More Junior Success at Foothill College Circuit Race
By Kristen Hill -- In my spare time, last minute, literally....the juniors went racing yesterday. We had decided to skip this race because it is the farthest race we travel to besides San Ardo in August but then the promoter had to send out an email about a $50 gift card to each junior winner...that was all it took to get juniors moving.
- DBC Juniors take the top podium places at the Foothill College Circuit Race. (photo courtesy of Kristen Hill)
We left our house at 4:30am for a race that started at 8am, Ken had raced Leesville the day before and was tired but he offered to join us and drive!
Sadly we arrived to people starting to warm up and a girl Kennedy races with on the descend hit a tree, so the race was started late while they took care of her and took her to the hospital. She came away with a concussion, chipped tooth and road rash, thank goodness that is all it was, she will be ok.
So the first race was boys and girls 10-14yrs old. Their was an overall race winner and then the girls and boys were being placed separately. 10-12 and 13-14. In this race the top 3 riders who ended up attacking at the start and Sam and Matthew D stayed with for a bit just came back from nationals and are on the older side of this age group, some of them are cat 3's. So the fireworks started early. So three off the front and then a main pack that included Sam, Matthew D, Kennedy and Jack along with some other juniors. As the race went on one of the two hills got the best of Matthew, Kennedy and Jack. That left Sam in a chase pack that slowly was whittled away. Sam ended up counter attacking on the hill and out descended (dunno where he gets that) the pack to sprint all the way to the uphill finish in 4th place. Matthew came in 5th and Kennedy and Jack followed.
This left Sam in 4th, Matthew 5th in the 13/14 and Kennedy out sprinted the boys for the win in the 10/12 race and winning the top spot for the girls too, so double win.
Ken and I have never seen Kennedy work so hard and she crawled off her bike with help, was then sick to her stomach and then laid on the pavement for a good 20 minutes before the green left her face. Welcome to the pain cave Kennedy, you have arrived! She could barely talk but did get out "did I win the gift card?". (see photo of results of the pain cave, Jane would be proud of Kennedy)
The next race was the 15-18 yr olds with a nice field size. Ross and Annie were in that race. Ross stayed in the break that formed early on and played it very smart sitting waiting and staying on. It was a fast race but this was Ross' course with the climbs and descends. Ross ended up 3rd in the 17/18 boys, he did a great job! Annie got faster as the race went on and caught packs of girls to finish in the top 10! Annie is a great racer who decided to start racing this year and already has a racing age of 18 so she will graduate next year and race with the cat 4's.
All in all it was a great race day for our BAT points and for the juniors!
