Cat 3 Keith Berger Race Report

Stan Lezon and his sons enjoy a rainy morning at the Keith Berger Memorial Crit!

Pack your umbrella! The forecast for the Keith Berger Memorial Criterion turned out better than they were forecasting. However, it was still very wet out there! Being that this was the opening race of New England Crit Week, Stan and I mounted our steads in the ¾ race. The plan was to stay near the front, and upright. From my perspective, the course was mostly smooth with a lot of new pavement.

Despite the wet conditions, I felt confortable in the corners with the tires aired down to 90PSI. In fact, everybody else seemed comfortable as well based on their at times aggressive menuvers. As soon as we all got our bearings, the race started to pick up. Stan launched a few attacks and I was there to cover and hop on the back of any attempts to pull him back. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to stick for very long and as the lap cards dwindled it was obvious that we were in for a pack finish. Something I wish wasn’t the scenario with the wet roads.

With the race being mostly tame, I knew there was a lot of horsepower in the pack and everyone would be fighting for the top spots during the last laps. When Zip Car shows up with 9 guys, you know you will have to be on your toes. Stan and I spent 90% of the race in the front, however during the last few laps I could see people taking risks I was not willing to follow. I tried to keep Stan in eyesight and look for holes to move up. On the last corner before the last lap I saw a hole and went for it. Unfortunately, I accidentally clipped a pedal and bobbled, but saved it. I was able to hold my position, but I wasn’t able to move up for the last lap. I found myself about mid pack going down the back straight, and knew I had to be in position before corner 3 (as corner 4 right after). Not much to be had at that point and people were getting antsy and again taking risks too strong for me in my position at the time with the conditions. I decided to be happy that I stayed upright and safe to fight another day.

Stan Lezon and his sons enjoy a rainy morning at the Keith Berger Memorial Crit!

We finished towards the back, which was a little disappointing since we spent so much time at the front. All in all, it was a great day of racing and I got to hang around for a bit to watch the Cat 2s work together in their effort to clinch the team standing for Crit Week right afterwards! Go EXPO!