Ivan Mukasa/James Bailey P1/2 Race Report

Toyota / Cycling Team were excited to finally take the new, freshly wrapped team car on its first road trip this weekend. Brother Joseph out with the sniffles, Jed and I loaded up on Friday night and headed up to Ft. Worth for a weekend of racing. Here's the report:

Sat April 18th
P1
The Ivan Mukasa Memorial Race was held at Eagle's Canyon Raceway in Decatur, TX on an overcast morning. The P1 race had 15 starters. About 15 minutes in, Dave Wenger (Super Squadra) attacked and took Geoff Godsey, Nick Kiernan (TX Tough) and Scott Veggeberg (GS Tenzing) to complete the winning break. I tried to stay on the neutral side of the battle royale that was occurring between Super Squadra and TX Tough, but I got spit out the back after thirty minutes and finished last, 13th place, one slot out of the money. Congrats to Mr. Wenger for the W.
Cat2
Jed Rogers could not wait to get his new race whip out to a Texas Cup race. The hands down winner of the one lap to go sprint at this week's Driveway Crit, a little refresher on lap cards was all he needed to go into Saturday's race with a head full of confidence. The race had about 40 starters and was stocked with attacks, all to no avail. Mario Arroyave (Velossimo) earned the Most Aggressive Rider award with his numerous solo efforts off the front and almost ruining the field's opportunity for a sprint for the win with a last minute attack. Gary Glanger (Lexus Park) and Tom Kubicek (Tilson) were off the front and sprinted for a mid race prime, won by the latter. All of these details will only be remembered by those that raced or stood on the sidelines on this overcast morning. All the history books will have about the 2009 cat 2 edition of the Ivan Mukasa Memorial Race is that at 200 meters to go, Jed Rogers shot out of a 35 man field to claim his first victory of the year, Congrats!

Sun April 19th
James Bailey Memorial Race
The morning of the James Bailey Memorial Race greeted us with rays of sunshine. In exchange for that, we raced on a very flat course with a stiff, 15+mph wind for 77miles or 16 laps. About 40 starters for today's P12 race, the two teams to watch were TX Tough and RBM. I knew TX Tough were going to want to make up for missing out on the win yesterday, but I was not prepared for Stefan Rothe (TX Tough) to make the first and only statement at two miles in. Ryan Wolhrabe (RBM), on the other hand, was, and the two of them were never seen again. With the two riders from the only teams big enough to strategize in the break, the race was quickly shut down and the chance of an escape was like taking a roll of the dice. My break was caught and countered by the first successful chase group of 6. For the next 7 laps, the 15 or so riders left in the field could never organize a chase and we just chased each other down if there were any attempts. At 6 laps to go the RBM rider from the chase group was dropped and carried a message from the front lines to the rest of his team. RBM was quickly on the attack and I jumped into an 8 man chase group. Some were sitting on and I coaxed most into rotating through, except Geoff Godsey (TX Tough). Luckily for us, his seat broke and he was forced to abandon. The seven man chase group cooperated perfectly for the next 5 laps until about 1 mile to go. We were sprinting for 8th, so i think we were looking for the finish line mostly for the finish. I took the sprint and all the glory that comes with it. My top ten earned me enough for a full tank of gas and a kolache.