The 43rd annual Brookside Park circuit race was host to the fourth NUVO/Bap series event. Forty-nine riders lined up for the Pro and Amateur Category 1 and 2 bicycle race. There were several holdover world-class riders that came up from the Masters Nationals in Louisville this past week.

 

Regional powerhouse teams NUVO/Bap and Bloomington-Touchstone Energy arrived with a full complement of riders. The Texas Roadhouse team unexpectedly entered three riders. Many of their riders were at the Masters Track Nationals in Wisconsin this past weekend and a few were just “cooked” from racing the Masters Road Nationals.

 

John Kelly from the Bike Wave racing team made the first strong break of the day on this rough .6 mile course, 60 lap event through Brookside Park. His breakaway attempt, like many others, was reeled back in.

 

If you did not bring extra wheels today, you would have ended up watching the rest of the race from the curb. The park roads are in poor condition and there were numerous compression flats throughout the race. The short version course has to be used since the bridge that is still closed has not been repaired for over 10 years. If park officials do not budget funds to upgrade road surfaces soon, Brookside may not happen next year, as the course has become too dangerous to race on.

 

With 27 laps to go, a five-man break of Dave Wenger of West Virginia pro team, the eventual winner of the race; runner-up Patrick O’Donnell, West Virginia, third place; Jason Snow Fuji (a former world master champion); Aaron Hubbell, NUVO/ Bap; and Bennett VanDergenugten, Bloomington Touchstone Energy, stayed away from the field to take the top places.

 

NUVO/Bap placed three riders in the top 16, Bloomington Touchstone Energy placed three riders in the top 10, with national powerhouse West Virginia taking the team honors placing three riders in the top six places. The NUVO/Bap team storms back and leads the series by 49 points over Texas Roadhouse.

The series is still up for grabs as the next two events, Ft. Ben Road Race Aug. 23 and Indiana State Fairgrounds Aug. 24 will continue the bicycle racing action.