Posted: Mon Aug. 06, 2007 4:55 pm
Jack and Ryan,
Thanks for taking (Jack) and posting (Ryan) the pictures from the Concord Crit. While I do not typically post race reports for the Sunapee/S&W Racing Team on the Team Pinnacle website, I thought it would be good to post the story as a follow-up to the photos.
The SSWRT had team members entered in 5 events for the day: Women 1/2/3, Mens Cat 4, Masters 55+, Masters 45+, Masters 35+
The first race was the Masters 55+. Richard Sealey rode a smart race for the team and finished 7th (of 31 starters).
The second race was the Mens Cat 4 Race. Rob O'Malley rode at the front of the field for the entire race. One guy attacked with two laps to go and stayed away as no other competitors were willing to sacrafice their result in order to bring him back. Rob won the field sprint for 2nd place (of 52 starters).
The third race was the Womens 1/2/3 Race. Debony Diehl (about to upgrade to category 1) rode as tactically sound of a race as she could given that she was riding against a couple of teams who were working her over a bit. She finished 5th in the sprint (of 34 starters).
The fourth race was the Masters 45+ Race. 5 SSWRT members reported to the line. Keith Ford won an early preme and was looking like he had great legs. About 1/2 way through the race, three racers attacked the field and got up the road. Keith tried to mount a chase with another racer, but a team member of one of the guys in the break sat on the attack and foiled their plans (it did not make sense to drag this guy up to the break, when that would give a team two men in the break ... one of whom was fresh). Keith ended up winning the field sprint for 4th place (out of 61 starters).
The highlight of the day for the team was the Masters 35+ race. 10 SSWRT members reported to the line. Our plan was to launch a midrace attack and keep guys in reserve (myself included) for the field sprint. SSWRT member Patrick Ruane attacked on the 1/2 way 2-place preme. SSWRT member Charlie Bedard initially went with Patrick to secure second spot on the preme but came back to the field when he realized that the field might give one rider more of an opportunity to ride off the front (thinking it was a suicide move). Many other SSWRT guys came to the front to control the front of the field and help Patrick stay away. The gap grew, then shrunk, then stabilized at about 10 seconds. A crash in the field with 5 to go took out one SSWRT member (fortunately he was unhurt). The only hiccup in the teams plan was that one member did not realize Patrick was off the front, so he launched his own attack with two to go. Other team members, myself included, promptly yelled at him to come to his senses and he finally understood what was going on. The last two laps were challenging as the team wanted try to help Patrick stay off the front (which requires limiting the progress of the field) and also set up our sprinters in case Patrick came back (which requires keeping the pace high in order to keep the front of the field thinned out). Somehow we managed to accomplish both!!! Patrick finished a handful of seconds in front of the field, SSWRT members Charlie Bedard and I finished 1st and 5th in the field sprint (so SSWRT members finished 1st, 2nd, and 6th of 70 starters).
All in all it was a great day of racing for our team: 7 top tens, 3 podiums, and 1 win ... for a total purse of $420. Of course something that makes it extra sweet is that our title sponsor S&W is also the primary sponsor of the race!
|
