5 Star Fish / Collins Motorsports Team takes
4 of the top ten spots in the
30+ 1/2/3 CBR "Ride It Like You Stole It" Criterium, the first race of 2007, with a
2nd and
1st place finish. HOWEVER, we came up with a big
0 in the race that really mattered, the Pro/1/2 100k.
2007's season of racing begins.
30+ 1/2/3 - 60 minutes
I had butterflies in my stomach like it was the first day of high school or something. They went away when we started racing. Orders from the chief were to play it cool for 30 minutes to let the race settle in, then work our magic. Karl Bordine goes up the road, then Peter Anderson, then Chris DeMarchi and Dan Vinson. We plant four guys in a break of nine. The break includes Chris Walker, Thurlow Rodgers, Gary Scott (Velocity), and two other dudes. Our boys turn the screws, taking turns attacking and attacking while me and the rest of the gang hang back and block. The pack gets anxious with 5 to go but our blocking keeps them from threatening while up ahead the tactics are working. Into the last turn I see my work is done and decide to sit up, not that I had much energy to challenge for 10th anyway. Karl leads out Chris and Chris comes around for the win with Karl taking second. Dan and Peter get 5th and 8th. Nice way to start the season. Click on the cool photo of Chris winning to see it in full glory: to the left of him is his wife, clapping, and to the far right is Karl giving Chris prop's.
Pro/1/2 - 100k
Lots of fresh legs were at the line for this one and it was a full 125 field. Word was Toyota-United was supposed to be in town and show up but they never graced us with their presence. Most of the local teams had lots of guys (SDBC, AFP, and Schroeder Iron, to name a few) but the only full pro squad was SuccessfulLiving. There were several good one-off riders like Aaron Olson (T-Mobile) and Neil Shirley (Jittery Joe's). The Polish national team was there, too, though we learned from last year to not be near them in the turns.
I'll start from the end of the race to say we came up with nothing in the top ten. We tried to get a train going but it was bump and grind the last 9 laps and while we got close, we couldn't string more than three guys together at a time. Not only was it challenging to fight for position and wheels with so many dudes, but most of us were pretty darn tired after the first race effort. I was on fumes for the last few laps and it turns out mostly everyone else was, too. No breaks got away in this one but the pace was somewhere between 27-28 MPH for the entire 60-some miles.
And so, we debut with a bang and a whimper but it's only race #1 and we honestly were looking at it as mostly training. My legs know it was a lot of training.
-adm
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