Team Speedfix Racing is known to be one of the fastest teams at the track. However those who had the opportunity to watch last Thursday's Miss & Out witnessed Adam Bergman playing a nice trick on three of the fastest Speedfix Riders.

 

Like every race this one started as an individual race. A couple of riders chose to ride the devil at the end of the pack and the first laps got their bunch of eliminations. However, and for the third week in a row, this strategy was not working as the pack was really fast. Sprinting at top speed every two laps is a pretty big challenge and the riders who chose that tactic couldn't hold the rhythm as laps went on.

 

After a dozen of laps the riders were split into two packs.
There was no escape for the second pack as the race went on...slowly it faded away until only the leading riders remained. The remaining riders keep accelerating and Dan Schueller finally gave up a couple of meters before the line, Andy Bergman stood alone facing Speedfix guys Brian Crosby, Mike Sobol and Ben Dubay.

 

But it was way too soon to think about an easy victory.
The ogre Bergman swallowed laps as if it was nothing and took the lead as Sobol got the hook. Then came Dubay's turn to leave the track with a third place while Crosby tried to trap Bergman on the top of the track slowing down and getting ready for the final sprint. But once again the strong experience of the road rider got the most of Crosby's youth.
A powerfull acceleration in the second turn left Crosby behind by 15 meters and the race was over for the last of the Speedfix riders.

Rain was back at the track last week. This was the third night this season that all or part of the race program was cancelled because of rain.

 

The track stayed dry long enough to allow the riders to race a little bit more than half of the schedule. The night was windy was enough to challenge the riders but not enough to cancel the races. As a result from a crowd's point of view a couple of races looked slower than they usually are.

 

Before the interruption the highlight was Michael Smith's victory in the Chariots race after a couple of heats and Adam Bergman's supremacy over the 10 lap scratch and the Miss & Out in the Cat 1/2 field.

 

Despite her victory in the Omnium, Heidi Dahlmann is now fourth in the TROY standings very closely behind Linsey Hamilton and Elena Dorr (whose season at the track is over).

 

Finally let's welcome back Ben Dubay who raced for the first time on Thursday night since he got injured a couple of weeks ago.

 

View full results here...

Category         Rider                   Club
Cat 1,2     Adam Bergman         Texas Roundhouse
Cat 3        David Pramann          Silver Racing

Cat 4,5     Michael Smith           UMD
Women    Heidi Dahlmann         N/A 

 

View full results here...

Friday and Saturday, August 29-30 features the Peace Coffee Grind. This two day race is patterned after the European Six-Day races with 7 races each night for Madison teams. The program will feature Points Races, Kilometer time trial, Miss and Out and Madisons all of which are done Madison style with team members relaying each other into the race via a hand sling. Prizes will be awarded for individual events as well as the overall placing of each team at the conclusion of the second night. The races begin at 7:00PM on Friday and 5:00PM on Saturday. Be there for all the action. As always admission is free so bring the kids!

James Tainter started as a road racer in 1993 and came to the velodrome in 2001 attracted by the opportunity of riding the track at least once.

 

He obviously enjoyed it a lot as he is currently helping Bob Williams and Kevin Schaeffer to run junior programs.

 

James is a member of the "Hollywood Cycles" team and he will leave today for the Master's Nationals in California where he will compete next week in the kilo and pursuit. He is the current National Masters Champion in the kilo in the 35-39 age group but will move up this year to the 40-44 age group.

His best memory of track racing remains riding Manchester, England's track which is said to be the fastest track in the world. He won two bronze medals there at the World Master's Championships.

 

James' objectives are to have as much fun as possible on the track, bring out more juniors and kids to keep up the track programs and to keep organizing events like the MN Fixed Gear Classic.

 

Tinater will be blogging from Masters Nationals in San Jose. Keep track of his progress on the NSC Blog here...