Saturday, June 21, 2008

Napa Crit Ms 35+ Points Race

“I can’t admit to ever doing a points race crit..”
The format was 1 point for the winner of each lap, every third lap 3-2-1- points for the respective placing, and 20 points for lapping the field.
The plan was to win by getting into a break-away. Between Billy, Dean, Dylan, Scott, Wyatt, and me the odds favored Team Specialized Masters.
Straight away Dean went to the front and started competing with Andrew Barlow, of Nor Cal Velo, for points. During their battle Andrew went away solo. With Joel Robertson, we joined Andrew and formed the first break-away. Now, it was my turn to start amassing points. Joel crashed in the crazy “P” corner, and our break fizzled. After that, the real break finally surfaced: Billy and Brian Bosch. Two of the best all around masters racers. It was great sitting back in the field watching these two vie for points. They eventually lapped the field. Just prior to the lapping, Dylan broke away with Tim Granshaw and another great battle for points unfolded. At this point, Billy had locked up the win with points, and the race was for third place. When all was said and done: 1st – Billy Innes, 2nd – Brian Bosch, 3rd – Dylan Casey, 4th – Tim Granshaw, 5th – unknown winemaker who didn’t want his wine prize , 6th – Andrew Barlow, 7th – Me, and 8th – Dean LaBerge

Weather note: my SRM read 109F at the start line.

Just before our points crit, we watch James LaBerge, Team Specialized Junior , battle it out in the senior 3s crit for a 7th place finish. That boy can sprint... Great effort James!

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