch sprinters. Over three rounds conducted on the first Friday of the month at RAW track we eventually whittled the contenders down to 6 finalists. A massive prize pool attracted a solid filed including 2013 Australian Sprint Champion Mitchel Bullen who secured the inaugural KK. Major Sponsor Babici was extremely proud of the event and has views to increase its profile.

The season was dominated by DHBC and LACC with the former amassing a massive point’s lead (almost double) by the end of the season. However, again in 2014 the champion club would be determined by a 10 person Italian pursuit ride off. LACC Started well and took an early lead over the first four riders. The 40m lead was quickly dismantled and over the next two laps DHBC stormed their way to a massive lead eventually catching the opposition to win their 6th consecutive win.

2015
For the first time in many years the RAW Track series winner was decided before the final night. I have always called him little Nicky Edwards, but from this moment I will need to refrain from that statement as Nick is no longer little in any description. Nick amassed enough points to secure the series win 2 weeks out from the conclusion and became the first dominant winner in many years.
Again in 2015 we were able to support and assist our RAW track juniors (read 3) who had been selected to represent Australia at the Jnr Worlds. I sincerely hope we can continue this tradition.
Dulwich Hill again dominated the points for Hillbrick challenge but had to face up against 2nd place St George CC in the Italian ride off. This is the club DHBC were dreading to meet. Although StGCC never had the numbers, they certainly possessed the talent and easily dismissed DHBC in the ride off. As RAW does every year, we refine the rules to try and balance the challenge. In 2016 the leading club will get more say in the number and category composition of riders in the ride off Italian.