Circuit of Sauk

Circuit of Sauk (Brookfield WI Saturday May 2^nd 2009) Written by Jim Moore. Three team BBS members lined up for the Circuit of Sauk Baraboo Road Race on Saturday May 2nd at 1pm. Mark Engen, Todd Kinart, and Jim Moore. The course was a 15 mile lap with two significant climbs and a bunch of other rollers. The wind was coming out of the west at a good clip causing mostly cross winds on the predominantly north-south race course. The master’s race did three laps. Mark was fighting a cold that really took his climbing legs but he was able to hang in for the first two laps giving him some great experience road racing with the masters in Wisconsin. Todd was very aggressive in the first half of the race, riding toward the front, chasing down attacks and getting in all the early breaks. A significant break formed early in the second lap when Todd got off the front with two other strong guys from out of state. They built a pretty good lead over the first climb in the 2nd lap and forced the two strong Wisconsin Teams (LAPT and NOVA IS Corp) to chase. I was doing my best to block the chase and rode second wheel in the field between the two climbs on the second lap. As we approached the second climb of lap number 2, Chris Halverson of Nova IS Corp. took advantage of his team mate's chasing efforts to attack out of the field and bridge to Todd and the other members of the break. I followed Chris and allowed him to pull me up to the break with a few other strong climbers. Halverson attacked again toward the top of the climb and I chased him down again. At the top, we had a 10 second gap on the remnants of the field, so we hit the gas on the down hill. One other racer, Chris Morris, bridged across and the final break of the race was formed. Halverson, Morris, and I built the lead to about 30 seconds as we started the final lap. Meanwhile, Todd was in the chase group doing some excellent blocking. Halverson and I were really hammering in the break (Morris was just hanging on) and built the lead to about a minute going into the first climb on the final lap. A good hard steady climb told me that I had the best climber’s legs in the break and decided to make my move on the final climb of the day. We worked well together in the break and built a comfortable lead going into the final climb (assisted by Todd's continuing efforts to slow the chase group). In the end I didn't have to attack on the final climb because my break companions conceded the victory to assure 2nd and 3rd for themselves. What I know is that I was strong during the second half of the race because Todd made the first half so easy for me. It was some good teamwork for team BBS. Hats off to Todd and the real winner on the day was the team!

Way to go to Mark Brone for initiating a break from the start in the Pro 1/2 and hanging in with some young, strong bucks for 70 miles to take 3rd. No team mates, just Mark doing his thing. Nice work!

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This site was last updated on: June 28, 2010 01:56:27 PM -0500