Edwardsville Crit

I wanted to do this race last season but just didn’t for some reason, I forget why. Maybe it was the 4.5 hr drive so close the Gateway Cup, Edwardsville is south Illinois almost in St. Louis. This year I decided to go. It is clear from last year’s reports and watching the build up to this year’s race that this town throws some good money at this race and does it right. Another reason is I don’t have that many crits on my resume this season since almost all of the ICA Cup races have been on Saturdays (not sure why) and I have worked on Saturdays this year, Edwardsville was on a Sunday. Another reason to help my decision, a teammate let me stay at her house in Springfield Saturday night easing the drive. Thank you so much Marilyn!

I arrived in Edwardsville a couple hours before my 12:45 race start and it was HOT!

                         

Perfect day though, all sun no clouds! Immediately upon arriving it was apparent that this race is done right. Lots of locals already out and about along the racecourse, pretty much had spectators all the way around the course. This was a fun, technical, tight, fast lap course. Loved it. It is kind of a figure-8 hourglass type of course but not really, kind of hard to describe. Half of it was REALLY tight and had a chicane, which I dig!

Turn 2 beginning the chicane, turn 6 other side

I had a relatively simple plan for the race; I was there solo, so that tends to simplify things at times. It was really tight on the back half of the course so pack position was going to be important. I started the first few laps close to the front and stayed pretty close to it all race. We raced 26 laps, which came out to be 46 minutes. The early laps I just tested a few different lines and got a feel for how the pack was riding the course through the technical portions. After just a couple laps I had the efficient, fast, and safe lines through the course dialed in. Now it was just settle and roll. 

Photo: Studio239.org

There was a crash on lap 3 or 4 in turn 3 pretty close behind me, I heard it and saw the two guys go into the outside curb out of my peripheral vision. It was pretty obvious after a couple pre-ride laps that the outside of 3 was gong to be the heads up corner for sure. One guy didn’t stay on his inside line and drifted to the outside and pinched the other guy into the curb, boom, they hit the deck. After two laps I already had that turn figured out and wasn’t going near the outside of that turn to avoid just that happening to me.

At about the half way point, a lone Dogfish rider managed to sneak off the front. We upped the pace just a little and never let him out of sight. He did manage to gain about a 20 second gap at one point. Team Guitar Lab (great bunch of guys) from Evansville Indiana did a lot of work pulling Dogfish back, as they should, they had numbers (3 or 4 guys). Seemed like a good number of guys had been dropped pretty quick, we started lapping guys at about the halfway point. At around the 6 to go mark we pulled up on a big group of about 8 dropped guys that tried to re-integrate right at the front….really! That was pretty annoying. Within another lap or two we popped them out that back. 2 to go, I’m sitting top 15 and the pace is up with a lot of re-shuffling going on.

Bell lap:

I come out of the small square sitting pretty and we’re moving pretty good, I take the inside turn 6, which was my fatal mistake. We’re heading down the stretch to the final turn, about half way, the torch gets lit and its on, I need the inside line for the last turn but cant get to it, I have to stay put hang on and give it what I got with what I have. I should have taken the outside of turn 6 which would have set me up better for the run to the final turn (turn 7). Tactically, all logical thought would tell you to do what I did as it appeared to be the correct approach for the last two turns, its one those situations you don’t realize its not until its done. The line is only about 50m from the final corner. I rail it up to and through the final turn taking positions. Coming out of the final corner was a one shift and done, which I knew would be, so grabbed as many spots as I could before the final corner. Ended up with 10^th, two spots out of the money, 45 finishers. 

Ave sp race: 24.4

Ave sp Bell lap: 27.0

This is a great race with superb organization and support. If you are a Chicago racer that travels to race, put this one on your calendar next year, it’s worth it.