063002 by Jim Mullins
There were 128 riders in the field and we were lined up according to how we registered. Gilmore was fortunately pre-registered and was sitting near the front. Denis, Angelo and I were not so lucky, we were in the last row. Denis and I both had trouble clipping into our pedals and found our position suddenly worse. Denis was in fact next to last in the first corner. Slightly panicked at being back in a race that was sure to be a pure screamer. Denis busted butt to move up and exerted a bit too much effort. I managed to quickly move up and within 2-3 laps found myself in the top 30-40 riders. This was short lived when I was taken down in corner #2. I took my free lap and Charles allowed us back in but at the back of the field instead of where we were when we crashed. So I found myself having to work my way up through the enormous field again. I again managed to work my way through the crowd and got back up to the 30-40 range again. Several attacks of 1-3 riders were happening all the time and were quickly chased down. Gilmore managed to get into some of these small groups but nothing was sticking with that kind of money on the line. Several more crashes that I managed to avoid. Gilmore continued to ride a strong and aggressive race at or near the front. I sat back buying my time till late in the race. I didn't see much of Angelo and Denis as the field was so large and frankly too hectic to do too much looking around. At one point I heard a voice in the corner yell "Go Jim" next lap I looked and saw Denis standing there. With about 16 laps to go I saw Angelo (riding strong) and told him to hang in there the worst was over now. Shortly after he apparently flatted his rear tire and did not take advantage of the fact that Jim and I had wheels in the pit. Think next time Angelo!!!!!!! A small group slipped off the front (Frieh, Hopkins, and some other guy). They dangled at 5-6 seconds and looked as though they were caught when the pack for who knows what reason lost interest and let them open it up to 23 seconds. I started thinking about position with 7-10 laps to go. I found myself sitting in the top 15 when we passed through with one lap to go. Needless to say things got hairy real hairy. People diving all over the road. Going into corner #3 someguy rubbed the inside of my rear tire hard and caused a lost in momentum which cost me several positions. I sprinted hard out of turn four and made up several spots and knew that I would be close to a top 20 finish but was not sure where I would actually fall out in the placings. Turns out 19th (in the cash at least $25 split 4 ways bought dinner on the way home anyway). Oh well. Stayed safe and had fun!!!! Gilmore elected not to contest the sprint, probably not a bad decision considering the hairiness!!!!