2019 Santa Anita Criterium #1, June

June 09, 2019

2019 Santa Anita Criterium #1, June

"These kinds of courses, as we've seen before, can get out of control really fast." Those words, spoken by Jason Meidhof, might have been a bit of hindsight since he had just won the 45+ 1/2/3 race, but as anyone who was there could confirm, it was a scenario that played out time and again during the morning races.

I was under no obligation to drive out to Arcadia on Sunday morning, there was no coercion or threats involved. It was by choice. Even so, there was some reluctance, based largely on some preconceived notions of how the hours would play out; I was already envisioning a write-up with words like "hot" and "dull" scattered throughout. I mean this was a "parking lot crit" after all. Know what I mean? Exactly, we're on the same page. Flat, no shade, orange cones everywhere you look, and other than one aged Asian woman who was trying to tell me something (a joke, I believed, since she laughed about it), no reason for anyone other than racers and a few stalwart family members to be there.

As it turned out, however, only one of those descriptors proved to be accurate. The morning races, in the parking lot of Santa Anita Racetrack where, by the way, cyclists avoided the fate that has befallen so many horses lately, were filled with attacks and wins from breakaways. The course was laid out in a fat "L" shape, flat, except for the leg which took a slight decline under a bridge to a 180º turn and returned to the main parking lot. This meant that most of the course was visible to racers and spectators at any given time, which perhaps made the success of the breaks all the more surprising. Take, for instance, the Masters 50/55+ race where a late attack by Robert Frank (Cannondale Capo), who chased down Douglas D'aluisio (Simple Green) already on a solo spin of his own, and turned it into a few lap solo drive to the line. The other side of the spectrum was the march by Ben Vanmarcke (HSR Racing), who left the 30+ 3/4 bunch early in their race and continued to power away and expand his lead for an impressive win.

The final race, before the noon siesta was the masters 35/45+ 1/2/3 in which Jason Meidhof (Methods to Winning) and Patrick Bos (HSR Racing), both in the 45+ group, worked well together throughout their escape.

Podiums from the morning races included: Cat 5: 1st Max Koschnitzke, 2nd Brad Mastros, 3rd Dean Cameron.

Masters 50+ 1-4: 1st Robert Frank, 2nd Saul Nunez, 3rd Bart Clifford

Masters 55+ 1-4: 1st Christopher Hahn, 2nd Chuck Winn, 3rd Douglas D'Aluisio

Women 3/4: 1st Kelly Boone, 2nd Sarah Shipley, 3rd Hannah Mejia

30+ Cat 3/4: 1st Ben Vanmarcke, 2nd James Qua, 3rd Garnett Whitmire III

Masters 35+ 1-3: 1st Christopher Rea, 2nd Max Hernandez, 3rd Rigoberto Meza

Masters 45+ 1-3: Jason Meidhof, 2nd Patrick Bos, 3rd Bart Clifford

I didn't stick around for the afternoon's main events, and doubt there will be much relief from the summer heat at either of the next two races in the series (August and September), but I imagine the racing will be equally hot, especially with points accumulating toward a series overall championship.