Marty Road Race Cat 1/2 Race Recap

48 starters, WNW wind, 5 laps on a flat 14 mile loop with one small leg stretcher 4 miles from the finish. This was the 1st of 4 qualifier races for the Nature Valley Grand Prix, so everyone brought their "A" game. Besides the normal goal of winning the race, the secondary objective was for a team to place it's top 4 riders as high as possible to garner points towards qualifying to race in the 2009 NVGP.

Racing was much less subdued than was the case at Durand and Ken Woods. The wind made it hard for everyone, and the domestiques set a hard pace at the front. One of the hardest parts of the course turned out to be the crosswind section on the downhill following the feedzone hill. Gutterball each time through that section.

On the first lap, the officials stopped the race, when most of the field was over the center line in the cross wind. The field took note, took a quick nature break, and resumed racing.

The first break was initiated by Dale Sedgewick (GP), with Erik Dahl (Flanders), and Mean Dawg (GrandStay) quickly joining him. Nature Valley attempted to bridge, but just missed it. Synergy gave chase. In particular, Aric Hareland (Synergy) narrowed the gap with an amazing effort on the front. This allowed Timmer (Synergy), and Gregg Brandt(GP) to bridge across. They stayed within sight, and were caught shortly thereafter.

The next move was by Dewey Dickey (Mercy) and Froemming (Flanders). They held a small gap for several miles, but were also reeled in.

Coming into the last lap, Settergren (Flanders), Lavick (Synergy), and Sartain got a gap, and held it almost the the feedzone. The fireworks went off, the final time up the hill, followed by the gutterball section.

Patty Cakes (Texas Roadhouse) made a late move with a couple others, coming into the corner before the finish. However, with a tailwind, it came down to who saved something special for the end, and wound it up the fastest. Doug Swanson (Grandstay) stomped out another road victory, with Dave Zimmerman (Flanders) 2nd. Brian Koeneman (Wheel & Sprocket) took advantage of the gravel shoulder to secure the final podium spot. A very fun and exciting race.