Congrats to our top placers and thanks to all who participated. Another great week of racing. We had a nice group of about 15 riders partake in our short cornering clinic before the race where we practiced cornering and counter steering before the start of the B race. Hopefully this helped those who participated have an even smoother race. With this aim in mind, we had a separate race for Cat 4′s and 5′s at 6pm and for Cat 1-4 riders at 6:30. After a little pre-race grumbling and chatter, things went very smoothly and everyone seemed to enjoy the format well enough.
B Race:
The B race of 30 riders kicked off fast and furious with a first lap prime. Riding on the back of it showed me these B’s were out to race, and enjoyed a nice pace. Eventually a break of 3 got up the road with aboout 5 laps to go and up and coming rider Steve Baltic out kicked his break away companions Rigoberto Rielo and Angel Canter. Yosvani Rosell took the field sprint ahead of Johnathan Stewart.
1) Steve Baltic
2) Rigoberto Rielo
3) Angel Canter
4) Yosvani Rosell
5) Jonathan Stewart
A Race:
After a great finish to our first B race in which many new and old riders took to their first race or first race back, the A race started fast and furious. Riders were pushing the pace early and after incessant attacks, the decisive move went with 18 laps to go after a very speedy, tough start. It started with only 4-6 of us but quickly grew to around 10 or so after Mark Stein, Steve Baltic and others bridged up with a monster effort.
I was suffering badly at the hands of my breakaway companions who were much stronger on the day and pulling like mad around me. State crit champions Didier & Pablo Santa Cruz, strong man David Alexanrdou, recent pro ½ podium placer Darren Dowling, returning legend Kurt Phillips and ex-Navigators pro Ken Vida took turns killing us. As a result, the break wasn’t working together very well I was just happy to be there at this point.
After many attacks and reshufflings, Ken Vida an Frank Lopez got away while the rest of us made attempts to either get across, bring them back or hold on for dear life. Ken and Frank ended up staying away after several attempts by our group to bring them back. I made a last pull with 1 lap to go and sat up dead to watch a knackered Darren Dowling take the sprint win ahead of a strong Pablo and Tim Carbone. Florida Racing’s, David Green, took the field sprint from those who remained in the main field with a crafty move reminiscent of days gone by and days to come. Good on ya gang!
1) Ken Vida
2) Frank Lopez
3) Darren Dowling
4) Pablo Santa Cruz
5) Tim Carbone
It was a great outing for our first clinic and B race in only our 3rd week. A good time was had by most and most importantly, we all stayed upright. I am most enthused about the positivity, enthusiasm and excitement I see out there so far each week. Our goal is to keep it up while improving things weekly. I am super grateful for the support, hopeful for the future and looking forward to next week.
Cheers until then,
~JDS
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