History of the Austral: Club tracks save the Austral

The closure of the Olympic Velodrome came at very short notice and certainly all state organisations and authorities had no plan in place for continuity of feature track cycling nor its showcase event — the Austral Wheelrace.

The very strong Brunswick Amateur Cycling Club realised that their concrete velodrome was suitable for, and had previously been used for, open standard racing, but more significantly, it was the only track in Melbourne with lighting.

The Club put forward the use of its track for Saturday night cycling to which the amateur and professional bodies quickly accepted. To maintain their amateur status, the club nominated Sydney promoter John Scott as event promoter.

The great tradition of the Austral Wheelrace was saved and the race continued next at Brunswick on March 13, 1971.

There were 80 entries and the winner was Frank Daly riding from 135 yards. Three riders had been placed on scratch, Gordon Johnson, Hilton Clarke and Keith Oliver.

Johnson developed as an amateur with the Brunswick Club and rode the 1970 Commonwealth Games winning gold on the tandem and silver in the sprint. He turned professional after that and immediately won the world professional sprint championship.

Gordon Johnson on his old amateur club track at Brunswick was hard to beat and the 1973 Austral was no different. He swept past many riders in the last lap with his arms already in the air halfway up the main straight.

Back home and the 1973 Austral was on his home track, perhaps we should say his own track, Brunswick.

He had a fearsome record of scratch race wins using the characteristic big bends of Brunswick. Riding from scratch and with the help from co-marker Clarke, he swept past many riders in the last lap and had his arms in the air halfway up the finishing straight for his Austral win. His father Tasman also won the Austral in 1944.

That Austral was promoted by Dick Ploog under the name Velosport Pty Ltd, as was the 1974 event won by Ivan Collings but this would be the last Austral at Brunswick.

Not far away the Northcote Club had a near new five to the mile concrete velodrome but only now, finally, the lighting was installed. This park setting provided considerably more spectator space than Brunswick and Ploog was quick to take the racing and the Austral there.

The first Austral at Northcote was in 1975 and won by Craig Price but there are more memories from that night.

Although Price started on the front mark of 130 yards he led strongly up the finishing straight, but at the same time the backmarkers were also coming up the straight at great speed and visual calculation said they might get him on the line.

Not to be. Instead there was this shock sound of tyres bursting, frames bending, bodies impacting the fence and concrete.

At this full finishing speed, Bruce Heath blew a tyre and his bike went sideways. Trying to avoid Heath, Skip Cutting bounced off the fence and bank collecting more riders. The track looked like a battle ground but in front of it all, Price took the Austral money.

It looked like a battle ground at the finish of the 1975 Austral at Northcote Velodrome after Bruce Heath blew a tyre. On the left is Steele Bishop holding his head and right is Danny Clark. Others fallen in the background are Bruce Heath, Skip Cutting and Owen Hicks.

Those involved in the fall were Heath, Cutting, Steele Bishop, Owen Hicks, and Danny Clark. Amazingly there were no major injuries.

David Allan was an ambitious and talented junior who went to Europe as an amateur and came back as a first year senior pro. He received 75 yards in the 1976 Austral which provided him with surety of a win.

We should have had the foresight to see a special outcome here. He would go on to win not one but two Melbourne to Warrnambools, bringing that very exclusive 'Double Club' (Austral and Melbourne to Warrnambool) to a membership of three at the time.

In 1977, Australia's best all-round track rider Danny Clark had six-day racing in his legs and the support of Gary Wiggins and Laurie Venn with him on scratch and Keith Oliver on 10 metres.

A win was looking a certainty and Clark delivered with all his great style to become only the eighth win from scratch in 79 events.

Danny Clark was involved in the big Austral crash of 1975 but here in 1977 had help from backmarkers for this win. He would win again in 1986 and 1990.

That scratch/win ratio was about to change considerably in the next 20 years at Northcote. You will note from Oliver's handicap that this was the meeting that changed to metres instead of yards.

Going into the 1980s, there was a great deal of jockeying for position knowing that pro-am track racing had to happen sooner rather than later.

The Austral Wheelrace was the top goal with the question being who would promote it.

The Northcote club track looked to have a head start for the best venue in the foreseeable future.

The League of Victorian Wheelmen (LVW) however decided to take the professional racing, including the Austral, to Coburg. This period included some night time sixes and a total of six Australs between 1978 and 1988.

The main beneficiary from this was Laurie Venn who won two Australs, one in 1979 and the other two years later in 1981, both from scratch.

The second Austral to be run at the Coburg Velodrome was in 1979 won clearly by Laurie Venn, and he repeated again in 1981.

Danny Clark scored another win there at Coburg, also Daryl Benson and that cycling doyen Dave Sanders.

The last winner at Coburg was Stephen Pate but that's another story to follow later.

Cyclists International was a volunteer group created to help amateur cyclists and amateur cycling and comprised of ex-amateurs but driven by the fire of ex-pro Joe Ciavola.

Their promotions kept the amateurs going at Northcote Velodrome also including the intermittent returns of the LVW which rewarded wins to Steele Bishop in 1982 and Phil Sawyer in 1983.

The feature wheelrace for amateurs was the Forges Stores Wheelrace and in an endevour to begin the acceptance of pro-am wheelraces, Stewart Doyle of Forges opened the wheelrace to the professionals.

It was a huge success with 16 heats and was won by professional Andrew Whalebone, however, the jockeying lasted another 11 years before the Austral was open to amateurs in 1992.

In the meantime, Cyclists International were the incumbent promoter at Northcote and both codes only rode their own wheelraces.

During this period, Stephen Pate who had won the last Austral at Coburg, began to write his name on the Northcote Velodrome with a good share of handicap wins from scratch.

Come the 1991 Austral and he was given the honour of starting 10 metres behind, but that didn't make any difference, he still won.

If you wish to associate a rider with a particular track then that is Stephen Pate and the Northcote Velodrome. He won four Australs there including one from 10 metres behind and another from 20 behind.

1992 was finally the year amateurs were allowed into the Austral, although it was seniors only with juniors excluded and racing their own handicap.

Pate was away at the Worlds so the scratch group was made up of David Dew, Wayne McCarney, Dean Woods, and Urs Freuler and there were eight heats in total.

Putting his name on the honour roll was Bert Glennon from Warrnambool, who started from 120 metres and that good scratch bunch never made it to him.

Pate was back in 1993 and the handicapper hit him with another 10 metres, back that was, he started from 20 behind.

For Pate, those were simply numbers on a bit of paper, he won that year also.

Six years later he had a move out and won the 1999 Austral from scratch.

The final meet at Northcote was in 2000 and that was won by Gary Neiwand, not from scratch, but would you believe 70 metres

A whole era of 30 years of track cycling's premier event had been conducted on club tracks.

Pate won four at Northcote and one at Coburg. Clark also had a good score rate with two at Northcote and one at Coburg.

If ever you wanted to associate riders with tracks then you would probably go for Sid Patterson at the Olympic Velodrome, Johnson at Brunswick, and most definitely Pate for Northcote.

Public interest in cycling as a spectator sport began to wane through the latter half of the Olympic Velodrome period.

Television had taken hold of public interest and the sports that were suitable or capitalised on that media grew quickly and successfully and took the audience away from other sports.

Modern dedicated venues also provided the right image and facility necessary for good promotion.

Cycling in Victoria was certainly caught short with the demise of the Olympic Velodrome. The fortunate availability of the club venues was the savior of top weekly track cycling but most of all preserved the continuity and great history of the Austral Wheelrace.

There was a side benefit of the 20 seasons conducted by Cyclists International at Northcote. It was the accessibility of riders, their family and friends, and their vehicle, all gathered together on the fence.

The Northcote Velodrome was often a buzz of friendly atmosphere.

Riders tended to gather in club groups or in a favourite spot each week which made it very sociable and some friendships have endured since then.

On Austral night you had to be there when gates opened if you wanted your favourite spot. Such is the power of the Austral.