Maine Sport Run Off Short Track

Saturday was the first annual short track race as part of the Camden Hills Fat Tire Festival.  Because of a lack of promotion, turn-out wasn't great but we had a decent field on a beautifully sunny Saturday afternoon.  I didn't have any support staff there taking photos so I'm going to use the photos Marcy took of a friend's son on the same course on Sunday's kids race.

The start line.

From the gun I got pinched by a bit of snow fencing but by the 1/2 way point of lap one I had moved into second place behind Jon Bernard.  I don't often get to duke it out with someone like Jon so I played around a bit while I could, trying to sneak inside of him in the corners etc.  Eventually, after a whopping 6 minutes, in our third lap, I made a super aggressive inside move on a hairpin corner, washed out my rear wheel and rolled the tire enough to burp a bit of air from the tire.  For the next 10-ish laps, I was forced to watch him consistently open the gap a bit more on each lap as I tentatively negotiated each corner all the while Brian Currier (an arch nemesis in the expert class) was closing in. 

A wood chip pile that you could do a sweet rear wheel skid on.

Before long, Brian was on my ass and occasionally, subtly, rubbing his front tire on my rear just as a little reminder that he was there and ready to pounce.  He rode there for a couple of laps with me watching carefully through every corner to be sure he didn't try undercut me.  On the only real climb on the course, with two laps to go, Brian, deviously, made sure that we caught up to his son (who was also racing) close to the top of the climb and, as if they planned it, forced me into the weeds as I tried to pass.  Evil masterminds!

Thankfully, being the super hero riding stud that I am, I somehow persevered and held onto my position.

Finally, with one to go, I decided to gun it instead of waiting to see what Brian would do, quickly opened up a gap and crossed the line almost victoriously in second earning myself some tasty chips and organic salsa as my prize.

Tomorrow, the real race report.