Tour de Husker 2015 Race Report
Paul Webb & Matt Tillinghast of Harvest Racing on the podium at 2015 Tour De Husker Crit
The First Race of 2015
The Harvest Racing Team competed in its first race of the 2015 season at this past weekend’s Tour De Husker. The results were promising: one victory, and three out of six total podium spots.
Until this past weekend, Harvest has ridden as a group several times, but it hasn’t felt like a team until now. I suppose there’s something about putting on a team kit on race day that seals the deal.
Brady Makes The Break
Saturday’s 60 mile road race featured a five-loop course with rolling hills and long flats. The team decided beforehand that Harvest’s Brady Murphy was to be launched into a break, and to sit on until the break was pulled back, or to sprint with fresh legs at the finish.
The best of race plans rarely work out the way they were envisioned. Early in the first lap, Greg Hagele (Kaos) rolled away from the peloton. His lead eventually balloon to nine minutes before attacks eventually launched Murphy into the break with Chris Spence (Kaos), Jonathan Nelson (Velo SC), and Jonathan Wait (Flatwater). With a Kaos teammate up the road, Spence sat on until Hagele was pulled back. Then, Spence and Wait attacked. Hagele was quickly dispatched, followed by Nelson. With two miles to go, the attacks stopped until the trio of Murphy, Spence and Wait rolled to the 200m line at a snail’s pace. It came down to Wait getting a getting the better jump on Spence (0.5), and Murphy (0.7).
Best Beard Wins
Sunday’s race was 50 minute non-technical circuit race at Pioneer’s Park in Lincoln. The team decided beforehand that Greg Shimonek and Murphy would cover counter attacks for the first two laps while the Harvest launched others up the road. As planned, the break that eventually stuck was launched by Paul Webb. Spence and Ryan Legg (Flatwater) jumped with him. The peloton nearly brought them back when Lee Bumgarner (Kaos) and John Rokke (Kaos) tried to get across. However, their plan backfired as they were countered by Matt Tillinghast, who managed to successfully bridge up with a huge dig. With Harvest having numbers in the break, it came down to Webb getting the jump on Spence for the win, and Tillinghast taking the third.
This weekend was the results of six months of preparation, both on and off the bike. We didn’t need to stand atop the podium to be reassured of our efforts, but if it was there for taking, then why not? Anyway, there were lots of smiles and high fives to go around post race.
We’ve got a good thing going here at Harvest Racing. Here’s to 2015.