George Gardner

In last Sunday men's cat 3 race, a dicey situation occurred in the approach to the finish. I'd like to hear thoughts about how it could be handled better, if at all.

With about a 1.5 miles to go, our pack approached a slower field and its lead car both properly neutralized to the right side of the road (I don't recall if they had a follow vehicle). Just behind this field was a sedan in the middle of the lane, possibly confused. I don't think this was an official follow vehicle since no hazards were on and only for purposes id'ing for other participants, I recall a dog in it's backseat. Also, our field's lead car was escorting 2-3 escapees about 100 yards ahead.

With the road blocked our field skirted around the sedan with many riders crossing the centerline on the left. At that moment an oncoming car approached, rather fast, honking and was forced onto the shoulder. Our follow vehicle was a moto who immediately hit the horn that at first added to the chaos but ultimately communicated effectively to the rest of us in the back of the pack not to try the maneuvers that the front of the pack had. I got to pull a pro move and pushed a very narrow gap between the centerline and the sedan. Our pack was able to reassemble itself afterwards for a fair finish.

Was there time for a rider(s) in the front of our pack to take leadership and loudly announce for a neutralization until the sedan moved over or ahead? Hard to say, - finish lines induce a real go for it spirit - but I'm not condoning the centerline violators.

Did our lead car face the same situation when escorting the escapees? If so, could that driver have communicated (hand signals/rolled down window and yelled) to the sedan's driver that another large field is approaching from behind?

Or could our moto foreseen the situation from the rear, and by its agility sped ahead to the front of our pack to safely escort us around or move the sedan?

Not sure what should have been done. Each would have been very quick thinking on someone's part. I'd like to hear what others think.

What I do feel certain about is that we as racers should try to tell our supporters attending races to drive with caution and extra awareness when on the course. Basically to give room to the large fields approaching in front and behind and be prepared to pull over if necessary. Also, if possible, direct drivers to proceed to the start/finish against the race flow traffic with caution. I have no idea if the sedan or oncoming car were spectators, but we only increase our chances of safety with some minor instructions.

Next week there'll be a few more cars due to fishing season - however Hagg Lake is a relatively safe course for which I love. Anything we can do to keep us safer allows us to race another day.

George