Holy Moly, Friday Night Racing at Marymoor!

picture from Wheels In Focus -
that's me in last week's successful solo break in the Win N Out

Here's what I sent out to the team:
That was one hell of a night! Despite fairly low turnout, and frigid temps, we still had a sufficient field of 21 in the 3's, and the 1,2's field looked like around a dozen. Even the women's field had about 10 riders, and would have had more, but a couple raced in the men's 3's instead.

The first race for the Cat 3's was a 10 lap scratch, that was somewhat uneventful, but Jason managed to get 2nd and I got 5th. John took home a swank $30 prime and almost held his solo break to the finish, only to get caught in the homestretch. So far, John has netted better results in the 3s than in many of his 4's races, so John, I guess you just needed to upgrade!

The 1,2's also had a scratch race. I recall seeing Chris do well, but maybe he can remind us of his placing.

Next up for the 1,2's and the 3's was the Keirin. There were three heats for the 3's. Mark was the lone tomato in the first heat, and got a bit stuck out in the wind, but still managed to get 3rd and make it to the consolation round. Second heat had Jason and John, and this time it was John who was stuck up in the wind, but he soldiered on, and it sounds like it helped Jason get a good launch so that he made it to the finals. Third heat was me and Jerry. Jerry was the poor soul in the wind, with me on his wheel. Luckily, I knew Jerry can impersonate a motorcycle pretty easily, and he paced the two of us up until the bike pulled off. The riders behind surged forward around us, and I caught on, making it into the consolation final.

Chris had a solid Keirin heat, taking third, and so onto consolation for him as well.

Speaking of consolation round, Mark and I were a nice team of two, and when Mark accelerated shortly after the motor pulled off, I grabbed his wheel and rode it to the finish, where we took 7th and 8th overall. Our finish, thanks to Mark's sweet jump, put us over two bike lengths ahead of any chasers.

Jason managed a nice 2nd in the Keirin finals, putting him in good stead for the omnium so far.

I didn't catch Chris's consolation finish position, but I'm sure it was awesome, since I gave him a strong throw. Or maybe it was my throw that put him high on the track, looking for a wheel to grab :-)

Last races of the night were 6x5 for 3's and 8x5 for 1,2's. I asked J-dub if he'd like to try and lap the field, and he was game, so our plan was to attack right after the first sprint. Conveniently, Mark went on a flier and took the first sprint for 5 points, and then it was our turn. We were kinda hoping someone would join us, but when we attacked, it ended up just the two of us. We traded one lap pulls, with Jason getting the 5 points, me 3 points, and at this point we had about 100 m gap. Jason was doing a fine job ripping my legs off, and at least to me it became clear he might be better off solo and I could go back and block. So, on the lap before the 3rd points sprint, I told him to keep rolling it and slowly fell back. I still had enough gap to get the 3 points, so now we had Jason with 10, me with 6, Mark with 5. Bilko was going on and on about how awesome we Cucina Fresca riders are! I went to the back for a couple of laps, and then went back to the front to relieve Jerry who was doing some great blocking. The field let me sit up there for 3.5 laps before the next sprint (at one point I was "pulling" at 19.5 mph - fools!). I didn't have anything left for much of a sprint, but luckily Mark was still firing and got some more points. Jason was continuing to make solid progress and Bilko began to talk about him lapping the field! I was hoping it would happen, but at this point it was not necessary since he had the race sewn up on points. Still, Bilko talks about $50 for a rider who laps the field, so it's worth trying, for sure. The most active non-CF rider was Jen Triplett, so I was trying to watch for her to steal a few more points and help ensure Mark's 2nd place. He didn't need me though... On the 2nd to last lap, where Jason was so close that they rung the bell for him while we were passing the start/finish, the pace heated up a bit. I waited until turn 4 and then attempted to take off solo, but there was nothing doing. I was passed by about 5 riders just before the finish. But, in the end, Jason easily won (and got in a fine interval workout), Mark got 2nd, and I got 5th.

Final race of the night was a joy to watch. Chris was firing on all cylinders, and managed to score points in several sprints, as well as being part of the key breakaway. We sure love watching Chris try and out sprint Kenny! He was up there flying until the very last lap, when the elastic broke, but I'm sure he knows that was one of his best races at the track this season.

I only know the final omnium for the 3's down to 6th - Jason topped the list, Mark got 3rd, and I got 6th (amazing that two 5th places got me 6th for the night). Jason probably can eek out one more night in the 3's before he'll be obligated to upgrade. Mark is also darn close to the magic 25 points. I'm sure Chris will appreciate their presence next year.

Final note - there's a Madison clinic next Thursday. It costs $40, and will be taught by the very experienced Adrian Hegyvary. I signed up, as did Jerry. However, upon discussion with Kenny, there will be an alternative (and free) Madison clinic Tuesday night that Jason, Chris (maybe) and I will attend. I may then skip out on the Thursday class to save the legs for Friday night racing. Jerry and John, I hope you can make it to one of those nights. Next year they plan to have Madison nights for the 3's as well as the 1,2's, so we gotta learn sometime.

That's all for tonight. See some of you on Monday for the cross season opener!

Also from Wheels In Focus - Here's Emy from last week
in her Pee Wee Pedalers Graduation race.

How do I pass these kids? They are all over the place!