08/04/02 by Team Summit
Marion. Hmmm. What can one say about a race with a course that's one 1 mile long with a 10 to 12%, 200m long hill that you climb once for each of the 30 laps? Well, challenging enough to eliminate half of the 60 man starting field by the race's end.
The course was definitely tougher than how it looked on paper. The hill although short was steep (big ring 53X16-19). Following the hill was a slight downhill followed by a long slight uphill. The start finish narrowed from 3 lanes down to 1.5 lanes so if you weren't in the front 5-8 you were only sprinting to stay out of last place. The flyer also failed to mention that it would be 98 degrees at race time!
CVV launched a lot of attacks with Tris Hopkins and Tom Freuh leading the charges. Osowski managed to take advantage of some of the attacks and bridged up into one especially promising break of about 10 riders with half way to go in the race, however, the field ended up pulling it back. The attacks continued until eventually Hopkins and someone else from Savage Hill Racing got away. Zak Derringer (last name? sp?) (Lake Effect) reacted quickly and got on. They managed to stay away with Zak taking the win. Osowski didn't have the legs left for a solo attempt in the closing laps and eliminated himself from the sprint with some exceptionally poor positioning. On the last lap Mullins moved up to the top 10 unfortunately as he integrated into the line another line of riders came through and he lost almost all the positions that he had just gained. Making position on the last part of the course was nearly impossible as the sprint wound out on the downgrade going at 40mph. There was no making up for poor position by then.
A tough week for the home team...but the fun starts on Wednesday again!! :) Better days are coming......See you from the PODIUM in Delaware!