05/27/02 by Angelo Catalano
Things settled down on the next climb and the field even took it easy on the rollers through the start finish. The tempo was somewhat high for the fourth lap, with a couple small moves here and there, but nothing to get worried about. As we started the last lap, Al took off once we turned onto Norton Hts. Dr. I was surprised and so was the rest of the field. Meanwhile at the front, a few were discussing whether or not we were actually on the last lap, because there was no bell. Well Al stayed away for a lot longer than I had thought he would given the amount of work he had done covering the "marked men." But no one wanted to do any work to reel him back in. The tempo was just fast enough and Al was just far enough away to discourage any attempt to bridge from the field. Once on Haas, Orrville had enough and Jeremy's lead out took charge. Al was brought back in and the tempo remained high down to Riverview.
The field was together for the rest of the race on the Quick rollers and it was shaping up to be a large field sprint. Things began to get dicey on the rollers, as we passed other fields (and Charles was buzzing past us on the moto, enforcing the yellow line rule I'm still debating who was more dangerous, the moto w/Charles or the oncoming traffic). On the approach to the last two rises, the paced picked up speed and guys were getting blocked in and trying franticly to move to a better position. Shawn and Al were in the middle of the group, I was in the back and was thinking how bad of a position I was in, but there was nothing I could do so I rode the yellow line. Well a lot of guys made poor gear choices (in my opinion) on the last rise and just as I crested into the final 200 meters, I shot across the road and went around those who were trying to wind up their 53x13 or 14 (or something). I saw some fast wheels after I swooped around and let them lead me out. I was actually surprised to see myself passing so many people, in fact I only shifted once or twice (yeah I was spinning like a maniac) in the sprint and sadly, had I thought to shift again I may have moved farther up. At this point Jon Lowery of Team Stark clearly took 1st, and Jeremy was actually dueling it out for second, however he came up short and took third. I finished fourth right off their wheels, and Shawn took fifth, slightly behind me.
It was a great finish for the SFW C4s. We had talked a lot prior to the race about who to watch, what to expect and who would do what. We communicated well through out the race and were aggressive. Al did a tremendous job keeping things interesting and close, as did Shawn. For the first time we saw some of the early season clinic work we did (thanks to Jim Mullins) come together and give us some results. Great job everyone!