From the start I clipped in and started rolling and didn’t realize but by the 1st corner I had a large gap, I figured whatever lets see how this plays and kept rolling. Someone bridged and joined me and we began trading pulls, about 3/4 of the way through the 1st dirt section he flatted when he moved a little bit too far to the side to let me through. I kept rolling until around the corner on the cement where I felt the wind and had no desire to be out on my own in that wind on the 1st lap. The field rolled in and then shortly thereafter Mark went up front and was first into the dirt section. I don’t recall which time through everything happened, but Mark led through that section almost the entire way every lap. There were several times Jeremy would get antsy and attack and Mark or I would go with him every time. We’d roll easy but keep the pace up and force individuals to chase. I would usually start the 1st section 2nd wheel and then at some point i’d pull through so i could be 1st through the bumpy section. Being up there meant it was easier to dictate pace if we wanted and we could pick the nice lines. The race was pretty simple nobody wanted to do anything aside from Jeremy, Mark and I, so we just launched little attacks (which usually formed due to just gapping people in the dirt or corners) and we would spend some time away sharing pulls and upping the pace. There was one point were we had both mark and I and two guys from SC cycles (including Jeremy), but there were a few motivated individuals in the field who didn’t want this one to go and pulled us back. For the sprint Mark took the front almost immediately after the final turn and kept a real easy but steady pace. Mark slowly started ramping it up with about 1K to go as I recall, and then around 500M the TT1 guy jumped hard and early and Mark easily covered and held his wheel to the point where the TT1 guy ran out of Gas, then Mark hit it harder and brought the pace up fast and started the leadout in earnest. He kept it fast well into 100M to go where is about where I recall heading around him. While I would have enjoyed more action from the field it was fun being really active on the front.

Felt good after I flatted yesterday.

Peter

I had registered for both races and wanted to focus on the masters race and just help out in the Cat 3. The masters race went as planned as Dan S. and Jimmy made constant attacks for the first part of the race. I take a little longer to warm up and didn’t make any moves until about 15 minutes into the race. Dave Baar made a big attack and I thought now would be a good time to go. It was! We formed a break of 8 riders. Dave and I did most of the work and I even felt good enough to get on a few guys who weren’t doing any work. Our lead continued to climb throughout the race, due mostly to my great teammates killing the pace in the field. As the race neared the end I continued to feel awesome and was pretty sure I could out sprint the group. As we rolled around turn 2 on the last lap Dave Barr put in a huge effort. Houston Peterson was on his wheel and I was comfortably in third. Dave carried his lead into the last corner, I jumped just before Houston and took it all the way for the win.

The Cat 3 race was quite a bit different as no break got away and I sat back for most of the race. Once again Dan S made some attacks in the beginning, but nothing was working. About halfway through the race I was feeling pretty good and made my way to the front to patrol for my teammates. Mark put in a few attacks but this group would not let anything go. Dan S and Mark had some great efforts toward the end to try and breakaway, but this race was going to come down to a field sprint. With 2 laps to go I placed myself toward the front and with one left I moved right to the front. As we rounded the 2nd turn I backed off to see what was forming. Right away 2 MCG guys went by and I decided they were my leadout. The guy in front carried us to the last corner. The other MCG guy and I started our sprints, I got the lead, actually sat down and shifted, then stood back up to finish off the sprint to the line. I had guys on both sides of me , but I was able to hold them off.
Dan K

At any rate, I wanted to stay near the front, because passing was somewhat difficult, turns 2 and 3 are tight enough that the accordian effect is nasty if you’re in the back. So, I managed to stay in the top 30-ish most of the time. I wanted to be further up, but the field was big and fast, and I was just doing the best I could at the time. At one point, I really made an effort to move up in the field. I got to the far left of the field, and put in a hard effort through the “half moon” section on the backside of the course. I got near the top ten when a rider attacked off the front. I was already going pretty fast, so I thought “breakaway?” and went for it. I’m no breakaway expert, so this was uncharted territory for me. I caught the rider, went past him, and took a nice hard pull to the corner. I looked back to see if he was going to take a turn, but he wasn’t on my wheel. He was 2-3 bike lengths back. So, I slowed a bit, thinking/hoping maybe a group would form and I could be a part of a serious breakaway. Nope. The guy never really caught up to me, but the field didn’t either. It stayed that way through turn 4, back onto the front stretch. I decided to keep going just so I could lead a lap (hoping someone would take a picture of me in front of the big field). I found out later I had won a prime for a $100 gift card to a local pizza place. Very cool, and very much dumb luck. I had no idea there was a prime……

Anyway, the other guy eventually caught up, and I asked him if he wanted to keep going. He said “no”, so we drifted back into the pack by the end of the front stretch.

At the end of the race, the plan was to get to the front to leadout Nick. I kept moving up, and at one point was somewhat near Mike, Mark, and Peter but it was very difficult to stay with anybody. Geoff was at the front and took a very hard pull on the front to neutralize some late attackers, and on the last lap, I almost caught up to Nick. However, it’s very difficult to lead someone out when you’re behind them. But, Nick was in a really nice spot (top 5-10), and I was 2 riders behind him going over the bridge towards the last turn. Just after the crest of the bridge (near the 300 meter sign), the eventual winner launched his sprint, and snaked across the road. He had another rider on his wheel, and a rider to the left of Nick decided to try and jump after them and took and abrupt right turn atttempting to follow the riders diagonally across the road. He shot from left to right, and his rear wheel crashed into Nicks front wheel, turning it sharply to the right and sending Nick skidding across the pavement. He looked like a 1980’s break dancer spinning on his back, except without the piece of cardboard that keeps your skin from ripping off……. I missed his spinning feet by 6 inches or so as I passed him. The final corner was next, which I got through that cleanly, and then sprinted out of the saddle as hard as I could to the line for 9th place. I was happy to get a top ten at such a big race, and giddy about the prime, but a little disappointed that the team didn’t get a podium spot after such great performances by Peter, Mark, and Geoff at Superweek. Nick had some nasty looking road rash, but walked away, and his bike appeared to be relatively unscathed as well.

GBK

GBK