Apr 21, 2012

Mens Race Analysis

It's on TV (HDNet) and the IDSnews are chatting it live but this is the place to post your post-race analysis of the Mens race!

How the race was won, Mens Little 500 2012.

This one is easy...

Laps 1-30. Cutters crash. Other top teams ride hard enough to eliminate everyone else except for the Cutter who get back on after a 20 lap chase.

Laps 30-185. Nothing happened, just exchanges and not crashing.

Laps 185-190. Cutters crash again (Kevin Depasse) and take down BKB. PDT, DTD, Beta take on the pace. Cutters come in for an exchange before trying to close the straightaway gap. DTD (was this RJ?) sits in the PDT wheel for a bit and then attacks hard and quickly gains 1/4 lap.

Lap 190- End. Cutters rejoin the chasers but they can't make an impact. DTD exchanges twice, the second time RJ gets back on with 10laps to go and doesn't look back. No-one gets close to him. Beta crash to take them out of the lower places.

In 2011 RJ and Eric Young were the two best riders, in 2012 RJ showed he was the best. PDT finished a very disappointed 2nd, Sigma Chi a solid 3rd, Cutters a dejected 4th and Theta Chi an elated 5th.

57 comments:

Todd said...

Great finish to an otherwise ho hum race. Well done Delts!

I will say, I can't believe the field still refuses to put us away.

Velochamp96 said...

What a win for DTD and Courtney Bishop out coached and out road everyone espically the Cutters

Anonymous said...

Must be easy to attack when you've been sitting in for 185 laps

Anonymous said...

anon 5:55pm - let's be real, the pace was so slow that it didn't matter. what a boring race to watch

Anonymous said...

nice to see that Team Major Taylor finally won one!

Anonymous said...

Great win for TMT.

Anonymous said...

TMT for theeeeee wiiiiiiiinnnn!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Did beta serve pre race penalty?

Anonymous said...

It is! Go Delts! 2012 Little 500 Champions!!!

Jordan Littman said...

Rookie rider Luke Momper was the one who broke away for Delta Tau Delta. Sojka was the next rider, and RJ closed it out. RJ said, "I want it all," and the rest was history.

Anonymous said...

rookie rider luke momper is going to win again next year

Anonymous said...

Beta got a pre race penalty for one of their fans starting a fight. That house parties hard.

Anonymous said...

Great race by a lot of teams today. Say what you will, but Delts had the best race and best strategy today. People will hate on here, but it's because they're jealous. Haters gonna hate. RJ was the best rider on the track and the rest of Delts showed they had plenty of depth. Look for them again next year.

Anonymous said...

Major Taylor rolled in his grave today....

Anonymous said...

Todd,

Are cutters still favorites next year? Certainly not, it's delts according to your dumb theory.

Anonymous said...

Congrats Delts riders, you guys did what needed to be done to win the race. PDT and Beta had the same advantage you did at the end with the Cutters/BKB crash and you took advantage and won the race. Also, congrats to Courtney and Ken, good to see a couple coaches who always have their teams on the lead lap at the end, come away with a win.

Anonymous said...

That Cutters/BKB crash also took Theta Chi out and then 10 laps later Beta wrecked us out (no hard feelings) Thanks Eric for coming up and apologizing, good man.

And as far as an elated 5th goes, we are pretty content but ask any of the contenders (except maybe Sig Chi because I dont know them that well) and they would have told you that we would be in the race the entire time. We fully expected to be top 5 and it would have been a large disappointment to have placed any lower.

We didnt ride out of our mind, and it wasnt a fluke. Hell our best rider had a terrible day himself and the rest of the team stepped up and finished strong. Returning 3 for next year will be fun.

This race really wasnt that surprising, phi delt was not clutch, cutters didnt have the strongest rider for the first time in years, sig chi rode a good race, and as evidenced Delts won. They had a complete team effort and at the end RJ did what RJ does best. Congrats, next year will be fun!

-Turner

Anonymous said...

Turner you guys rode a heck of a race. Don't be upset about wrecks it's just part of it and unfortunately you were on the wrong side. Get after next year

Todd said...

1:04am - there is a big difference between a win and 5 in a row when applying my "dumb theory". It's harder than you think to repeat.

8:43am hit it on the head. Delts went at the right time. There are a few things that they likely could have done better, but they won and that's what matters.

The others who think they won simply because RJ was the strongest (which I don't disagree with) is missing what their team did.

Anonymous said...

I really wish Chris West could have been on the bike to answer RJ. 5th year vs. 5th year would have been classic. West was just the guy PDT needed to bring it down to a two team race with a great sprint. The disqualification was the difference maker. Great set for RJ to close it out though! Kid worked his ass off.

Anonymous said...

Who was work hard turning lap after lap in the 38-39 second range? The whole field was keeping up the the pack at that miserable pace.

Anonymous said...

To the post at 11:11, if I am not mistaken both Sharp and Gartner (sp?) are fifth year riders as well, so they have just as motivation as West would have.

Anonymous said...

@11:32 - The post was not a knock on any of the other PDT riders, and I don't think it was an issue of motivation. Both Steve and Sven are great riders, and you're right, they were competing in the race as well and didn't answer the Delts move. However, adding West into the mix takes the load off of everyone else. West would have either answered the move himself, or ridden more laps earlier in the race, which would have allowed Gartner or Sharp to answer the move with fresher legs. PDT didn't choke and they definitely didn't lack motivation.

Anonymous said...

Think it was a great use of all the Delt riders at the end. I think their team depth caught everyone off guard at the end. The 3 riders blew it open with all out laps and RJ held it. The 3 totally sacrificed themselves to blow up the field thats why they couldn't catch RJ.

Anonymous said...

Exactly, it was those so called "weak riders" on Delts that gapped the field. RJ did what only RJ could do, soloing the last 11-12 laps. Great team effort.

Anonymous said...

"Weak riders" can do miraculous things given the right drugs

Anonymous said...

plus or minus $10,000 bishop dropped on this year for sketch purposes

nottodd said...

1:59 so i suppose they were on drugs during itts and tp?

go back and look at their times.

Zachary Lusk said...

Say what you must about the Delts but they rode their race and made it count when they drove the pace. All four of their guys made ground of the field and RJ rode one hell of a final set. I'll be the first to say i wanted anyone but them to win but they earned it. Congrats to them and the rest of the field on another great little five weekend. Both men's and women's races were awesome

Anonymous said...

Heard he dropped $60k on their bike room.

Anonymous said...

Heard that they got their hands on some epo for next year...watch the "pro" cat 3 rider smith coming in next year looking to repeat

Anonymous said...

That's crap! He isn't even a delt. Heck none of them are.

Crash Davis said...

I heard RJ is getting a tattoo honoring the epic ride ZBT turned in Saturday. Rarely see that kind of performance in this day and age.

Anonymous said...

Crash- small steps... ZBT made it into the race with is an achievement, next year they'll try to ride 175 laps!

Anonymous said...

F ing cutter man... f ing cutters

Anonymous said...

Those delts boys rode pretty well for a bunch of "pussies". That is what you called them right Hank? Also, I don't believe you told any of them that to their face, which you said you would do.

p.s. I have nothing against the Cutters. The riders are great guys and their alumni offer a lot of wisdom and experience. I just can't stand morons like Hank. You are an embarrassment to the Cutters and the Bloomington cycling community as a whole.

Anonymous said...

Hey, I often agree Hank is an over confident ass, but he did man up and give props to Delts and RJ in particular. Can't fault him for that.

caitlin hamilton said...

Hank is a stand up guy, and I think that the fact he refrained from name calling and from stooping to the level of the Delts fans (who are consistently the most obnoxious, rude, and borderline violent fans out there) shows a lot of restraint on Hank's part. Kudos to him in being the bigger person in race day, and not to mention the fact that at least he's big enough to put his name on comments that he makes on the forum, unlike yourself.

Caitlin Hamilton

nottodd said...

Caitlin - pullleeeezzze!!!! delts fan as the most obnoxious?!!! you should've been in the stands.

we were behind the delts pit, arriving at 115, but were repeatedly told by cutters "fans" that we "were in their space and needed to get out." and i do mean repeatedly. we were bumped and jostled and elbowed and shoved to try to get us to move. we had a flag waved in front of us so we couldn't even see the track.

delts fans the worst? not even close. they were enthusiastic until the end of the race when it was clear that delts had a great chance to win. then they cheered loud and proud.

Anonymous said...

I would of rather not qual'ed then finish 30+ laps down.

I normally never talk shit but ZBT deserves it.

Anonymous said...

Is this BET or BVN?

Anonymous said...

Or got REALLY lucky with the yellows.

Crash Davis said...

"I would of rather not qual'ed then finish 30+ laps down."

The Crash seconds this particular thought. Not qualling can come down to poor focus or a slow second or third attempt. Getting blown away from the field is all ability.

Anonymous said...

shots in the pit can get you down 30 laps

Anonymous said...

to bad ZBT wasn't taking shots in the pit. I can't believe you would even say that they were. They have 3 out of 4 riders who are Freshman, well under the legal drinking age, at nationally syndicated televised event. If they were to be found to of been doing such a thing, they would be breaking numerous laws, probably be reprimanded by IUSF by a suspension from competition for x years, reprimanded by the University... ect.

ZBT was just the worst of the field this year, and I know a few teams and a number of riders who, if they would of qualled, would of finished less then 30 laps down if they had ridden the whole race by themselves.

Anonymous said...

Well Phi Delts looked like a class act (more like d-bags) on the Podium after Delts shook their hands.


LISIHI = PDT

Licked It: West

Split It: Team Pursuit

Hit It: 2012 Race

Geraint Parry said...

Speaking of ZBT-like performances. Was the CSF drop the 'best' anti-Dixie Highway of all time?

Anonymous said...

http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3oxame/

nottodd said...

would really like to know the answer to GPs question. who is the best anti-dixie of all time? that at least finished.

Anonymous said...

ZBT started on the lead lap and finished 29 down. I would have much rather seen Sammies in the race or someone who deserved it more

Anonymous said...

Qualifying is part of the race. If your team didn't make it in, they got beat. Stop whining. ZBT, you made the race and are L5ers...not so bad.

Chartier

Anonymous said...

There are always teams in the race that are not any good, you can't expect to that a field that is 33 teams deep to compete for the top spot. That isn't reasonable in an intermural sport, hell it isn't even reasonable in a professional sport for any given year. ZBT didn't train to win the race and do well, so don't get mad at them for nothing doing well.

Anonymous said...

You have teams that train to win that for one reason or another didn't make it past quals and who are a hell of a lot more talented then ZBT. If you're going to approach Little 5 without a a desire to do well, get off the track. Little 5 is not a 2 hour, Zone 2, Saturday ride.\

Its a RACE. Even the underdog has the exact same dream as the favorite the night before the race, that they will cross the line first. This mentality is inherent to athletics.

Anonymous said...

You see in the last few laps RJ gets pulled for about a lap by a pink jersey, Lambda Chi Alpha I believe, anyone know if this was planned? Certainly RJ could beat the whole LXA team on his own if he wanted...

Anonymous said...

LXA was in the pit next to Delts. They definitely gave him a breather. Same reason lapped riders get pulled in crits, but this is L5 so it's all about taking down the favorite/last years winner.

Anonymous said...

Why would LXA Help Delts or even Beta those 2 half lap pulls saved RJ And gave Delts the win, Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy? Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy ?

Anonymous said...

Why wouldn't they pull delts?