2010 Wheels on Willy Criterium

Day two of KAWOR (Kick Ass Weekend of Racing) Illinois had their Monsters of the Midway (MOM) on Saturday, Sunday was the 23rd annual Wheels on Willy (WOW) held on Madison, Wisconsin's Willy Street, just a stone's throw from the State Capital. Following also on the heels of Saturday's LaRue-Denzer-LaRue road race, which is gathering steam itself, this race has always had a good draw of regional riders from WI, MN, IA, and IL. It's a some what technical course with a sharp downhill that flows into a tight left turn, a long drag strip back straight, and shallow climb up to the finish line that makes for some crazy finishes. All this held in a quaint neighborhood area where the locals enjoy having the race so spectator numbers are usually fairly good.

Early morning races included the Jr 10-14 boys won by Everett Jones (Baraboo Sharks), and the Jr 15-18 boys won by Spencer Oswald (Baraboo Sharks) with a well earned solo attack. The Jr girls 15-18 and Women Cat. 4 were run concurrently and that field sprint was won by 15 year old Sarah Huang (IS Corp). It's interesting, however, that the official 'online' results have her listed as 3rd in the Jr's when the official 'posted' results had her first with only 2 riders in the Jr's field. Online results also  have Emma Schwartz at second in the Jr 15-18, but not even racing on the 'posted' results! Hmmmmmm ....

Men's Cat. 4/5: 64 starters for 5 places with several cash primes. Initially, 3 riders got away and dangled a mere 5 seconds in front of the field for a good number of laps. Once one more rider bridged up, that was the magic number for success and that group rode away from the field, gaining 25 seconds or about the length of the finish straight. Seth Iverson (Grand Performance) easily took the sprint over breakaway mates Paul Kumm (IS Corp), Travis Miller (Brazen Dropouts), and Patrick Diamond (Geargrinder). Winner of the field sprint, and taking the last paying place, was the fast Lionel Rocheleau (Geargrinder).

The Master's 4/5 race was won in a tight field sprint by unattached rider Doug Callies who stated in a post-race interview that this was his first race ever! The Master's 3/4 was won by another unattached rider - Albertus Rohling who's been no stranger to seeing the finish line first in earlier races this year. (Remember that name for later today.)

The Women's Pro 1/2/3 field was not particularly large, with 25 starters, but 8 of them rode for Team Kenda so I guess it's no surprise how this race developed. Kenda's Ashley James, obviously feeling that this could be her day, was constantly on the attack from the beginning. Several excursions by her and other riders were all brought back until teammate Kristen Wentworth made contact with James off the front, and then that was it ... they rode away from the field. Side by side they rode together across the line, Wentworth giving James the nod to finish first, pointing at her teammate that she is number one today and deserves the win. Katie Spittlehouse (IS Corp) got 3rd, Jill Kislia (Team Kenda) was 4th. It was a very impressive team performance by Team Kenda.

Then it was time for the Master's 1/2/3's to battle, 79 riders strong, and battle they did. Talent ran deep today with many teams having multiple riders working together, hoping to produce some results. The 'home team' Brazen Dropouts butted heads with Chiropractic Partners, Wheel & Sprocket, Grand Stay Hotels, Grand Performance, Brones, Fisher, and Iowa's Velosport Racing led by former Euro Pro Jeff Bradley. The major threat of the day came from Grand Stay's Ian Stanford who was off the front for good portion of the race. Initially it looked like it might be the winning move, but later you could tell that the talented field was just biding their time before they struck for home. Stanford was eventually caught finishing 34th, and down to a sprint it came, elbow to elbow right to the line. Counting backwards - fourth on the day was Jeff Bradley, who by looking at the photo seems to be thinking "Rats" (or something along those lines). Third was Mike Bueshel (Outspoken)(in Cafe Hollander kit?), seen way on the right of the photo. Second place was Chris Halverson (IS Corp) who seems to be thinking "Wha? Who's that?... where did HE come from?" And winner of the sprint, seen happily riding as the caboose of the field for most of the race, was Albertus Rohling! (unattatched). Remember him? However, he's the one yelling: "WHOOOOOO!!"

The men's Cat. 3 race, 40 riders strong, boiled down to a field sprint as well. With one lap to go, the pack charged past the ringing bell, around turn one, then down the hill towards the back straight.Unfortunately, for whoever was at the front at that point, they hesitated and the bunching up of the field allowed a number of very dangerous sprinters time to move up from the middle of the field where they were caught in traffic a half lap earlier. "Let's GO!" was the battle cry and together off they went, taking no prisoners and not looking back for any either. Chazz Martin (IS Corp) (17 years old) easily took the win over Joel Friedman (Bicycle Heaven) who applauded Martin's show of blazing speed. A nice gesture of sportsmanship to be sure, but officials had a few words with both of them for 1. taking their hands off the bars, and 2. making it impossible for the finish line camera to read the numbers. All good points indeed, but at least the results of the race were quite clear at that point and also, they weren't throwing water bottles (or something) at each other, which is often seen in the "professional" races lately. Good sportsmanship we can handle.

Now it's time for the main event! No, not the Cat. 4 race, this is Wisconsin! It's time for the Pro 1/2/3's to rumble! Rumble they did, over 103 riders strong. Grand Performance, Grand Stay, IS Corp, Brones, Dogfish, and Texas Roadhouse all putting out heavy wattage that had the field stretched in one L-O-N-G line.

A crash at the back of the field early on began the attrition of the field, and unfortunately for Cat. 3 winner, Chazz Martin, this put the damper on his second race of the day who placed an impressive 3rd in yesterday's Monster's of the Midway Pro race. Despite his taking home of probably over $100 worth of road rash repair medical supplies, this is probably not the way he would have wanted his day to end.  Meanwhile up at the front of the race, three riders managed to escape the field - Josh Gillingham (IS Corp), Nickolas Vetter (Grand Performance), and Pat Lemieux (Texa Roadhouse) gaining perhaps 20 seconds but no more. After a number of laps off the front, the trio lost some precious seconds as they rode without Gillingham who had punctured and had to grab his free lap. Once back together though, they gained that time back lost and looked pretty secure in their effort to stay away. They very well may have had it in the bag had it not been for Gillingham's second problem of the race when he crashed, by himself, going through turn one! It's unclear just what happened that made him go down, but once the break lost his contribution, that was it. They were caught, and it's was time for a field sprint showdown. Texas Roadhouse, riding in their very bold yellow kits, were a strong presence the entire race, and they pulled it together for the final, successfully getting their Colton Barrett in front for the win. Second was Alex Wiesler (IS Corp), 3rd - Dave Hackworthy (Grand Performance), 4th - Ben Damhoff (Geargrinder), 5th - Rob White (Kenda Pro).