OK ...
So some of you know that I come from the cycling world - as in road cycling. ( bicycles ) Every couple of years we as mere mortals get to see Olympic athletes who are at the peak of their respective sports perform on the boob tube. One of those summer sports is obviously cycling. I'm sure many of you have seen cycling on the velodrome - most likely on TV - but some of you may have actually seen actual velodrome cycling in person too as there is a world class facility in Trexlertown, Pa. I've ridden that velodrome myself - never competed or raced there - but I have ridden it. Where, you might ask am I going with this? Bear with me if you will...
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| Steiner and Scutt grabbed the 1st, and hopefully last, unknown start style holeshot | Click the photo to view it larger |
One of the velodrome events that they have is called "The Unknown Distance Race". Ummm - yep - it means exactly what it says. The race might be 10 laps, or it could be 100. The race officials, via sponsorship, throw in prize laps (
primes as they are called) to spice up the race - ie: a bell rings and an announcement is made - "
The winner of the next lap pockets $50.00 cash... !!!". This keeps things interesting and makes for some strategy as obviously the winner of the overall event takes home the biggest prize. But not knowing when the race ends ... do you kill yourself for the $50.00 and hope they don't ring the bell (white flag) now that you're toast? See - makes it interesting. :)
Thunder Ridge decided to invent the "Unknown Start" today for the big bikes. Yeah - that definitely added some spice to many a spectator up at the top of the hill, and from what I heard even several of the racers and sweepers. We're all hanging out, just talking and shootin' the breeze when all of a sudden (
BRAAAAAP!!!! ) here comes the frickin' AA line ripping up the hill at, like, a kabillion mph!! Holy crap!! Everyone is bailin' and backing off and trying to get outta the way ... yikes!!
Umm -- promoters for events 11-15 - please don't do that again. We, as spectators and shooters - we're boring - we'd just assume know exactly when the race is going to start, thank you very much.
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| Maryott fought hard for this one and it was evident that he was stoked about it at the end as he was pumping his fists celebrating his win as he came through scoring taking the checkered flag | Click the photo to view it larger |
So -- seen above, Marcus Scutt and Jim Steiner Jr., these two grabbed a couple of good hands full of throttle and fed the rest of the AA line their roosts! Scutt ran out of gas (literally) and didn't have quite the finish he was hoping for. I'm not sure how Steiner made out. There was a heck of a race happening between the two big dogs that were present today though with Bouwens and Maryott going at it. Bouwens had the early lead, only to lose it to Maryott who established a pretty good gap for a while. "The Bat" fought hard and closed the gap and was knocking right on his targets tailpipe through the closing lap. Maryott demonstrated why he is running the #1 plate for the series at present as he successfully held of the hard charging Bouwens for the win.
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| Ben "Batman" Bouwens could only look on as he came home in 2nd | Click the photo to view it larger |
The Big Quads - oh boy!! They are - well - they're the Big Quads. The start for them was (fortunately) very well telegraphed by the starters and race staff - no surprises in that department. The racers themselves ... c'mon. Those of you who attend these races already know - they create their own brand of excitement and this start was not to disappoint! There was some wild and crazy goings on and a couple of "interesting" line choices made. A couple of crashes but fortunately no serious injuries (that I'm aware of).
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The Big Quads start - yep - it was a wild one at times!! :) Whoo hoo!! | Click the photo to view it larger
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There will be many pics from the event getting posted up to
the galleries and facebook over the next couple of days - standby!!
-=- jd -=-
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