Mar. 21 , 2010
FIRST DAY OF SPRING KICKS OFF THE LAND PARK CIRCUIT RACE
March 21, 2010
Zenn Racing Team: Scott Fonseca, Chris Ott, Mike Kelly, Rob Cady, and Rich Mader
Sacramento, CA - With most of the early season racing located in the Central Valley, the racing schedule has moved its way north to Sacramento, California, home of the nearby Baraini Olive Oil growers, this year’s event sponsor.
100 of the top riders showed up for this year’s event. All the top teams would be represented; Morgan Stanley, Cliff Bar, Webcor, Safeway, Giant Strawberry and Zenn Racing. This year’s race was no different than previous races; in fact this same course was used a couple of months earlier and saw Chad Gerlach attack his breakaway companions for a solo victory. Most teams, including Zenn, were looking for a different outcome and from the gun every top team made sure that they had riders in the break.
It wasn’t until the halfway point that the first serious move went up the road. Recognizing that Gerlach was not in the break, most riders gave the break little to no chance unless Gerlach tried to push across, where he was heavily marked by the other top riders. When the group was caught it was time and Jess Moore, one of the top riders in the Sacramento area, if not all of Nor-Cal, set off in pursuit of glory. Jess Moore’s attack was quickly matched by powerhouse rider Gerlach and Zenn’s Scott Fonseca. Quickly, the three riders produced a substantial gap. Commented Fonseca after the race, “Without Chad and Jess pushing as hard as they did, we wouldn’t have stretched our lead. It took everything I had to just hold on.”
Once the gap settled down and other teams sent riders across, the pace was manageable. Within two to three laps of the original escape, the three front riders quickly grew to sixteen. That would be the race and the winner would come from one of the sixteen that had forged ahead of the seventy or so riders still in the peloton.
Back in the Peloton, Zenn riders Chris Ott, Rob Cady, Mike Kelly and Rich Mader managed the pace and quickly jumped onto any threat of riders trying to get across to the break. Team Rocknasium, who had missed the break, pushed hard for several laps to try and close the gap so their ace, Judd Van Sickle, might have a chance to get across.
Morgan Stanley’s Greg Anderson also joined in the push with Rocknasium. It was unclear why Anderson would push so hard at the front of the peloton in order to bring it back, while he had two teammates in the break; Chris Baker, the previous day’s winner and sprinter specialist Alex Holtz.
Gelach, not happy with the number of passengers in the group, continued to push the pace in the break and encourage other riders to ride harder even though the gap was increasing. With eight laps to go and a forty second lead, the first attack came from Peter Graf, a local Sacramento rider from the American Lung Association cycling team, but that move was cleanly covered by Morgan Stanley’s Chris Baker as was every move until lap three that saw Jess Moore jump on the backside, where he was joined quickly by Metromint’s Mitchell Trux. The tandem stayed away for a lap and was quickly absorbed with two laps to go. Looking like it would come down to a bunch sprint, Gerlach threw the hat into the ring and took a shot with a half a lap to go. Fonseca, there on Gerlach’s wheel, hesitated because it had become clear that Morgan Stanley was looking to set something up for Alex Holtz.
Could Gerlach do it again? That was the question. With Morgan Stanley’s Chris Baker now sacrificing everything he had for fellow teammate Holtz, the pace was now clearly set on bringing Gerlach back in the final meters. Through the final corners and Gerlach’s lead down to seconds, would the sprint run through Gerlach and deny him a second victory on this course? In the closing meter Holtz sitting fifth wheel and Gerlach just fifty meters up the road, Holtz launched his sprint early in hopes of catching Gerlach at the line.
In the melee of riders, Fonseca was next to take a charge at the group, but ran into traffic and slowed in hoping to catch Holtz and Gerlach by the line.
To no avail, Gerlach’s move paid off and came in meters before the charging group that saw Holtz, O’Rourke, Fonseca and Moore finish in order for the top five spots. Several riders commented after the race about the gamesmanship that had taken place in the breakaway. One of the riders singled out was Michael O’Rourke, who came across with an earlier group and never saw the front of the break until the final meters. Shame on us for letting that happen, but that’s racing.
 |
 |
 |
 |
