The first major race of the season is over, and I’ve had some time to reflect on the events which unfolded. Sitting down writing this race report is a little painful because of a gash in the tip of my middle finger.
However, this race report for the new Dosnoventa Attaquer Team is a good one in more ways than one. Things always happen - it’s a part of racing, people get hurt, crashes happen and people miss flights. Much of this happened to us this past weekend. Luckily, no serious injuries were sustained. We had a successful debut for our team. Remarkable performances all around from our riders, during all parts of the day.
The tone of the day felt very much the same with the new format of qualifications that have been deployed this year. The new format of two team riders per qualification group, meant the team was essentially split up as a unit throughout the day and into the finals.
The Lewis brothers: Tobias and William tried to work as a pair in their rounds but William was unable to capture a quality time. This pushed him into the “Last Chance” race where the top 86-150 riders compete in a shortened race on the same track to fight for 10 of the final grid starting spots. The last chance race is something that event organizers added to the format last year. This addition, I believe, makes racers desperate and forces some to ride above their level of ability. Hence making the last chance race a more dangerous environment to participate in.
Tobias & William Lewis working together in their Qualifying Race
William Lewis completely dominated during his "Last Chance" race, finishing in front of the pack and gaining access for himself into the main event with the rest of the team. We were incredibly happy that all 5 attending riders were able to qualify and race the main event.
"I was lucky not to be injured in the crash unlike many of my friends who ended up in the hospital"
William and his brother Tobias are new additions to the team this year and are already showing that they are a strong asset. The representation during the weekend for the team was above and beyond from these two. Tobias did very well in his qualifying rounds, quickly learning the course and solidifying a position on the starting grid in 50th position.
William Lewis completely dominating his last chance race and Qualifying for the finals
The other pair are our two sprinters, Raul Torres and William Randy Guzman who both had very good qualifying times. Guzman starting in the front of the main event at the 3rd position: very impressive. Raul was able to qualify in front of Tobias in the 42nd position on the grid.
Guzman and Torres are also new to the team, Guzman is from Puerto Rico and took the win last year in London. Torres is from Mexico and maintained a very consistent palmares last year getting on podium once and finishing in the top 10 overall just behind Guzman. We're very happy to have their talent on the squad and love to see how happy they are with their new sponsorship on the Dosnoventa Attaquer Team.
My day was probably the worst of the team overall, I slipped out in a turn during my qualifications round but was able to quickly recover and get one more quick lap in that gave me an 80th position on the grid. I was a little cut up and scraped from my fall but I got it taken care of after and went onto start in the main event with the rest of the team.
Jeremy Borden having a rough day after his first of 3 crashes for the day
That crash
The start of the race was a complete disaster. The motorcycle responsible for keeping the pace and the lap counter, stalled, causing a massive crash and pile up that I was involved in.
I was lucky not to be injured in the crash unlike many of my friends who ended up in the hospital. After this crash I was a little bit shaken up, I basically did a flip and landed on my back. I got back on my bike to await the restart of the race. This ended up being postponed because we needed to wait for more ambulances to arrive on the course to assist again if it was needed. Nobody else in the team was injured in this crash and we all went back inside to keep warm as the temperature started to drop.
The whole left side of my body was burned, scraped and bleeding, so I decided to retire for the night.
After about an hour, we were told we could return to the grid and restart the race. On this restart, there was another crash in the field and I can only really remember running into the side of the fence near the start. My bike was broken on the seat stay and the rear wheel was mangled. My finger was also bleeding quite a bit. My spirit was broken at this point. The whole left side of my body was burned, scraped and bleeding, so I decided to retire for the night. I went back inside to bandage myself up while the other 4 remaining men on the team started their race.
Guzman wasn’t feeling great. For a variety of reasons he bowed out from the race. He looked visibly upset when he arrived inside to our team area where I was finishing up my bandages. He remained calm and composed and kept to himself for the rest of the night. I was surprised to see him inside considering he was on the front of the race for the first few laps, doing very well. Not sure what was going through his head but we can all agree the field was very strong and other teams' tactics at the start of the race really broke the peloton’s spirit.
William Randy Guzman waiting for the restart
Torres, Tobias and William all raced incredibly well, finishing in the chase group and gathering championship points for the season. Tobias placed a very impressive 11th place, William his brother placed 29th which is amazing considering he came all the way from the last chance race. Torres did very well placing in 40th place.
Overall, we're extremely happy with our team, we have a lot of potential and talent that we can use to push into London. In the next few months, we will continue to try to plateau our training and continue racing road.
See you in London!
