Race Report: August 7
 The riders faced a dilemma on Thursday night, August 7th: save energy for the Midwest Sprint Challenge (August 8th and 9th) or race hard for the $1000 in prizes offered by the St Paul Bicycle Racing Club. From the crowd's point of view it seemed that nobody planned to save energy. The night was dedicated to speed with a schedule of fast races heavy on Pursuits, Chariots and Scratch Races. The only "slow" action came during the 60-lap points race for Cat 1, 2 and the 40-lap points race for Cat 3. Even the Cat 1, 2 Miss & Out, not normally a race for sprinters, was one of the fastest this year at the Velodrome. A special shout-out to Chris Verbick on his second victory in the Track Stand. If Verbick keeps winning this kind of race he might be eligible for the coveted title of slowest rider of the year! Good luck Chris! We'll have a special update on the Midwest Sprint Challenge in our next newsletter. Click here for Thursday Night Lights results for 8/7. Click here for Midwest Sprint Challenge results from 8/9 |
Featured Race: Cat 1,2 Miss & Out
Miss & Outs are usually the kind of race that start slowly and ends with an intense final sprint. This one was an exception: it started fast and the final sprint was REALLY intense. The show started with Chris Ferris riding the devil as usual. Once again he showed how cagey he can be, trapping Kevin Schaeffer and then Doug Regester at the line for the first two eliminations. But the pace was incredibly fast and Ferris finally gave up after two very intense sprints.
Slowly the pack gets slimmer as race goes on.
As the pack dwindled, the race became a team challenge with SpeedFix working as a group. For several laps Brian Crosby, Mike Sobol and Andy Kruse eliminate the challengers leaving only James Tainter and Adam Bergman to fight them. But the two survivors refused to give up and eliminate Kruse, reducing the pack to four. Tainter succumbed in the next lap as he loses on the line and the next time around Sobol let Bergman and Crosby escape for the final two laps. In the final match sprint, Crosby took the lead giving Bergman the role of chaser. Bergman took advantage and dove quickly down the inside of the track. It took Crosby half a second to start his own sprint and that was enough for Bergman to take the win half a wheel ahead of Crosby in front of the appreciative audience. |
Rider Profile: Pat Lemieux - Cat 2 rider
Pat Lemieux started his very first season at the track as a Cat. 5 rider in 2008. He was introduced to the velodrome by fiend Adam Bergman. However his performance on the track allowed him to reach Cat 3 in only 3 weeks. And it took him only five weeks after being upgraded to take the lead of Cat. 3. Pat is indeed a strong Category 1 road racer and his lack of experience on the track was filled by the seven years of training he had on the road.
"Riding the track does a lot of good for a transition to the road"
Actually, racing for team GP/Bianchi, Lemieux is now about to race in Cat 1, 2.His objectives for this year are to get more experience and grow as a track racer, but also to improve his sprint because as an endurance racer he admits having difficulties competing with the local experienced sprinters
"The events that I do well are the endurance events like longer point/scratch races. That's the style of race that I really enjoy"
Pat admitted he bought a bike and clothes and plans to become a regular at the track.
You may not know: Pat is a third year college student.
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| August 7 Omnium Results
Category Rider Club
Cat 1,2 Adam Bergman Texasroadhouse
Cat 3 Pat Lemieux GB/ Bianchi
Cat 4,5 Gabe Masiulis Gopher Wheelmen
Women Elena Dorr SpeedFix Racing
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Sponsored Race: County Cycle Women's Scratch
Thursday night was the third race of the County Cycle Women's Scratch Race competition and Heidi Dahlmann's victory made the competition even more unpredictable. Here are the current standings:
Rider 8/7 Total Elena Dorr 2nd 11 Linsey Hamilton 4th 8 Gwen Steel 3rd 7 Heidi Dahlmann 1st 5 Megan Lennon absent 1 Melissa Dahlmann 5th 1 |
