Bloomington Velo-News: Tough Weekend

The Mass Ave Crit in Downtown Indy was a great event on Saturday morning. Almost 300 riders, plenty of enthusiastic spectators and some free beer made a exciting atmosphere. The course featured two 120 degree corners (and a 90) within 0.5miles and therefore meant for a lot of sprinting, particular in the lower categories who don't go round corners quite so smoothly! The Keilers (Gray Goat) finished their road seasons with a pair of top ten positions in the early cat 3 race (Matt 3rd, Ryan 8th) whilst the coming-man Scott Catanzaro (Wolverine) finished to 4th in the big group sprint. The Cat4 race featured an all-IU breakaway featuring Micheal Schroeder (MOB Squad) and Adam Mercer (Speedway Wheelmen) holding off a fast charging field. Mercer led it out and seemed to have the win in the bag but at the last moment Schroeder snuck by to take the win. As we learnt in 2009 Little500 never count out a Cutter until his corpse has stopped twitching!

'Patches' Schroeder takes the win!
The masters 45+ included a half-race breakaway that included Tom Saccone (Tortuga) but alas in the closest sprint of the day, Saccone lost out to Mark Swartendruber (Verizon) by literally a quarter of a tire width! Gary Palmer (4th) and Tim Davis (8th) rounded out a great day for Tortuga. The featured Cat1/2/3 race turned into a brutal race of attrition with less than half the field finishing the day. The main break featured a couple of ex-IU Betas. John Grant (Texas Roadhouse) shocked the big crowd by beating home town favorite Chad The Birdman (Kenda) in the final sprint whilst Nathan Moorhouse (WDT) gave a statement of his quality by finishing in 3rd position. The break succeeded because the chase in the main field was almost non-existant with RGF/Panther failing to get organized and NUVO failing to finish more than two riders.

Saccone fail by less than half a tire!

The Downers Grove race weekend didn't see much Bloomington involvement with the Saturday results being held down by Lauren Gowdy and Taylor Gaines who took top 15 finishers in the Womens 3/4 and Junior races respectively. The following day on National Championship Sunday conditions took a turn for the worse with some brutal weather especially during the Elite Mens race. Riders endured pouring rain that set in after about 30minutes of raining and really helped shatter the field. Ryan Knapp (RGF) and Mike Sherer (Alderfer Bergen) kept their sleds rubber side down to take excellent top 20 places whilst John Meyers (ABD) also rode strongly throughout. The Pro race was held in constantly wet conditions and Bloomingtonite Bennett VDG (Kenda Pro Cycling) was solid throughout the race until the last 10 laps when he was involved in two wrecks and was unfortunately unable to finish.... along with the majority of the field! A day for hardmen to be sure!