The Whitnall Park Road Race is really more of a circuit/criterium, than a road race. It is a good course, but alittle sketchy, with a big ring climb to the finish. I won the race last year with Brian finishing 2nd, so it was a course good for us for sure.
It was raining in the morning and we didn’t get a chance to ride, so Bill and I got out of the car abit stiff from the drive back from Pennsylvania.
Arriving at the venue, there were about a 100 guys from Rock Racing PRO Team in the parking lot. There were actually only 11 or 12, but it seemed like a hundred.
The women’s raced finished and Kelly Benjamin threw herself on the ground doing a bike throw at the line. It was probably pretty embarrassing for her, but she is a super bike handler and things like that happen to everyone. She still finished 2nd and is way ahead in the overall series points with 2 wins and 2nd’s.
Our race started out pretty slow and kind of stayed that way the whole day. Rock Racing didn’t seem too interested in racing aggressively and they dictated the pace pretty much. I only felt good on the hill, so tried to stay out of the wind as much as possible. Brian was riding patiently after finishing 3rd in Alpine Valley yesterday to Carl Menzies.
Finally with less than 10 miles to go, Brian got into a move with a couple Rock Racing guys, a couple Austrialians, and a german. We went to the front immediately, but realized after a lap that the field had no interest in chasing them down.
Brian rode a great race and won convincingly. It’s nice to repeat a win in big races. I got 5th in the field sprint. I went around the last corner up the hill about 9 guys back and the 2nd non Rock Racing rider. I didn’t pass anyone except guys that were peeling off from the leadout.
Anyway, I’m skipping the Proving Grounds Road Race this afternoon and racing Thursday in Shorewood. I have no aspirations for any overall place, so I have to figure out how to use these races to get out of this funk I’ve been in for awhile. We’ll see how that goes.
