Coming back to Detroit is no fun. This city is awful. So it's a damn good thing racing on this track is great. The first night went pretty well. Despite baking in temps in the mid 90s, and choking of dry mouth from the super low humidity, the racing was exciting. We rode well in the opening 1 mile sprints, took some decent points in the miss and out (which was crazy, with 18 people racing it on a 200 m track) and rocked the two madisons. Things split up almost immediately in the first 60 lap race, we took several laps on a couple teams, and stayed on with the leaders. One thing that has really improved for us since last year is our ability to position in the sprints and rack up points. Unfortunately, this year they changed the format so that lapping the field only nets you 15 points. Winning a sprint is worth 10. Last year laps took precedence, so we played our hand wisely, took a lap, and held on for 3rd. No such luck this year. In the second madison of the night, a 100 lap affair, the Cody Racing team (formerly Spike) got away from everyone and moved up in the standings to second, leaving Luke and I in 3rd, with the team of Austin Carol and Dan Vogt leading overall. Not a bad way to start out.
were still working out. It's funny, no matter how much I feel like I'm suffering in other events on the track, and I can always seem to scrape my act together enough to throw down a good ride in the Tonight we were both feeling a little sapped. I particularly felt like I had no snap, and the racing showed it. In the individual 1 mile opening race, Luke took 3rd. I took 7th. In the combined miss and out, Luke again took 3rd, and I suffered to take about 12th. It's a good thing he was scoring us some points, because I certainly wasn't. Fortunately the madisonsmadison. We had a 60 lap to start out, and held in pretty well, picking up a few sprint points. In the 12o lap race that closed out the night, we won one sprint, and contested most of the others, but in general didn't seem to be positioning ourselves as well leading into the bell lap. The turns on this track are so tight, and the laps so short, that if you aren't in the top 3 or 4 with 1.5 to go, you may as well count yourself out. Probably the best thing that happened is that we managed to take a lap on the leading team, along with the second and fourth placed teams. This gnawed down their lead a bit, but they still managed to hold onto it at the end of the night. We were beaten in the sprints by the Canadian team that had been sitting in fourth going into the last race, and hence moved down one spot in the overall. This race has been a lot more competitive that last year, and all of the top four teams are within striking distance of the win. Tomorrow is the last day of racing, and has some longer events, including a 200 lap madison to conclude the weekend. This bodes well for Luke and I, as we have so far seemed to be doing better as the races get longer. Looking at how the past two days have gone, and how the scoring is working out, I think we're planning on concentrating on the sprints rather than taking laps. If a move presents itself, we'll be all over it, but with the minimal amount of points being awarded for lapping the field, we'll need to play the sprinter game. It's not our strong suit, but this weekend has shown us that we are capable of winning these sprints, and if the longer race really does play more to our favor, things could work out well. We'll see tomorrow. In any case, the racing out here has been awesome, outweighing the fact that I needed to come to Detroit to do it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
tell us about the crowds and atompsphere of the track as well!
The crowds are small, but there is something appealing about a homebuilt track. Everything they have here, they built on their own, with funds the velodrome raised, and with volunteer labor. Perhaps the biggest thing to take away from the Velodrome at Bloomer Park is just how successful a grassroots effort can be. Heck, it built them a track, and is sustaining it well enough to have enough budget to pay for teams from across the country to come in and race, with enough cash left over to pay every rider who finishs the event $100. Not only that, but they really do work to draw the out of town riders into the scene. The announcer walks around before the race and introduces herself, and hence knows everyone's name during the race. The director had everyone over for pizza, pasta, and more fun after the first night. No one needs to get a hotel, because there is more than enough host housing to go around. The crowds of spectators may be a lot smaller here than in Blaine, but everyone who rides on the track pulls their weight in other ways. Given the tremendous void that will be left as Bob needs to step back, we could really learn something from the folks out here.
Post a Comment