Jeff in 3rd. Photo courtesy of Jon Kraft.

In the 3’s, Spencer Bushnell and I sat at the front the whole race, grabbing a few primes and controlling all the moves. With 5 to go I started picking it up and with 3 to go I tried to string it out. I don’t think I was going fast but no one came around me. Spencer actually came around me with 2 to go and I was yelling at him, “No, it’s yours tonight, wait, wait!” So I got back to the front and went as hard as I still could until 3 corners were left. Spencer came around me and I sat up to watch him pull away from the group. I went from 1st to 26th because I was screaming at him, “GO! GO! You got it!” Sorry to the others in the group, I really couldn’t pedal anymore anyway… I wasn’t just trying to get in the way.

Spencer won the race and took at least 2 primes. Nice job and I hope those upgrade points will be helpful because our senior men are looking forward to racing with him.

Spencer gets some points

Derek Stallings, Carl Hoefer and Rocky Serna raced the senior crit and Derek was off the front on the first lap but all 3 were disappointed to miss the break that eventually got away. So they gave chase and were all looking strong attacking and pulling the group around. There was a crash with half a lap to go right in front of them so they weren’t in it for the sprint. It was great to see everyone and it was a great start to Crit Season.

Rocky, Carl, Derek, Bill

Thanks to Lev Stryker for the photos...

Our former rider, Jason Walker (now with the Reno Wheelmen) won the TT in the 3’s and was off the front rather early with Spencer Bushnell and another rider in the crit. Jason dropped them both and soloed for the rest of the race to take the win. Tim Jones attacked with 1 lap to go and finished 2nd. Jason maintained the GC lead through to the end and Scott, despite the crash in the crit and a mishap and crash in the feed zone on Saturday managed to hang in for 2nd overall.

Tim Jones and Spencer worked like madmen at the front of the peloton in the circuit race on Sunday and kept the breaks from going away. Tim is one of the special people in the world who can push himself so hard that all he could do for 10 minutes after the race finished was writhe in agony on the grass near the finish line… His efforts were amazing. Spencer also said, “I’ve never worked so hard for somebody in a race before,” and it paid off with Scott finishing fourth right behind Sean Passage in third. Sean now has upgraded to a Cat2!

Cat3 Results Highlights:

• Tim Jones 2nd in Crit
• Sean Passage 3rd in Circuit Race
• Scott Gray 2nd General Classification
• Spencer Bushnell primes in the crit
• Ryan Ness primes in the crit
• Jon Pearson finished race number 55 of the year this Sunday and is leading the IRONMAN by a week’s worth of racing!

Matt Lieto finished 50th overall in the PRO GC and was out of the running for the Lead Oregon Rider competition due to a technical error… He was actually the 3rd place Oregon Rider and lead Bend rider to finish. Former TAI Rider, Ben Thompson, finished just behind him in 54th GC.

Jeff Standish finished 27th GC in the 4’s and Byron Roe was 42nd.

Duncan Oliphant finished 33rd GC in the masters 35+.

Thanks to all who came out to race and those who helped us support the team in the feed zones and back in town with lots of good food and company!