Evanston Grand Prix

4th Place Category 3

We got to drive to Illinois for this race, another state to mark down as raced in. The course was downtown and there were big crowds. It was going to be a cool race. The area had little to no room for warm up so I just hung out. I watched by the start/finish and there was an electric speed gun up that was telling how fast the riders were going. I thought that was pretty cool so that the spectators could see how fast the racers are actually going. The course was nice, with wide streets, except for the 2nd to last corner was quite narrow, I thought that would be dangerous, but luckily my group kept the rubber side down through it. It was not the ideal course for me, dead flat, but I felt confident. We took off nice and quick and I took it easy in the pack. There was some action off the front, but there was a big field today and everyone was chasing. I made a good counter as a break was being reeled in, but the pack wasnt letting anything go. The race was quite uneventful and there were no primes, so there was nothing much to do but save the legs for the end. The pace was actually pretty slow as we were nearing the end, and it was getting dangerous as we were going into corners with the field about 10 riders wide. It is much safer to have the field strung out. Luckily nothing happened and the pace kicked up for the last few laps. I moved into perfect position on the last lap and I sat 4th wheel through the last corner. The last corner to the finish was quite far; about 700 meters and I started the corner in my 52-14 junior gears. Well I was standing up sprinting and then I was spinning out and I had to sit down and try to get some draft in the sprint, junior gears are great. Well I was able to finish in 4th and I was quite happy considering the course.