August 11, 2009
Lenovo gets a win at the well attended Kirkland Criterium. The course was lined with capivated spectators for all the races.
The Kirkland Criterium was again the highlight crit of the year. On a short 1km course with some up and down windy sections, the Kirkland crit showed it is one of the best crits in the State.
The Lenovo team had come prepared again. Ian Tubbs had previously won the criterium back in 2008 and now Mike Hainsworth has been showing some great form to pull off another win.
Hainsworth had raced on Friday night in the Portland Criterium and was unlucky in that race where he was involved in a crash during a break-a-way. His bike was damaged where he was not able to finish the race. So a little bruised and battered (not 100%), he showed up with his confidence to hope to win his second race of the year following the Joe Matava win on July 4th.
Throughout the race, Hainsworth maintained his position at the front of the field and made sure he was always in the right move. The course is like a big rollercoaster ride and therefore it stays single file for most of the time, so it is hard to move up. Once Hainswoth got the front, he defended his position as if he was elbowing his way to the bar for beers at Kells on a Saturday night. The guys at the tail end of the race must have had a hard time with the yo yo effect going into and coming out of the corners.
Unfortunately, the race started on a bad note for us. We lost our selfless soldier Brian Hall to a crash and a subsequent broken collarbone on the second lap.
We were able to have a guy in most of the moves; either Steve Higgins, Shawn Ongers, Doug Davis, or Mike Hainsworth were active throughout the race, but no big gaps formed except for one with Hainsworth and Adrian Hegyvary about midway through the race.
Hegyvary and Hainsworth went for a prime midway through the race and got a big gap, but with no Herriott or Gin guys in the move, the move was doomed. After they were brought back, Doug Davis took a flyer for a couple laps and, barely missed a big prime.
Shawn Ongers got in a move too with Dave Richter and a Hagens guy, but got no cooperation from them. So this move was null and void.
With about ten minutes to go, it became clear to Hainsworth, that the race would end in a field sprint, a hairy one at that. So Hainsworth moved up a few spots as attacks fired off and were brought back. Hainsworth never saw the perfect combination roll off, so he wasn't worried, and he knew Gin, Herriott, and Hagens would continue to stalement each other with attacks and chases with me sitting back getting a de facto lead out off of these efforts. At the bell lap it got really dicey. Russell Stevenson went to the front and as soon as Hainsworth saw him come by he said to himself, "that's my train" and he latched onto him. Others tried to push him off the wheel, but he was not going to have much to do with them. Hainsworth didn't blink, he set himself up perfectly on Stevenson wheel and floored it full gas going into the final corner. The gap opened up on his nearest rivals and Hainsworth had a clear bike length or two to win the Kirkland Criterium for the Lenovo team for the second year running over Adrian Hegyvary and Kenny Williams.
