Tuesday brought the last race at Hawkeye Downs for the year, which had a great turnout, and a pizza party afterwards. Once again I was up in the A Race, just trying to keep on some wheels and learn as we went about racing at high speeds in a pack setting.
First Race was a 10 lap scratch race, lots of attacks from the start, and I did a pretty good job of grabbing the right wheel when they went. With 2 laps to go Mac (HBA Junior) took off and the pack just let him go, I thought of going with him which it turns out I should have because he held a decent gap for over a lap, and having a second person would have been helpful to pull through the headwind on the front stretch. Well about 1/2 a lap to go and we were closing in on him fast, and he was caught right before the final turn, and it was a pack sprint from there, I came across the line in 9th.
Second Race was a 15 lap points race, every 3 laps you sprint for points, well again the attacks started right away, but nothing really stuck so the first few were just beating up the others with no real gains. One the 3rd sprint I was sitting 5th wheel, and decided to just go for it, well I got up out of the saddle and went only taking one other guy with me, and we almost held it all the way to the line, I came on 4th on that sprint which gave me one point, which all I wanted in an A Race. After that my legs were dead so I just settled in for my own pace trying to keep a high enough speed as to not get lapped, and that worked, but I was so shot after that one. Again a 9th place finish.
3rd Race was a 6 lap scratch race, so basically a 3 mile effort with multiple attacks and fighting for position. By the time we came around on the final lap I was feeling decent, and had a go for the sprint, ended up in 8th place this time.
Final race as it was getting dark was a win and out, so whoever crosses the line first pulls out. One guy takes a flier right off the start and tries to hold off the field, but that wasn't going to happen, and he was caught on the last corner and shot off the back. I knew I had no chance of winning any of the laps, so I just sat in and held onto the pack as to not get dropped and figured I would wait for the final sprint on lap 6. There was 6 of us left and I was the 3rd of them to come across the line, so once again an 8th place finish.
Overall it was a good year at the Oval, I have learned alot that can be applied in crits, and my pack riding skills have greatly improved. Looking forward to doing it all again in the spring, for now though there is teh State Crit this weekend, then 4 more MTB races, and the start of a couple month Cross season.
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