May 18, 2005 by Ted Ingraham
It was cold, dreary, and raining (at least for three of the four weeks) and the record number of crashes was a real bummer. But all that gloom and doom couldn't begin to dampen the huge success of the club's racers over the four weeks of Races at the Lakes 2005!
Freewheeler jerseys were in abundance at the start line of nearly every race and, even more important, they were exceptionally prominent at the front of the field at the finish! I don't have records back to the beginning of this series, but I'd bet the club has NEVER had as many finishers place in the money at RATL as we did this year.
Let's start at the top: The Cat 3 race was dominated by ADCT/Freewheelers lead by Eddie Delgros. Ed showed his strength in the first race as he pulled the field the entire race and then out-sprinted them all to the line. After his second consecutive first place finish in week two, it began to look like Ed would sweep the series! Only the unlucky result of following a racer that crashed on the final turn kept Ed from having a three-week string. Ed is a true individualist who would much prefer to bury himself in a solo attack than fuss about team tactics, but he proved he is a team player when he showed up for week four with various injuries because he didn't want to let the rest of the team down. Although Ed struggled to stay with the field throughout most of the race, he won the True Temper ceremonial shovel prime after a strong lead-out by Bob Grimm. The last few laps of the race saw Denis driving the field to set-up our sprinters — it didn't work exactly as planned but his efforts helped get Ed in for 4th and Jim Mullins at 7th.
Throughout the series, Ed had lots of company from his teammates as the club has a powerhouse of Cat 3 racers. Jim Mullins showed why he is one of the team leaders by finishing third in week one, followed by three straight 7th place finishes. Jim Gilmore had a 4th and a 9th place finish, and Angelo and George each had a 10th place. Had there been a team competition for the series, ADCT would have finished first with 61 points, doubling the total of 30 points of the second place team (MVC). The guys above were in the money (or at least the points), but the help they received from Denis, Josh, Glenn, Joel, and Bobbie Grimm was what made it a true team effort.
The Cat 4 race also saw an abundance of ADCT racers every week. They kept working their team tactics until they really found success the last week. Jimmy MacDonald was the standout C4 (so much so that he is now a C3!) as he took a 7th and 2nd in his only two appearances. Jimmy had lots of help from Phil (who had a 5th in week one), Brian Ramsey (who was 4th in week one), Ben, Micah, and Mike Selby. It was great to watch these young racers learning how to work together. We will see lots more from this group as the season progresses!
The Cat 5 series was totally dominated by Freewheelers. Doug Williams proved he deserved a C4 upgrade by taking first for weeks one, two, and three and then leading-out Tom LeBay for the win on week four. Tom also had a 3rd place finish on week two. Many other C5 Freewheelers raced strong and placed well, including: Mark Chapman, Jared Durieux, Makin Selden, Kurt Spenoso, and Jay Wynne. These guys were so impressive that two strong "unattached" C5 racers decided they wanted to join this group. Welcome to new Freewheelers Bob Valsi and Paul Klein.
Congratulations to all our racers! We not only succeeded in the races but we gained valuable team racing experience and we even brought new members into the club. The weather dampened the turnout but the series was also a financial success for the club. My thanks to the many volunteers who put in long hours every Saturday: Denis Osowski, Joanne and George Liolios, Dick and Sally Lott, Tricia and Karen Ingraham, Phil Esempio, Anastasia Briosh, Dan Gabelman, Don Whitaker - and any others I may have overlooked. Also, thanks to Ben Kuhlman and Ames True Temper for donating the chrome plated ceremonial shovels - truly a unique prime award!