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NAS-TRACK Team Race #5

Rochester Hills, Michigan, July 23, 2004

Serviceman & Civilian pair up to win

By Dale Hughes

The #1 bike racer in the U.S. Armed Forces proved to be #1 on the Velodrome at Bloomer Park on Friday Night when Steve Mlujeak of the U.S. Coast Guard teamed up with the seasoned veteran on the boards Ray Dybowski to win Race #5 of the NAS-TRACK Team Racing Series.

The Series concludes with The Championship event this Friday, July 30 at the Velodrome but NAS-TRACK Racing continues with the Detroit 6-Day Aug. 10-15th and the SOUPerBOWL on Sept. 3.

Race #5 fielded seven 2-man NAS-TRACK Teams so evenly paired that nearly every team was still in the victory hunt before the last sprint of the night' s racing. Teams accumulate points in each race event which includes 2 1-mile sprints, a miss-and-out, a 50 lap Madison Team Race and 100 lap Madison Team Race. The team with the most points wins.

As the 100 lap Madison started counting down, Team Purple's Mlujeak and Dybowski were leading with 58 points, but only 4 points down with 54 was Team Neon of Dave Koesel and Andre Champoux. In third with 52 points was Team Red of Rob Good and Taylor Martin and in fourth with 48 points was Team Orange of Tony Bruly and Luke Cavendar.

With 25 points on first place for the final sprint, the spread became the critical issue and the last 50 laps of the 100 lap race saw a variety of tactical maneuvers that kept the competition heated all the way to the end. No team was able to escape the pack; every attack was quickly counter-attacked and the racing was strung out all the way around the 1/8th of a mile oval, a sign that the pace was in the 30s.

Two to go in the bike race and 16-year-old Cavendar of Team Orange completed his last exchange by throwing in his partner powerman Bruley, who turned on the afterburners and pulled away from the field. Behind, Team Red's Good was lining up to throw in the 21-year-old Canadian sprinting sensation Martin with 1½ to go. Martin had previously shown his power to come on strong from the back of the pack and Team Red had to finish first to win the night.

Another 20 feet behind, in the third and fourth positions, Teams Neon and Purple were scrambling to not only beat each other, but to get ahead of Teams Orange and Red. Purple's Mlujeak was able to go over Neon's Champoux -- who he had to beat to win the race, but he couldn't make it past Red's Martin.

The dazzling sprint ended with Orange in First, Red in Second, Purple in third and Neon in fourth.

At the final points tally, it was Team Purple with the victory with 74 points; in second and a single point behind was Team Orange. Red had to settle for third "I should have thrown him in ¼ of a lap sooner," said Good. And Neon ended with fourth... to make another incredible night of NAS-TRACK Team Racing.

For more information, contact NAS-TRACK Chairman Dale Hughes at 248-961-3705 or www.nas-track.com.

Results

Team Purple - Steve Mlujeak, Rochester Hills & Ray Dybowski, Waterford    74 pts
Team Orange - Tony Bruley, Rochester Hills & Luke Cavendar, Troy          73
Team Red - Rob Good, Toronto & Taylor Martin, Hamilton, Ont.              70
Team Neon - Dave Koesel, Livonia & Andre Champoux, Ypsilanti              69
Team Blue - Pio Apostoli, Toledo & Cullen Watkins, Royal Oak              60
Team Black - Nick Laughton, Rochester Hills & Steve Geerligs, Howell      52
Team Green - Matt Walpe, Royal Oak & Christopher Hughes, Rochester Hills  46
 
Individual overall standings
 
1 Andre Champoux                                                         334 pts
2 Pio Apostoli                                                           331
3 Dave Koesel                                                            323
4 Tony Bruley                                                            318
5 Ray Dybowski                                                           298
6 Rob Good                                                               280
7 Nick Laughton                                                          247
8 Rippin Ronnie Sink                                                     246
9 Cullen Watkins                                                         243
10 Taylor Martin                                                         238
11 Jim Houston                                                           225
12 Luke Cavendar                                                         199
13 Dave Teall                                                            169
14 Rob Akers                                                             142
15 Terry Palmer                                                          141
16 Steve Mlujeak                                                         138
17 Steve Geerligs                                                        132
18 Eric Chase                                                             90
19 Paul Jaqua                                                             63
20 Matt Walpe                                                             46
21 Christopher Hughes                                                     46
22 Julia Bradley                                                          31
23 Luis Bernhardt                                                         28 

Local results 2004

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