SBR Quantum Race Reports: Tilles Park

P1/2
Grant's report

It was a rainy April afternoon at the start of the P/1/2 race in Tilles Park. With only about 25 riders starting because of the weather, and three teams with 4 or more riders we knew who to watch. Being on one of the teams who had 4 riders we had the upper hand and were able to dictate most of the
race. Our plan was to have two of our guys Nick and Shane who are our sprinters sit in and wait for the sprint or a late break to roll with. Myself and Jesse where going to attack often, scoop up preems, and try to make a break happen. This is harder than it sounds traditionally because the course is very flowy with no real turns. At the get go I knew I didn’t want to be in the field long because of the rain and spray from the tires made it near impossible to see. After only a few laps a Gateway Harley Davidson rider attacked and I was able to cover the move getting a gap rather quickly. The two of us started taking some hard pulls extending our gap to just over 7 seconds and counting I was a bit worried about this only because of how early it was in the race and not knowing how motivated the rest of the field was to chase. After 3 more laps a teammate of my break partner bridged up to us. This made me panic just a bit because we now had an established gap but I was also out numbered in the break. This was not ideal but I was willing to work with them because we were quickly putting time on the field. Now at +30 seconds I knew we were away and was motivated to try and lap the field. With a few words of motivation to my new friends in the break we successfully lapped the field with 18 laps to go.

Now in the field I took a sigh of relief knowing that I was guaranteed a podium spot. I moved up to a better position not wanting to be back to far incase one of the two from the break decided they to attack again. One ended up attacking but Nick was quick to cover and roll with him. I watched as he just flew away and Nick blowing up from the effort. I do not race for second and when Nick fell off his wheel I launched my attack to bridge up to him. I got a gap quickly but looking back soon saw that I not only brought the third member of the original break but another one of his teammates. This was not at all good because neither would pull naturally not wanting to chase their down teammate. I was left to bridge up to him myself or just sit up and let him ride away. That was not an option so the chase resumed I knew that right when I would make the catch his teammates would attack me hoping I would be gassed. I was right, the second I got on his wheel, boom, attack. I responded quickly and covered the move only to be attacked again. Luckily I had my wits about me and let the new member of the break roll off, he was still down a lap and didn't matter. Back to the three amigos from the original break; the duo began to attack me one after the other. I was against the ropes at this point. They both were determined to drop me and ride away. I hung in, stayed focused and covered every attack the two threw at me. The two riders were at this point, wasted. With just 5 laps to go I sat at the front of the group taking the inside of every corner and straight away to keep an eye on them. We were losing time rapidly now and the field was gaining fast. With 2 laps to go a random rider bridged up to us, I forced him to to sit in front and pull, telling him I would not work with him because I was worried about the win. Entering the last lap the new break member kept the pace up which allowed me to sit on his wheel and position myself for the sprint. Still trying to keep an eye out for a late attack from the other two riders. Entering the last 200 meters I began to wind my sprint up just sitting and waiting for the two riders to go. Right when one jumped I went.

Taking the inside line to keep the second rider from coming under neath me I stayed in the saddle then jumped hard a second time opening up my sprint taking the win. Im very happy with this win because of all the work that I had to do to get it. The odds were against me but I was able to fight through all that and pull out a strong victory for the team, sponsors and myself.

Nick's report

Rain had been on the tap for this Sunday all week. Everyone was glued to to their phones checking the radar every few minutes. Tilles is a fairly safe course with no real turns to speak of, mostly gradual bends. Probably the best course for an early season rain soaked race. With the rain we were down a few riders, we have some guys who have had some really bad luck racing in the rain and they opted to play it safe. With Joe Martin coming next weekend and all of the guys opting out I was okay with that. Tilles is a fun race, but nothing as big as Joe Martin.

We lined up with Grant, Shane, Jesse, and myself. There were two other teams lined up with the same numbers, Gateway Harley Davidson, and DogFish Racing. The field was small, only 20 guys showed up, but there was plenty of firepower. One of the Gateway Harley guys had already raced in his collegiate race earlier in the morning, and he was in a break that lapped the field. All of them are beasts! DogFish was no slouch either so we would need to watch them. And there were plenty of single guys like Devin Clark to watch out for.

Our plan for the day was simple, two of our guys were going to be on break away duty, and two other guys were going to try to sit in and be fresh for a sprint if it came to that. Normally this race ends in a sprint, but with the small field and wet weather, a break was a pretty good bet.

That bet paid off in just three laps. Grant and two Gateway Harley riders, Connor Brown and Micah Engle, went away quickly! The field tried to chase pretty hard but no one was able to organize enough, no one else was able to bridge, and the remaining Gateway Harley riders and our riders sat near or on on the front making things hard for other teams. To tell the truth Dennis Ramirez of Gateway Harley was on anything that moved, and had plenty of power to do way more, as he showed later in the race.

About halfway through the race Grant and his party lapped us and moved to the front. We all moved up and set up right behind the Gateway Harley guys. Fairly quickly Micah took off and I was on his wheel, that was not easy! Quickly we were out of sight of the field. He asked me to come around a few times but I was not able to at first, I also really didn't know if I wanted to come around. It was not helpful to Grant for me to come around, but finally I did and tried to pick a good easy spot for me to hit the front. I made sure to put out as few watts as I could to maybe slow Micah down a bit. He came through pretty quick after I hit the front and I had to work again to stay on his wheel. He pulled almost a full lap before asking me to come around again, but again I waited. He asked again later and I finally came around and slowed. At this point we were coming through the start finish and I was being told to sit in, I knew I should probably just be doing that so I nodded that I understood and then Micah took off HARD! I knew he was probably going to do that to me but I also thought I was going to be able to handle it, I was wrong. I need to remember that I am racing guys who are working to go pro, and they are on another level than I am, and to handle that accordingly. So I blew it! Now my team was going to have to chase, Grant was now sitting 2nd and 1st is riding away up the road with nothing to slow him down. I kept my speed up and got ready for the pack to catch me where I would pull on the front with the rest of the team. I was really pissed at myself.

Grant knew what he was going to do though. He took off! Unfortunately Gateway was glued to his wheel and not just one rider but two. This was not good odds for Grant this time. If he caught Micah he would be outnumbered 3 to 1. When he was up the road with two other guys early on I knew for a fact he was going to have no problem, but 3 guys worried me. Grant however, is becoming a pretty smart racer and he has power to spare, I didn't need to worry.

With Grant going up the road the race lit up. Guys were attacking left and right and it looked like there was going to be two more groups on the road. Jesse, Shane, and I were not looking good for making the 2nd group. Shane hit the front and did a great pull, he came off and dug hard to come in behind me and Jesse turned on the afterburner. He was able to close down the gap to the group ahead of us and we were back in the game. I am not sure how long between us catching back onto the first chase group and 6 laps to go but when we hit 6 to go DogFish put all their guys on the front.

While all this is going on with us, Grant was up the road covering every attack Gateway Harley threw at him. He finally got a bit of a break when Dennis Ramirez took off. He was a lap down so Grant did not bother to follow him. This meant Gateway could not attack anymore as they might pull Grant up to Dennis, so their speed went way down.

Meanwhile DogFish is pulling on the front, they quickly went through their first three riders and John Straub took the front and he pulled for almost 2 laps. Finally I hit the front and I had Shane, my sprinter on my wheel. In my low oxygen state I was trying to keep things moving smoothly but not catch the leading group. I forgot that those guys were going to win no matter what....... low oxygen remember. While I am pulling Scott Ogilivie attacked and was able to bridge up to Grant. I thought this could be good for Grant as it changed up the dynamic, Grant would for sure be able to use Scott to his advantage. With half a lap to go, the rest of the field decided I was going too slow for them now and everyone went flying by, my day done. Shane was positioned well, Jesse was pretty smoked and on the back. From my position on the course I could see the sprint open up. The field was closing very quickly and Grant decided to start leading things out. The field was coming around the final bend and the leading 3 were opening up the sprint. Grant kept the two Harley riders on his left and watched them to make sure they stayed just behind him. Grant was able to out power them and take the win. It was an amazing result from our point of view!!!

It was an exciting day, the rain made things interesting and thankfully the race was quite safe. It is so fun to race with some guys who will hopefully be doing some big things very soon. Great job team!!!