Suisun Harbor Criterium Men's Pro 1/2 WEBCOR/AV WINS!

Jamo scored his first P/1/2 victory this past weekend, and in a CalCup race no less! Below is his race report.

Race: Suisun Harbor Criterium Men's Pro 1/2
Aug. 19th, 2007
Teamates: Brad Goodson, Tore Nauta, Rob MacNeil
Placing 1st of 52

This was my first time racing the Suisun course and I definitely found it to my liking. A short, flat, four corner rectangular criterium in the downtown area of Suisun city. The race was 72 laps. This race is part of the Cal Cup Series put on by Velo Promo. Out of the 52 starters there was plenty of horsepower with people like Jared (Metromint), Eric Wohlberg, Kevin Klein (Rock Racing), Uthman Ray (BPG), JD Bergman (Squadra), Randd Miller (Club One), and many others.. After the Webcor/AV team missed out on top placings at Dunnigan Hills we were all hungry for a good result. With four of us there the plan was simple, share the load of covering attacks and if it comes down to a sprint someone on the team (other than me) will make sure it is strung out at the end.

The race remained fast from start to finish. For the first 20 laps I was near the front and chased down a number of attacks. Their were multiple attacks and breakaway attempts. After about 20 laps, Tore was showing himself near the front and covering multiple attacks. When he was finished Brad took his turn putting in some hard efforts. In one case a large gap opened and Brad did a good job keeping it from getting too big, allowing me to bridge across to the front group. This gap remained for about two laps only to be closed down. Rob found his legs about halfway through the race and started making his way up to the front and contributing to the coverage of breakaways.

With 20 laps to go a brekaway with Jared, Eric, a Davis rider and one other got a decent gap on the field. They stayed away for a while, Brad took some turns near the front to keep the breakaway in check. Finally, inside 4 laps to go Rob got on the front of our group and put in a Hercules type effort and pretty much single handedly brought the breakaway back with about 2 laps to go.

At this time I was sitting about 4th wheel, I maintained this position up to the point we heard the bell for the final lap. In turn one some rider attempted to come inside of me and take my line, I shut him down holding my position. In turn two whoever was on the front sat up and headed for the outside, the two guys in front of me followed. This is when I decided to jump, shooting the inside of turn two I was able to open a gap of about 30 meters in matter of seconds. I sprinted into the headwind on the back straigthaway and maintained the gap. I entered turn 3 at a high rate of speed and held a tight line through the corner. I came out of turn 4 with still about 40 meters gap, I put in another effort periodically looking back at the chasing pack. I held a sizeable gap all the way to the line and put up one arm to celebrate my win. I really wanted to post two arms in the air but my dizzy feeling prevented me from doing so.

Rob, Brad, and Tore all put in awesome work and we rode a very smart strong team race. I was happy to be able to deliver the favor back to the team by bringing home the first Pro 1/2 win for the Elite squad.

Thanks for reading,

James

Here is a link to a photo of the finish at Suisun.

http://www.printroom.com/ViewGalleryPhoto.asp?userid=khphotos&gallery_id=806326&image_id=2