Festival of Speed- Atlanta, GA

On June 30th, I won the Miss an Out at the 2nd of three Festival of Speed, track omniums at the Dick Lane Velodrome in Atlanta, Georgia. I also placed second to Jeff Hopkins (Jittery Joe's) in the omnium ahead of 35 other Pro/1 riders.

The racing started at 4:30 with 100 degree temperatures. In the points race, I got in an early break with Jeff Hopkins and we split the sprints. Then his teammate, Tim Henry bridged with Steve Carroll so the deal was off. They took turns leading each other out which put me at a disadvantage because I had to close past two riders to win a sprint. Hopkins, when in second, would drift up the track, when I tried to pass making it a long and treacherous way around in each sprint. He kept it just safe enough that it was not quite a "hook"... more like an implied threat. He used the same technique that Danny Clark beat me with in the 1999 Master's Worlds Points Race. With 10 laps to go, I lapped the field to lock us on points so that I wouldn't get passed on points by the other riders in the break. A small break that was just ahead of the field took the remaining points so I got second in the race.

Next was the snowball race where you get points according to winning the lap you are on. My strategy was to try a two-lap escape sometime after lap 10 and hold on to lap 15 for the end. I timed it just right and won lap 12 and then got some shelter at the back of a small group that caught me after the sprint. Just as I was preparing to launch again, Hopkins came over the top like a rocket. There was no reason to chase him as everyone was lined up on my wheel. Never the less, I still managed a 3rd place in the snowball.

I got sixth in the unknown distance race as I was just behind a small group when the bell rang. I was on Steve Hill's Wheel (National Kilometer Champion) when he lit it up and went around the five riders to win and I only passed one in the break.

In the miss and out, I stayed in the top three using a reverse rotation to prevent me from loosing my spot in the front. When the surges from the sprints started coming towards the end, I would tell Tony Scott who was pulling at the front (when I wasn't) to accelerate so that I could pull out from behind him and come around up track without having to push someone out of the way. When it was finally down to three riders, there was a neutral lap and then a sprint for first that I won from the front from Tony. In contrast, Jeff Hopkins usually chooses a different crowd pleasing tactic by riding at the back and pointing the last rider out each lap as he sprints by. This would be normally be risky for any rider except him. However, this evening he encountered an unheralded speedster and the devil took him as the hindmost.

Kent Bostick