Weather? No. Win? Yes.
The rains that have soaked Central TX this morning held off last night for us to have an exciting race out at the Driveway. Holland Racing chose to run the full loop counterclockwise which is usually a good indication that the race will come down to a bunch sprint. Our team went into the race with the usual aspirations, gain fitness, pick up primes, win the race and advance towards the mini-series overall lead.
Using those goals as a benchmark it was a successful evening. We manage to pick up all primes between Wenger, Dille and Wheeler. There was an especially nice 1/2 done on some poor rider trying to unbox himself for a prime as we flanked him from the front and side, pinned in on other side by the infield. Wheeler too was able to hold off prolific winner Jenn McRae for a prime. Jenn will be contesting Athens in a few weeks time and I’m thinking she’s got some serious 200m gas in her can.
The race was a bit more negative than others, partly due to the long drags on the course where the field was easily making their way back to the breakaways. A few promising breaks featured mini-series leader Stefan Rothe, Wenger and I but there were just too many riders that missed it and still wanted a chance at the win. In the final lap I covered a number of hard accelerations by Stefan but found myself on SIX’s John Korioth coming into the final chicane. I took advantage of our Zipp tubulars and overtook him in the last tight lefthander. From there it was still a long sprint but most of the field was gapped and I held off for the win.
It was a satisfying win after two weeks of sprinting too early and being overtaken late. Both times Stefan got the best of me with some heads up racing. This one was sweeter though because it comes on the heels of a weekend win and because the finale was tricky if not a bit tactical and strange. Our team looks great for next weekends Matrix Challenge where we’ll hope to work together for more good results.
Photos expertly and generously provided by Dave McLaughlin of DMC Photography. Many thanks!