February 7, 2015, McDowell Park Circuit Race, Category Masters 60+
NE of Phoenix, AZ 30 minutes
Report from Lionel Space, Phoenix AZ
After a few hours resfresh from the 50+ race, I felt ready for the 1:40 pm 60+ race, with temperatures in the low 80s.
We only had 9 starters, with the main contender being David Bixby, doing his first race of the season.
The 70+ race was seperated and started soon after our start.
At the start, Bill McDorman put on the pressure and Bixby left a gap, so I immediately closed it to keep him from escaping.
We soon settled down and Bill, David, and myself pushed the pace in the beginning to see if anyone would shake loose.
We all hung together with some of the Ride-Faster guys started taking the lead.
With 2 primes to be included in our race, I was expecting one to be announced right after the first lap, like we had in the 50+ race, but that did not happen.
Howard Roose would put in some long efforts at the front in a monster gear as we went along for the ride.
At the end of the second lap, the prime was announced and the strategies changed a bit as I sat on David's wheel.
We went smoothly through the last corner and Bill was the first to start his sprint; soon David started to pass him on his left and I came around Bill's right, quickly taking the lead.
I had several lengths and eased up, watching the others and took the first prime.
David immediately took off and I got on his wheel and we soon had a small lead.
I took a short turn after a while and David pushed it some more, but the pack was determined to not let us escape and we were soon all back together.
This actually works better for me, as it gives me more opportunity to keep fresh.
No major attacks happened.
Harold would take the lead a few more times, but it wasn't powerful enough to drain us.
We soon came down to 2 laps to go and they rang the bell for the last prime.
The rest of the lap was relatively calm and as we came down to the final 300, I was again on David's wheel and decided to go early on his left side.
I quickly had several lengths from a long ways out and kept a careful watch on the others.
Apparently I wasn't watching closely enough as David made a rush towards the end and I had to pick up the speed again and throw the bike, with neither of us sure as to who won the prime (it was awarded to me at the prize distribution).
David was now up front with a few lengths and I slowly spent some energy to keep him from taking off.
We really slowed down for the final lap and took the last corner, about 600 meters from the finish, rather easily, with me in 4th position.
I was on David's wheel who started his sprint at about 230 meters to go.
The sprint was slightly downhill and we had a small tailwind, so it was just a short distance to the line.
At 150 meters to go we came around the last right bend and could finally see the line and that's where I began to come around David.
I had to press pretty hard in my 50x14, but steadily pulled past him and took the win.
Final turn before finish. Robert Tompkins leads with David Bixby on his wheel. I'm setting up for David's wheel on the outside.
We only averaged 22.4 mph, with a top speed of 35.6 mph in the sprint.
Although the flyer had said we'd only be getting medals, I was fortunate that they awarded cash for first place.
The primes were for a couple of tires and some tubes.
Results
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