State Match Sprint Recap

OK, I'm recovered from the weekend and can now attempt to do a recap on the state match sprint tournament.

We were missing two of the other racers on Friday, so The DGC and Tainter got a free ride into the quarter finals. I faced Skibby, who was no doubt worn out from riding a solo Madison the previous night. I was able to advance in 2 races (Match Sprints are a best 2-of-3 event), and Ferris beat Kruse to round out the final 4.

I then faced The DGC. I assumed he was going to try to take me long, but he didn't. I took the lead in the first race and was able to hold him off for the win. In the second race, he led out and I came around him in turn 3.

Ferris beat Tainter in a closely-fought battle, so I would meet The Man In Black in the finals.

This is where the whole things starts getting very surreal for me. A year ago, I was still in the track introductory class, and I did my first flying 200 in 13.8 seconds. I would look online and see that Ferris was over two seconds faster than me at that time, and it seemed that even being in that league was unattainable.

Anyway, back to reality.

I knew that I was faster in the qualifier, and I knew that Ferris had the experience to outwit me if given the chance, so I figured my best bet was to control the race from the front and make him come around me. I drew the #2 position, so I had to start out hard to take first wheel. This was not a problem because, as everyone knows, Chris loves to wheelsuck. I kept him on my hip for the first two laps and tried to keep the pace high enough that he wouldn't try to jump early. On the last lap, I rode him high through turns 1 and 2 and then dove down into the sprinters lane. I pulled a good gap and took the win.

My strategy going into the next race was pretty similar. Chris was riding more aggressively and I didn't pull as good of a gap on him when I jumped. Coming out of turn 4 I could hear him coming up beside me. I hammered as hard as I could and ended up winning by less that a wheel!

The best spectating of the night was the race between The DGC and Tainter. These two qualified within .05 seconds of each other, and all three races ended in a photo finish (although there was no camera). The DGC won the first race, and Tainter nipped him at the line in two straight to take 3rd in the state.

Dan Wold won the Cat 4 title in 3 races, and Ted won the Cat 3's by default when no one else showed up to race him on Friday.

I guess it's lonely at the top, eh Franz?

It should be noted that I raced and beat Ted in a post-championship exhibition race.

We're gonna need a bigger podium!

Do my ankles look fat?