Jason Waddell Wins at the NWA classic.
Chad Cagle and Jason Waddell made the short road trip over to Prairie Grove,
Ar this past weekend to get in a nice little 75 something mile road race at
the NWA Classic. It was cold, 35 degrees with a 20 mph wind, at the start
and made it tough to get motivated. The course is a 24 or so mile loop with
some rolling hills and a one-mile monster of a hill that starts out at about
10% at the bottom for about 700 meters and has a false flat that extends for
what seems like another mile. Lots of flat roads as well that made for some
extremely hard gutter-ball racing and block headwind grinding.
The race set off with around 40 riders and everyone was cautious and
reserved for the first 5 miles or so because of the cold and wind. After
the fireworks started, Chad the ever persistent hard man was pulling,
attacking and generally doing his best to get in the hardest ride he could.
While Jason was doing his share by following breaks and chasing groups when
we missed out was holding off for the last lap because this race almost
always is decided on the last lap.
During the second lap Chad was able to escape solo and I encouraged another
rider to bridge solo to him and those two guys spent about 10 miles
suffering out there in the wind. Sometime early in the last lap a group of
9 got away and Chad and Jason BOTH missed it. There was only one person in
the group that worried us but 9 riders is a big group. Chad and Jason both
rode on the front for about 5 miles in a block headwind to pull back this
group and once we caught them Will Gault from Tulsa launched a
counter-attack and Jason followed him. These two worked flawlessly together
and in the ensuing final 12 miles opened up an over 4 minute gap on the
chasing field.
Jason won the two man sprint for 1st with Chad holding on for 6th place.
