Sunday dawned bright and sunny with liitle wind for the 2nd Edition of the Vernon Hills Grand Prix. As a team we would be racing in two events, namely the Cat 5 race and the Masters 4/5 later in the morning. While limited to a field of 50 we managed to have 7 members available including Tony, Damon, Elvis, Jorge, Dan, Sergio and Joe. The course proved a relatively smooth trouble free course with just one slightly tricky corner depending on which line you picked.
The Cat 5 race went pretty well with myself, Joe, Tony and Elvis sitting in the top ten all morning with little difficulty. However, being a Cat 5 race there were quite a few shouts to "HOLD YOUR LINE!" as some of the corners proved tricky for a few of the riders. Everything was staying together after an attempt at a breakaway was brought back. Things looked good for us with 2 and a half laps to go and four of us sitting up front. Well those good times didn't last long! There was what sounded like a scrape of a pedal in turn 3 which resulted in one rider losing their line. Unfortunetly Joe was in the wrong place and was forced well outside towards a curb, he managed to correct for a moment when he was hit from behind by someone else ending his race in a pile outside of turn 3 with 3 other riders. At this point the front of the group attacked hard with only 2 to go and quickly split the field. Elvis and Tony stayed with the front group and I chased hard for the last 2 laps.
Elvis managed 9th in the sprint, while Tony came in 15th. I finished 26th, Sergio 30th, Jorge 36th and Dan was 40th.
The Masters 4/5 race went much better although I believe there was still a crash towards the end. Joe and myslef did not line up for this as Joe toasted his front wheel, and I had to leave early.
Tony, Elvis, Sergio, Jorge and Dan rode a smart race and let other teams do most of the work for the entirety of the race. When it came down to the final sprint Tony managed 20th this time around. With about 200 meters to go Elvis was blocked in with riders on both sides and one in front as well. At 150 to go however, the door opened up and thats when Elvis started winding up his sprint. He looked up at 50 meters to go and realized he was off the front and powering towards the win, when he was pipped at the line for 2nd. The good news was that he was beaten by a 40+ master, thus making his 2nd place overall good enough for 1st Place in the 30+ race.
All in all we had a great showing on Sunday and vowed to return next year to defend the win. Barring Joe's unfortunate crash we rode a smart race and hopefully earned the respect of our fellow racers. This win will only be the first of many for 2008, and we can't wait to prove ourselves at the Tour de West Lafayette in a few weeks.
