Super Squadra

Another Thursday in May, another Wheeler win. Yawn, this is getting predictable…. except not at all. Together with the ebb and flow of form and participation of the competition and with the variety of race courses on offer at Holland Racings Driveway series, there’s plenty to love about the last three weeks of racing.

Allow me to briefly recap the first two Wheeler victories. First week Wheeler followed John Korioth’s first lap downhill attack and we wouldn’t see him again until the celebratory cheek-slap (we don’t really do that) after the race. He rode judiciously in the break as they extended their lead and following some attacks in the final flat lower loop, overcame Evan Lambert with relative ease in the finale. Back in the field we played the bully and kept the field together before I led out the last lap for Wenger. It was a portent for the teamwork we would deploy over the following two weeks.

Fast forward to the second Thursday in May and the heat was back in town. Many of the strongest riders in town were back and TX Tough’s Tyler Jewell was on the mend and ready to get back into his finishing groove. We snagged one or two primes during the evening and in general countered and chased all significant moves. We were racing the full circuit clockwise which makes a breakaway exceedingly difficult. Two dangerous moves featuring Peter Carey (fresh of JMSR stage success) were negated first by Ian and with the final blow dealt by myself. Wheeler was cool and relaxed throughout. Coming through the final lap though Peter had a nice gap of 10s and chase support was dwindling as Wheeler was in third wheel with a full 1.5 miles to the finish. In a bid for the stage win and as a decoy to draw out the finishers I attacked with about 1 mile to go and garnered a nice gap. Sol Frost bridged across but with one more trip up the corkscrew and already at the limit it was stalemate. I looked behind to see Wheeler’s neon leader’s jersey and I hit out one last time for him taking him from the catch to the top of the corkscrew. I swung left and watched him navigate the final corners opening up his advantage the entire way.

This week around the competition was even better with select THSJ riders like Heath Blackgrove and OUCH’s Pat McCarty gracing us at our weekly race. The race was a bit lethargic and negative throughout as no group ever made much inroads towards a winning move for the first 45 minutes. However, late in the game a select group of Wheeler, Sol, Scott Henry, Korioth, Pat and several others coalesced off the front. I shot across to provide support to Wheeler and with only 3 laps and counting it looked like a wrap. The group was large so everyone did their turn at the front and we rolled well together. Inside of one lap to go Wenger and Heath finished their bridge and we had three to sort out Wheeler’s leadout. I took the helm and led us down the corkscrew and into the final hill. I quickly followed Pat and Sol’s acceleration and slotted in with Wheeler in tow. As we entered the final curves I took the lead and ramped it up for the finish. I felt easy and knew with Wheeler on the wheel I could actually give the finish a dig without jeopardizing him. Instead of pulling up and wide into the final chicane I dove in hard and washed the front wheel. Wheeler had the poise to keep it upright and as best I can tell from the photos wrapped up the win somewhere near 50m to the line. I was happy but with a cramped up calf and riders barreling through the apex of the turn towards me tempered my excitement a bit. It may have even looked like I was angry about the large amounts of exposed flesh wound but that’s just me.

State crit this weekend is unfortunately not held on a Thursday or at the Driveway. Hrmph. We’ll still contest it and hope for the best.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 22nd, 2009 at 2:35 pm and is filed under Race Reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.