B Race \ Cat 3
There is always a full field for Gloucester races, which is affectionately called the "New England Championships". Hunter, without a UCI license for this year, lined up in the B race, technically called the Cat 3 race. The name is misleading though as there could be found at least 5 cat 2 road racers in the first 4 starting rows of this race. Starting positions were assigned by crossresults.com points ranking. A method of starting we suspect will continue to grow among large races.
Hunter had a first row position and was gonna need it as the start for today was unlike anything ever seen at this race. Usually the park access road is used for a starting chute going uphill and into gentle grass corners, making for an uneventful mess of 100+ riders. On saturday, the race starting downhill, and very quickly turned onto a never used patch of rocky, loose dirt earth for a couple of 90 degree turns and a 180 turn before hitting the road again for a quick bit and then into the traditional course area. It was a confusing choice, and it ended up being bypassed for the Elite Men and Elite Womens race, so go figure as to why it was used for the rest of the day.
Hunter, after dashing off the line first, made it thru the section 2nd wheel, without incident, and soon settled in to a group of 3 fighting for the last podium spot as Nate Cambell and the ex-junior fast man Synjyn Moracco quickly separated themselves from the pack. The rest of Saturday's course was just as different, as per Gloucester standards.... Twisty, without a run-up, and required a lot of finesse for a rider to gain time with so many slow corners. Hunter lost track of the laps and was caught out midway thru the bell lap as the 2 he was with attacked each other to get any gaps possible. 5th place for Hunter.
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