Weekend Racing Report - May 29th and 30th, 2005

The Great Race - Memorial Day Weekend, Elkhart, Indiana

On Sunday and Monday the team was again in action at “The Great Race” series of events, a Sunday Criterium and Monday Road Race.

Check out the promoters site at: www.thegreatrace.net

In Indiana promoters tend to mix fields, combining professionals and Men Categories 1, 2 and 3. This creates very large fields, over 75, as well as fast, aggressive races.

In the Sunday Criterium in downtown Elkhart, the team fought tooth and nail to get in the action and team members were constantly rotating through the front. The ferocious pace was brutal on the Category 3 riders who were suffering just to stay on the back of the field. With the pace too high for anyone to escape the race came down to a pack sprint. I did this race last year and there’s almost nothing more terrifying than that last corner in Elkhart where you’re elbow to elbow with 50+ other riders at 35mph!!! Ian Lockley was best placed in 10th.

Jason Rafeld is a BLUR as he leads the pack through turn 3 during the Elkhart Criterium, with Ian Lockley and Jeff Hamilton following, mid-pack

In the Monday Road Race the team again was aggressive on the front. Again, nothing was allowed to get away. In a great display of team work the guys put together a train and delivered Jeff Hamilton to the front with 200 meters to go. Unfortunately, standout Michigan Rider, Jason Swiatlowski of the West Michigan Coast Riders (who is a FANTASTIC sprinter compared to the rail thin Jeff Hamilton) got the jump on Jeff and nipped him at the line by inches!!! Jeff took a great 2nd place!

Full results are here: Twilight Criterium-downtown Elkhart

And here: Bristol Road Race

BONUS! You can download a video of Jeff Hamilton taking 2nd place in the Bristol Road Race by right-clicking your mouse button HERE File is 7MB and is in Windows Media Viewer format

Here’s a race report from Sunrise Sports ProI/II team captain Jeff Hamilton:

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The races in Indiana were well attended...75+ in each race...and the pace was very fast. In the crit Sunrise Sports was represented in every break, and there were plenty, but the field had enough "guns" to reel each of them back. Efforts in the crit were made by Ian, Louie, James, and myself to get away. Ian placed 10th and I finished a place or two back. Jason had a mechanical in the final sprint, and well (he could have placed well) we know how fast he is...!

The road race was a new course which had narrow roads (very Europeanish-no I have not been to Europe-so it is what I think it would be like), many turns(a 180 degree) and ups and down with a short hill climb to the finish.

A couple of breaks were attempted during the road race, but the pack once again was not going to let them go. Ian, Paul, John, and myself made attempts to bridge and string the field out to initiate breaks, but none of them stuck. It came down to a field sprint, and our lead out train delivered me to a good position. Missed 1st by a wheel! We placed 2nd, 9th (Ian), and 16th (Jason) in the up hill field sprint.

The weather was perfect, and Sunrise Sports made their presence known in Indiana!

Take care!

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