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5 Exciting Events, all at the
infamous
Renaissance
Park Short-Track |
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January
27, Feb 2, 3, 10, & 16 |
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What a
great race. The weather for the event was awesome. The
temperature in the morning was as little cool as we
started out the day in the low 30's but the sun came up
and warmed the ever exciting short track course at
Renaissance Park. Due to the overnight freeze, the
course was little slick for the first couple of races
but as the day went on, the course became much more
tacky and race participants were able to rail through
through the fast berms on the course.
We saw lots of new faces in many of the categories,
especially the Beginner Women where we had 13 smiling
ladies line up for the race. It was really great seeing
all of the ladies out at the event. The Beginner Men's
categories lined up first and totaled 29 participants,
many of whom were also newbies to the Winter Short Track
Series.
The big surprise of the day was the Single Speed
category. We had 22 people line up for the Single Speed
race. Quite the contrast from our Summer Series races.
We had every type of Single Speed you could imagine out
on the race course: 26ers, 29ers, 69ers, and I believe
a saw crazed fixed gear participant. The ironic thing
about the Single Speed race was the high amount of
casualties due to mechanical problems. I thought one
of the big reasons people rode single speeds was the
simplicity of the machine and the lack of mechanical
issues. That wasn't the case on Sunday afternoon as the
Renni Short Track Course took out several of the Single
Speeders.
The race of the day has to go to 13 year old Chase
Dickens out of Mt Airy, NC. Chase, who can't weigh much
over 100 lbs soaking weight, put in a incredible race
performance against the Sport Men 19-39. At the end the
fist lap, Ryan Kelly came around the finish line in the
lead setting a blistering pace with three guys on his
wheel, the third being Chase. The funny thing was all
three guys in front of Chase were twice his size but
what did Chase do, he passed them on the downhill
sidewalk. A couple of the guys looked a little gassed
as they soft pedaled down the sidewalk. Chase rolled up
behind each guy, tucked in an aero position, and picked
them off one by one. It was quite amazing to see this
little hitter roll in and out of the guys and take the
lead on the second lap. He never looked backed as he put
in fast lap after fast lap on the short track course.
Joshua Draper, who ended up second to Chase, just shook
his head in amazement as he rolled through the finish
line each lap. Remember that name he could be a future
star in the sport!
Crongrats to the all race participants who came out and
ripped up the course at Renaissance Park. After briefly
looking over the registration, I see we had participants
form all over the region, Asheville, Durham, Mt Airy,
Winston-Salem, Southern Pines, Columbia and Greenville,
SC, and Lynchburg, VA. The series is really starting to
grow. Hope to see you all this upcoming weekend where
we have events on both days.
Cheers
Neal |
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