Capital Cross - Topeka, Kansas

A packed field came out to do battle at a brand new venue at Hummer Sports Complex in Topeka. The course was 3km of mostly fast grass. The paved start was slightly uphill and it didn't take long for the favorites to make their way to the head of the race. Steve Tilford and Bill Stolte used the first couple laps as a warm-up so the race stayed generally together. One they started racing\, they were off and gone, leaving a chase group of myself, Adam Mills, Tony Wilhelm, David Hejduk, Bill Marshall, Jeff Winkler, and Karl Kiester from Denver. This pack stayed together for a few laps with no real group forming behind us. About midway through the race, Wilhelm, Mills, and Kiester got off the front of our group. They slowly pulled away leaving me, Marshall, Hejduk, and Winkler to race out the closing laps. We would eventually pass Kiester having suffered a flat. Coming into the closing laps, we all through in digs to get away but the course didn't lend itself to solo glory, so a sprint finish was un-avoidable. Coming into the last steep climb before the run-up, I lost the wheel of Hedjuk and Marshall but was able to get a small gap on Winkler. I held that over the finish just trailing in behind Hejduk and Marshall. 7th doesn't sound good out off 16 but it was a pretty stacked field and everybody in front of me was at least pretty fast, and I still had fast guys finish well behind me. I always race better on the 2nd day of a double-race weekend so tomorrows Boulevard Cup race on the National Championships course should be a good one.