Despite heavy rain and a weekend that brought the worst flooding in decades to Middle Tennessee, Harpeth Racing had 15 riders in the Acme Multisports Sumner County Classic Road Race.
The race, held on rural roads near White House, TN, featured a 24 mile loop of rolling terrain punctuated by a steep climb near the end. Conditions were far from optimal for a race event. Pouring rain, wind, and a tornado watch caused many of the Cat 5 to stand around before the race wondering if the officials would call the race off completely. After a 30 minute delay, the first racers lined up and were told to use caution on the wet roads.
The Men’s Category 5 race started out at a slow pace both from the neutralized start. The pace was held down for the first few miles until the lead official waved the main group through. Even with constant rain and poor visibility, the field remained relatively tight until the rolling hills on Liberty. Several short-lived attacks were attempted, but none of them stuck for long. Brian Rejack, Jonathan Woody, and Chuck Crouch stayed at the front to control the pace for much of the race and were well positioned going into the final climb.
The Men’s Category 4 race included two laps of the 24 mile course. Early in the race Brad Wormer and Greg Colby stayed at the front and drove a solid pace to make up for a lack of effective warmup in the rain. John Wade provided solid support to Greg by towing him back to into a chase group after Greg suffered a mechanical. By lap 2, the race had split into a lead group and a couple of chase groups with Harpeth jerseys working independently in both chase groups. With the difficult conditions, a flat, and a mechanical causing attrition within the group, everyone was left to ride without much team support. Our Cat 4s are riding strong this early in the season and will deliver solid race results as the season continues.
In all, Harpeth Racing had 6 out of 15 riders in the top 10 in their respective categories and two wins. Brian Rejack won the Men’s Category 5 U35 (under 35) race and Les Wooldridge won the Men’s Masters 60+ race. Great results in challenging conditions.
