Gone Racin'

so i threw my hat in the ring this weekend for the first time in 2008. It was a crit fairly close by in Vernon Hills that was advertised as flat with 4 corners. All good.
I signed up for the Masters 1/2/3 and the Cat 3 events - might as well REALLY torture myself right???
The layout was righthanders with Turn 1 a sweeper, #2 a semi tightish semi downhill turn into more narrow lanes, which was fine as the wind was crosswind here, so all were gutterballing in the right side, next for Turn 3 was a 90 degree righthander able to take at speed, and 4 was a sweeper that kind of kinked back right, so those on the outside had to pay attention.
The Masters race started out pretty quick, we had 4 representing from Albertos.
On the 3rd or 4th attempt it looked like the break of the day would be established, but it was more of a split than a break. We had Stathy and Zionts up the road, Haas was cooked from a prior effort to get there, so he and I were sitting behind. We saw a good opportunity as a few guys were ramping up some speed, there was a good spot on the homestretch so i tried to launch B across the gap. I gassed it the whole front stretch and swung off to give him a section to get there - he unfortunately didn't make it, and that effort was a beautiful attack off the back for me when the field came by. I sat up and soft peddled, and hopped back in when they came around again. i hung tight for a bit, and again the 2nd group was restless and starting to narrow the gap on a slowing 1st group. It was late in the race, so i think the front group was starting to think about saving it for the finish. The announcer said 4 to go, so i figured if there was any shot of getting Haas up there it better be soon. I got him in tow and launched a full out effort between turn 2 and 3, swung wide and gave him a clean look thru the turn. He has one in tow so i really hoped that was the ticket. (turns out that was over 650w for 30 sec, not shabby) That was all for me as i came by with 3 to go, i wanted to see the finish. No luck again for Haas, stuck out in no mans land for the finish.
On a positive note Stathy was 4th and Zionts was 5th, i believe Zionts won the 40+ division.

Cat 3 race was larger, but way more herky jerky. It was all gas, then all brakes. Not much slower than the masters race, but after about 30 minutes of 2-3 sprints per lap, my day was done. Nothing to write home about here.
All said and done i got about 90 minutes of hard racing in, and i was very happy to be able to help out the team instead of just holding on for dear life.