Opus Race Report

Twenty-two riders lined up for the start of the Opus criterium series in Minnetonka last night - an exciting new record in attendance, surpassing last year's opening by over 50%! The race started off at a reasonable pace but escalated quickly on the 3rd lap in anticipation for the sprint prime. It was Velo Bella, U of M, and Birchwood placing 1, 2, and 3 in the sprint prime. These three formed a breakaway immediately after the sprint prime and continued to increase the gap throughout the 4th and 5th laps. After the 7th lap it was clear the break would stick (but do you think they'd let up?? no, they kept hammering). About 12-15 women still remained in the main field, and since the sprint points on lap 6 were taken by the breakaway of 3, there was no need for the main field to sprint until the last lap...the sprint for 4th place and up. Final results of the night: (1st) Ann Hansgate (Cat 3, U of M) , (2nd) Lieselot DeCroix (Cat 2, Velo Bella) , and (3rd) Paula Plant (Cat 2, Birchwood). The field sprint included (4th) Maria Stewart (Cat 2, U of M/Velo Bella), (5th) Shana Sturla (Cat 2, Flanders), (6th) Kris Musser (Cat 3, GopherWheelmen), and Annie Bakken (Birchwood) was the top Cat 4 racer finishing 7th. Full results should be posted on Loon State's website soon. Congratulations to all of you who did your first race and/or crit last night...we know there were at least 4 or 5 of you! The first one's always the hardest, so just hang in there.

Unfortunately the remaining races of the night were canceled by police order. Stay tuned for status updates regarding next week's Opus Crit. At this point its future is uncertain.

All photos courtesy of www.skinnyski.com (check out all of the photos).

This just in from the Opus race promoter:

Loon State Cyclists, the Minnetonka Police Department and City of Minnetonka are currently working on a solution that fits the needs of both the cyclists and the motorists in the Opus Business Park that we use for the Tuesday Night Opus Criterium Race series. We have had contact with the Chief of Police and Captain, and they are both willing to work with us to ensure sustainability of a weekly race series at the Opus location. The next step is to speak to the head of Community Development, whom is unavailable until Monday. Thus, we will not know until then what the solution will be to continue racing at Opus. We will send out a message on the status of next Tuesday's race and the remainder of the series once we have a firm plan. I thank you all for your continued patience in this manner. I am confident we will be able to come up with a solution that keeps us racing at Opus.

Kevin Schaeffer