Dan Turner is a strong rider who has been making a lot of progress. He hasn’t had a ton of experience in the crits, but he found himself in a good postion in Spring Fling #3 thanks to a little help from the rest of the team.
“I started out the CAT 5 race feeling decent after finishing up the 4/5 about an hour earlier… with an almost 25mph avg it was a fast one but I finished with the group. I was worried about how I would feel going into the 5 race after 45 minutes of hard riding, especially after my performance in 5 last week and I didn’t even race the 4/5. Little did I know, some of the experience in the 4/5 would help me out in this event! I knew all of the Big D boys would be pulling hard and ready to push the pace. We talked about pushing it and we did not disappoint. Get it on, gonna get in on, got to get it on!
Unfortunately, we got to the start line late and ended up towards the back of the pack of 40 riders with most of the Sante Fe guys up front. We were outnumbered for sure. At the start there was some surging and I missed getting my left foot clipped in and just as I got it clipped the guy in front of me pulled up and I came real close to falling over. Some choice words were said. By this time the front group had a slight gap down the hill so it was time to stand up and get back in it. Once I reached the back of the front group I settled in around the first turn and moved up to the middle. English Beat, Whales, JT and DanR were riding hard. Dave Whitney was hanging in there too. I knew we had a chance for someone to get on the podium. At this point I never thought it would be me.
It was going to be a short race and things would happen fast; 7 laps or 20 minutes…. just enough time to get warmed up in the 4/5 race. DanR and Whale Doggy took some good pulls! After the sprint lap, which I think DanR pulled everyone around on, I was barely hanging on to the back of the front pack. After turn one I had to stand up to catch back on. I got in and recovered slightly thru the S turn and along the back straight. The legs felt a little tight but I felt pretty good after catching back on. Whales took a pull to the front and then I took a run off the front with about 2 laps left. I dropped it back down before the S curves and got back in and let some of the other guys work the slight hill and back straight. Good time to recover. All the Big D guys were getting together… ready for the last lap. One thing I picked up on was most of the pack seemed to be real tentative going into all the hard turns. I don’t think most of the guys were comfortable hitting those turns at speed (in a pack) and wanted to slow it down before turning in (after doing this for 45min in the 4/5 I was ready and comfortable). You could gap the pack on every turn if you wanted to. With this in mind, on the last lap, I remember coming up thru the S curve and ending up towards the outside down the back straight. I knew if I hit that last right turn balls out, even on the outside, we could get the jump for the sprint. Especially down hill!
I was going to try to lead it out and began moving to the left, accelerating, as everyone was hugging the inside line (right side). I went by JT about 50yds from the final turn and said lets go hoping to lead him out along with Dan R, The Beat and Whale Doggy. I ended up passing the lead guy and was feeling pretty strong and just started mashing it. I hit the corner very hard and realized I was out front and got a good gap going down hill towards the finish. I am not a good sprinter so I decided to stay seated (I may have stood up for a bit but don’t remember) and get up over the pedals as much as possible and hammer it to the finish. Could I hold it? I got passed about half way to the finish and thought I may have a chance for 2nd or 3rd if I could hold it. Another guy got by me right before the line and I was hoping it was JT, who was the best sprinter in our group, but it was another rider. I came across the line and realized I had just finished 3rd. That was my best finish to date (never in the top 10) and like I mentioned earlier I never thought it would have been me. It looks like Big D ended up 3rd, 4th (DanR), 5th (JT), 7th(English Beat), and 9th(Whale Doggy). Great job guys and cudo’s to Dave Whitney and Dave Chapman for coming out, racing, and hanging in there.”