Garage Tames the Beast (of the East)
The Wenatchee Omnium, known this year as the Beast of the East, always crowns only the most deserving champions. This year was no exception in the Masters A field with Kyle Farrell taking the overall title in dominating fashion.
The Garage Masters team sent a strong squad consisting of Mike Burdo, Kevin Masterson and Nikos Mills in support of Kyle. Neil Casserly and Morgan Coleman joined the team on Sunday for the road race. Excellent teamwork and strong riding resulted in Garage winning every event, taking all three KOM spots, and three-fourths of the crit primes. And when all the omnium points were tallied, in addition to having Kyle in 1st, Nikos took 2nd and Neil and Morgan 9th and 10th.
Though great teamwork ruled the weekend, the first stage--a rolling time trial held in 20-30 mph winds, was all about individual performance. Kyle outpaced the rest of the field in winning the first stage. That afternoon's crit was a windblown affair. After an aggressive start by several Garager's, Kevin soloed for off the front to pick up the first prime. Shortly after Kevin came back to the field, Kyle did his own solo thing and promptly lapped the field in the span of only a few laps, collecting 2 primes along the way. The finish saw Kyle finish 1st and Nikos 3rd.
Sunny skies and upper 70's greeted the racers for the last stage: a 60 mile/6000 ft of climbing affair. Kevin, Mike, and Neil quickly set a hard tempo on the bottom slopes of the Malaga climb. Morgan sped off and spent most of the first lap off the front collecting valuable KOM points along the way. By the midpoint on the second time up the Malaga climb, Kyle and Nikos were able to get away with Marty Heck, a very strong rider from north of the border. Kyle was a force to be reckoned with and did the lion-share of the work to set Nikos up for the stage victory which vaulted him to 2nd overall.
The Garage Masters team is hoping to continue the trend of aggressive riding, great teamwork, and strong results this coming weekend at the Capital Stage Race.