Marblehead CAT 4/5 Joe Jussaume 4-2
Hey everyone:
I’m new at this, so bear with me. We had a good result at the CAT 4/5 race at Marblehead yesterday. I was able to take 6th place (I thought I had 5th but the guy next to me beat me by the width of a tire, literally!) As a team we were also able to get 10th and 17th for Colby (not too shabby for his first race!). Hats off to CCB who really rode the perfect race and finished a solid 1-2 with a 25 to 30 yard gap on the field. The race started innocently enough with a pretty liesurely roll up the hill, down the finishing straight and toward the small riser. Some yahoo took a flyer off the front at the small hill on the back, but the pack was more than happy to let him burn himself out and return to the pack with his tail between his legs. I had started way in the back (bad idea for any of you first year racers) but was able to catch up to Darrell at the front by the middle of the backstretch. Darrell and I discussed the plan at that point, which was basically for me to stay behind Darrell, wait for one of our teammates to ramp it up on the small hill on the last lap, have Darrell lead me to the hill, and then take off for the line.
From the beginning, it was clear that NEBC was a marked team, which speaks volumes for what Ross had accomplished! CCB and BRC were constantly trying to goad Darrell and I into taking turns at the front (which at one time, I stupidly did) and were at all times trying to disrupt my position behind Darrell. I could hear riders getting frustrated behind us the entire race. Somewhere around the 5th lap, I expected the pace to slow up, which it always does, but it actually picked up. In fact, from lap 1 to lap 8, the pace steadily got quicker, thanks on laps 7 and 8 to a huge pull by Keith. Thanks man!
On the bell lap the strangest thing happened. Instead of the pace rocketing to warp speed, it actually slowed down and stayed slow all the way over the hill and over the small riser on the back. By this time NEBC had perfect position. Darrell, Colby, Oscar and myself were lined up, ready for the leadout and sprint. The only problem being, CCB were directly behind me. We cruised around the hairpin, Oscar and Colby pulled off and left just Darrell and I at the middle of the hill. At that point, Darrell ran out of gas and I knew it was now or never. I quickly pulled around Darrell and the sprint was on from the top on the hill. CCB got the early jump and nobody saw them again! It was down to the race for 3rd. I ramped it up and found a good wheel, as I attempted to pull around that wheel with about 100 meter to go a guy came up on my left so I battled with him to the line. When we crossed I did not know where I ended up, but I knew I counted 4 guys ahead of me. When I checked the results I found out I had crossed the line in 6th.
Overall, a great effort by the CAT 4/5 team. We just needed to time the leadout and sprint a little better. Great work by Darrell! He was a monster the entire race and constantly checked to make sure I was with him. Great work, too by Colby who was a beast on the hill.
Thanks to the entire CAT 4/5 team! Can’t wait for the next race!