Allvoi Cup Pursuit Series Wrap-Up

A few of us marked off 3 days this summer in which we would absolutely need to be available to race in a great track racing series and the 3 of us that made it to every one of those days were very satisfied with how it turned out.

The Allvoi Cup Pursuit Series presented by Allvoi/WDT was an incredible series of events by any track racing standard. Great food, good volunteers and equipment, fine swag, good competition, great races, great weather, huge prize list and they even had a great cause. All of the money garnered at registration was collected and promised to be doubled by World Discount Telecommunications (WDT) for the sake of donating to a Foster Care program in Poland. Bravo.

You might remember our last update courtesy of Molly. Day 3's events list was quite a bit different. It was made up of races most of us have never participated in nor would need to for a long, long time. BUT! Being able to handle adversity is part of being a good racer so we all obliged our hosts and accepted the challenge. After all, it was the organizer's show and we're just happy to have such a top notch event at our disposal.

Molly was pretty much a lock for the overall win but there was drama in the race for the top 2-4 spots for Jeff and Al to work out in the men's 3-4-5 overall. Jeff was 2nd with an 8 point cushion over 3rd place xXxer, Matt Moran. To add to it, Al was 4th by a 9 point deficit to Matt.

The 2k TT was a trip. Molly got the 2nd best time of her field while Jeff and Al got 3rd and 4th in their field, respectively. Molly pulled another 2nd in the 500 while Jeff got 4th and Al got 11th. By now, Al had a 1 point difference to make up and we only had one more race that would count in order for him to bump into 3rd for the overall standings. Unfortunately for Al it was one of his most feared races, the Miss-n-Out.

Fortunately he had some time to get it together seeing as we had the Jesse White Tumblers for intermission entertainment and an exhibition Keirin. The Tumblers were fantastic and the Keirin exhibition race was a brilliant addition to the schedule. Jeff was in the 1st qualifying heat and got 3rd to Matt Fox and Josh Ryan. Pretty predictable but a bummer considering the top two from each heat race the final. The final was by far the most intense Keirin any of us have seen in person. Jason Garner and Jon Fraley went from bumping elbows to full on leaning against each other for a lap and a half. Pretty badass considering they were directly behind a motorcycle that was accelerating from 20 to 30 mph while a field of ravenous sprinters sat mere inches off their wheels. Fox pulled off the over the top win while Garner kept 2nd and Fraley overcame horrible final positioning for 3rd.

By now the Category 3-4-5 men were up for the Miss-N-Out and it was going to be the deciding race of the whole series for Al. He took off from the get go and pulled everyone through the first 8 or so picks. About the 3rd wheel pulled from the race was Matt. That sealed it but Al couldn't be certain. Jeff dropped out at about 6th or 7th place. A few attacks for Al's spot were made and he fought madly to keep up front until he was had. And he was by the time the last pick was made. Al locked down 4th place in the race and sealed his fate in the overall.

Molly must have felt inspired for her Miss-N-Out because she also went out from the gun and pulled her field for the whole race. She was strong until the final lap when she was outdone by her lone left competitor and she ended up pulling herself through for 2nd.

Jeff got 3rd place on the day and Molly was 2nd to our MPLS guest, Gwen Steel. For the overall, Jeff seized the second step on the podium and Al got the 3rd in the Cat 3-4-5 Men's field. Both got pretty nice paychecks for it and some lovely hardware to take home. Molly took Queen of the Cup status with a point total that towered over everyone else. She went home with some hardware, some new laundry, an even beefier paycheck and a big smile of pride for being the only one to actually smooch the podium girls. Twice. Aside from Matt Fox's $700 cash prize for Pro-1-2 1st overall, those kisses had to be everyone else's highlight of the event.

Thanks as always to Yojimbo's garage for the equipment and guidance. BIG thanks to WDT and Allvoi for providing us with such a premier event. We can all look forward to next year and doing what we can to help get word out. Without a doubt, this thing will grow even more into the national scale event it so rightfully deserves.

Pictures taken from Allvoicup.com galleries, Voytek Glinkowski, Ed White, and Jeff Holland. Thanks!