Weekend Wrap-Up
June 18, 2005
by Blowin Doorsin
(Some of these results were conveyed to me second hand, but believe everything
to be fairly accurate)
The track was finally able to get a night of racing in without getting rained
out. The report is, the track is seeing a lot of new faces and the beginner
classes have been filling up with new riders both young and old. It’s great to
see the new kids trying out the sport. Why aren’t more racers in the Atlanta
area giving track a try, especially the “fast” ones?
In the B class, 19 riders showed up to do battle with young gun Thomas Brown of
the Land Rover junior team zipping all over the track giving CAT 1 roadies fits
all night long. Thomas won the 10 lap point a lap and the points race while also
taking 2nd in the unknown distance race. Winning the unknown distance race was
Brian Tester.
The A class also fielded 19 riders. Smith Barney rider Steve Carrell made his
first track appearance in several years while Steve Hogan made his first
appearance since becoming a proud papa almost 2 years ago. The Smith Barney duo
of Steve and Tony Scott brought their great road teamwork to the Velodrome
taking the two top spots for the evening. Tim Barrett of Free Flite, rode a
gutsy points race and showed a lot of promise. Unless more of the “fast” roadies
start showcasing their speed on the track and giving guys like Tim, Chris
Knetsche and Clay Parks some help, the Smith Barney train might just continue to
roll through the track season like they have on the road.
Saturday was the inaugural Suwanee circuit race put on by Frazier Cycling, a
great organization that’s doing a lot to promote cycling to the youth in our
communities. The junior races had good sized fields, which shows you how this
group is doing a great job of mentoring and getting the kids involved in racing.
The fields were much larger than most had anticipated given the relatively low
amount of pre-race publicity the race received.
The Pro/1/2’s followed the CAT 4 race that was won by the duathlete turned
cyclist (his name escapes me, sorry). A few breaks tried to get up the road, but
nothing stuck until former pro Jake Rosenbarger and the cagey David Crowe took
off with about 4 laps to go. The duo managed to hold on to the end doing well to
represent Locos. Rounding out the podium was Tony Scott of Smith Barney who got
the monster lead-out from team mate Big Jon Atkins.
Next up were the masters, which meant no rest for the Smith Barney team, but it
turned out to be a moot point. The field stayed together for the most part after
several unsuccessful break attempts were quickly reeled back in. Perhaps the
most dangerous move of the day came from Rick Rheingans of Aarons Furnishings,
who got a good gap and looked to be headed for the win. The chase was left to
Smith Barney, and chase they did. With 3 laps to go it was all back together for
a field sprint. Big Jon and Tony used the exact same tactic that worked for them
in the pro race: get Tony to the last turn and let him go for the LONG sprint to
the line. He managed to hold off Scott Edge for second. Not sure who was third.
In the women’s race, Travel Girl had the dominant numbers over The Forum squad.
Following several attacks, Jennifer Cooper flew the coup and rode the rest of
way solo for the win. The bunch sprint ended with Kari Bradley and Lee Ann
Asbury taking 2nd and 3rd respectively.