Double Down Challenge Circuit Race & Swap Meet

Aug. 13, 2011 The Double Down Challenge Circuit Race & Swap Meet was held at the pancake-flat 2.28 mile racetrack of Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, SC. Each pro and amateur race category had two races, one in the morning and one in afternoon. If a racer won both the AM race and the PM race, each of their payouts was doubled. If you bet with the house on this one, you lost. The racers ‘doubled down’ in almost every category! Even junior winner Weston Coker, too young for payouts – and too young to gamble – doubled down.

For Neil Bezdek of Mountain Khahkis p/b SmartStop, winning the first men’s race meant a change in strategy for the 3 man squad. Neil won the AM race from a medium-sized break away group. Instead of setting up Thomas Brown for the high-percentage win in the PM race, the team gambled and protected Bezdek to get the bonus. It worked, Bezdek won the PM race from a field sprint. Teammates Brown and Patrick Raines “did the work of 8 men” as Neil put it, to control and chase down the afternoon breaks.

The AM and PM women’s races were won by Sarah Fader of Sticky Fingers, in nearly identical fashion. The races featured National Road Race Champion, Robin Farina. Farina was closely marked, lap after lap. Fader and Farina went one-two in each race from a field sprint.

This first-time event was a big success for Race Director Chris Moore. His volunteer help came from from Uptown Cycles in Charlotte and the Trek Bicycle Store of Mount Pleasant. Neal Boyd called all races, except the pair he raced in!

2011 Double Down bonus winners: Neil Bezdek (Pro,1,2), Sarah Fader (Women 1,2), Charlie Brown (Masters 35+), Dave LeDuc (Masters 50+), Lorie Harkey (Women 3,4), Weston Coker (Junior).

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