06/14/03 by Jim Gilmore
Saturday June 14th, 2003
Allied Decals made the trip to Waterford, PA (just south of Erie) for the 2nd Annual Mighty Mighty Bison Race. Representing the team were Denis Osowski, Jim Mullins, and Jim Gilmore along with Club President Ted Ingraham. The course was a 1.75 mile circuit course. It started with an S turn followed by a long fast downhill. Two 90 degree turns and the road started upward with a long false flat leading into a hill similar to Ratl. Another 2 90's and an uphill chicane led into a short finishing stretch. A great course with a little bit of everything.
The 3-4 race was scheduled for 23 laps (40 miles). The field was small (16) with Allied and TriTech fielding 4 riders each.
The first lap was neutral to allow riders to get a feel for the course, which was a good idea since the finishing stretch was pretty technical. Shortly after that two riders, a Tritech and a KwikFil got off the front. The field didn't do much to chase so they stayed out for about 3 laps. We were about to catch them just after the hill when I countered. When the dust cleared I was off the front with 2 Tritech guys. We knew that the field would be under control, but with over 30 miles still left in the race none of us worked real hard to stay away. We maintained the gap for about 2-3 laps before the field caught us at the top of the hill. Dennis countered with another textbook counter attack and he was off the front with a Tritech partner. This gave me and the rest of the team a chance to sit in and wait for the rest of the guys to work. With about 14-15 laps to go a small group started to form off the front of the field. I jumped on the back of it and a group of 5 rolled away from the field. There was now a group of 2 out in front (with Dennis), a chase group of 5 (with myself), and the rest of the field with Jim M. and Ted. Tritech also had a man in each of the groups.
The next several laps were pretty easy for me and the tritech rider in my group as we weren't obligated to do any work. Dennis was working hard to keep away and the gap never really changed.
With ~7 laps to go our group was joined by Jim M. He had made a strong solo move to bridge up. The field had moved a little closer trying to follow Jim's move so I decided to do some work for a lap. This helped to re-establish the gap to the field and also dropped one of the riders from our group bringing us back down to 5. Jim M. started discussing with me how to guarantee getting him, Dennis, and myself in all in the top 5 (with the 2 tritech guys). He noticed that the KwikFil guy in our group was starting to struggle so the 3 of us in our group decided to accerate up the hill the next time though. It worked perfectly, and the group was now down to 4 with 3 laps to go.
We stayed together until we came through and heard the bell for the final lap. I accerated into the downhill, just to make sure no one was sleeping, they weren't. We hit the uphill section and the 1 lone rider in our group attacked the hill. We were on it though and he pretty much cooked himself. After the turn at the top of hill I attacked hard, with the Tritech rider and Jim M. on my wheel. I pulled though the next turn and into the chicane, but they came around me before the finish. The Tritech rider just nipped Jim at the line for 3rd , while he finished 4th, and 5th for myself.
We then learned that Dennis had done what he needed and got the victory. Ted also rode strong, rolling in with the field shortly after us. All in all a great day for the team.